Calm your inner sceptic: meditation has the power to heal insomnia, stress, overeating, unhappiness and even a tepid sex life. Here's how
For decades, meditation was something of a joke. It was done by hippies who had spent too much time holed up in Buddhist retreats, or Hollywood actors with excess time on their hands. But now meditation has hit the mainstream through a series of apps, including Headspace, Calm and Insight Timer.
Thanks to the wellness juggernaut, those who meditate are no longer the outliers—quite the opposite, in fact. Today, meditation has become one of the top wellness health hacks, recommended by everyone from your yoga teacher to actual scientists for soothing mental and physical health problems. Here are five ways meditation really can change your life.
Get The Happiness Bug
We all want to feel happier—but in an era of social media, dating apps and even jet-lag, sometimes it is harder than we think. Although, while life events do obviously play their part, scientists are starting to believe that we can exercise our brain into happiness.
One study at Kyoto University asked 51 volunteers to rate their own happiness levels and then scanned their brains to see if they could spot any differences between the positive individuals and their sadder counterparts. Interestingly, they quickly realised that a part of the brain called the precuneus was bigger in people who were happier, and that its size can fluctuate over time. This suggests that happiness can be worked on like a muscle. But through what exercise? You guessed it: meditation, which has been proven to boost grey matter in the precuneus. Which means all those who report feelings of bliss after meditation have cold, hard science on their side.