Meditation corresponds to a broad array of scientifically proven health benefits. As per the pages of history, meditative techniques originated from Eastern spiritual and religious traditions. Presently, however, it is used as a means to relax, push back anxiety, and enhance focus.
Meditation corresponds to a broad array of scientifically proven health benefits. As per the pages of history, meditative techniques originated from Eastern spiritual and religious traditions. Presently, however, it is used as a means to relax, push back anxiety, and enhance focus.
Braintest Review also highlights that meditation is helpful in dealing with a migraine in addition to maintaining your mental fitness. The number of people who meditate has also increased. As per a study of 85,000 plus adults, meditation rates have climbed from 8% to 9.9% between 2002 and 2012.
Several walks of life reap the health benefits of meditation. These include workplaces, mentally disturbed folks, celebrities, and even successful CEOs. In fact, the health advantages of meditation are also rife for a woman with a bun in her oven.
Here is a look at seven ways in which meditation is good for pregnant women
- Calms pregnancy stress
Pregnancy runs parallel with hormonal fluctuations. It comes with the worry of ensuring that your baby develops and thrives. Factors such as these and more give a warm welcome to stress. Stress is, however, the villain in your pregnancy tale.
High levels of anxiety and stress during this time snowball the odds of premature births or delivery of babies that have low birth weight. Such birth outcomes are a pressing concern in the US with the rates of low birth weight and preterm birth standing at 8% and 13%, respectively.
Research, however, points out that meditation is beneficial for curtailing stress in moms-to-be. A study concludes that women who started practicing meditation yoga in their early pregnancy were able to reduce their anxiety and stress significantly. Another investigation learned that the odds of having a full-term pregnancy were significantly less for pregnant moms who practiced mindfulness as compared to ones who didn’t.
- Get better sleep
Pregnancy is the time when you desire to have your fill of peaceful sleep. However, changes in your body poke a hole in this fantasy of yours. A 1998 sleep poll by the National Sleep Foundation confirmed that 78% of the women reported sleep disturbance during their gestation period.
The problem is that sleep deprivation isn’t a concern to be taken lightly. Research indicates that restlessness in pregnancy corresponds with prolonged, more painful, and discomforting labor. It also swells that risk of cesarean section and preterm labor.
Science suggests meditation as an antidote to this problem of wakefulness. Moms can reap an improved quality of sleep with the help of mindfulness meditation. In fact, extensive research confirms this association between good quality sleep and meditation.
- Cuts back the risk of depression
Depression victimizes around 20% of females during their life. Pregnancy is a vulnerable time when depression tends to take women in its fold. The prevalence rate of this mental concern ranges between 4% to 20% during pregnancy.
Several women might not even know that they are depressed during their nine months. They might mistake it for pregnancy blues. However, depression is a silent culprit that may culminate in a miscarriage, preterm birth, or delivery of low weight baby.
Studies demonstrate that meditation can help lessen the depressive symptoms in moms who are at risk of having depression. It also alleviates stress, which enables you to maintain a fertile mind that leaves no space for depressive symptoms to take root in your mind.
- Reduces labor pain
Your state of mind plays a contributing role in dictating the labor pain. Also, a combination of factors such as life experiences, genetics, baby dimensions, stress levels, and the state of your mind determines your experience in the labor room.
Science is abuzz with the benefits of meditation in improving your labor experience. It is an excellent way to minimize the pain and train your mind and body for pushing the little one into the world. A 2001 study underscores that only four days of meditation helped the participants handle labor pain 27% better than those who didn’t get the training.
Meditation also boosts the release of two painkillers, dopamine, and endorphins, in the body. Researchers at the John F Kennedy Institute in Denmark proved that meditation increased the secretion of dopamine by 65%. With the release of these natural painkillers, meditation can help you out in the delivery room.
- Enhances mother-child connection
Meditation also assists in forging a strong bond with your growing bean. It is crucial to develop a significant relationship with your child as he is hyper-aware of his surroundings and what his mom feels. He can pick your emotional and mental state. For instance, your baby can easily detect when you are sad or afraid. Subsequently, his heart can beat at twice the speed.
On the flip side, your baby can feel when you are happy and experience the same emotion. There are some ways to strengthen your connection with your child. These include playing music, singing, getting a prenatal massage, and more. Meditation also falls among the best methods of bonding with your baby.
This technique helps you maintain your calm. It also pushes anxiety and stress to the background and promotes overall feelings of well-being. Furthermore, meditation allows you get proper rest, which means you are not as aggressive or disturbed as you otherwise might be due to wakefulness.
- Helps you physically relax
Carrying a baby is demanding work and no less than a miracle. Your body changes to accommodate the developing child and your organs move around to let the new life grow. However, these changes come in the company of multiple physical symptoms that chip in discomfort.
On top of these uncomfortable alterations, hormonal changes induce queasiness, frequent urination, and nausea. Meditation can help provide relief from several of these physical challenges of pregnancy. Additionally, stress aggravates physical symptoms. By helping lessen stress, meditation reduces the physical symptoms as well.
Meditation also makes your immune system strong, which lowers the odds of catching a cold or other such common health issues. On a side note, pregnancy meditation also helps you handle the emotional onslaught better.
- Help keep unhealthy habits at bay
Unhealthy habits such as doing drugs, smoking or drinking alcohol during gestation are followed by severe repercussions for the fetus’s mental and physical development. A survey reveals that roughly 10% of moms-to-be actively drink alcohol. Surprisingly, 20% of the women in the participant pool were binge drinkers.
Another survey found out that only half of the women who smoked before pregnancy were able to quit smoking. Researchers have uncovered that meditation can help you efficiently deal with addiction problems. It also aids in making positive choices and preventing problems-causing activities.
A study elaborates that meditation activates the region in your brain that is stimulated when you are high. In this way, meditation excites you in the same way as you are when taking a drug except that it is a natural way. Over and above that, meditation enhances the secretion of a feel-good chemical, dopamine. In this way, it activates the brain’s reward center and helps curtail your drug addiction.
Briefly, meditation helps pregnant women recover from unhealthy habits such as substance abuse. It also plays a fundamental role in lowering your stress and anxiety and cuts the risk of developing depression. Moreover, it prepares you for labor and improves sleep quality and your bond with your little champ as well.
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ABOUT Erica Silva
Erica Silva is a blogger who loves to discover and explore the world around her. She writes on everything from marketing to technology, science and brain health. She enjoys sharing her discoveries and experiences with readers and believes her blogs can make the world a better place.
Find her on Twitter: @ericadsilva1
