According to studies, 10 minutes of meditating done daily can improve focus and help the brain become more efficient at processing information. Developing a morning meditation practice can help change your life in the most positive way. To meditate effectively, you must commit to the process and be patient along the way, as it is not easy to control your thoughts and empty your mind. Here are some reasons why you should start meditating soon :

1. Wake up Better

It’s easy to be lazy and want to sleep more. Most of us have the habit of hitting the snooze button to try to get a few more minutes of sleep early in the morning. However, when you go back to sleep you usually end up feeling more tired than when you first woke up. A morning meditation routine will set the tone for your entire day and help you stay focused, content, and optimistic as it will rid your mind of unnecessary thoughts.

2. Increase Awareness

The mind tends to jump between thoughts incessantly, making it very difficult to focus on just one thing. Buddhism calls this phenomenon ‘monkey mind’ as it resembles the way a wild monkey swings from tree to tree. Meditation helps you to become more aware of your ideas and in the process tame that wild monkey inside you. It helps to block all the jargon and random thoughts, helping to free up space for the more important things. It also makes it easier to detach from your surroundings and retreat into your mind to hold a fruitful discussion with yourself, helping to speed up decision-making processes.

3. Good for your Heart

The benefits of meditation is not limited to just mental aspects but also certain physical ones, such as the cardiovascular system. Daily meditation helps improve blood flow, reduce blood pressure and contributes effectively to bettering your heart’s health. Compared with other forms of exercise, people who engaged themselves in meditation showed a decrease in high blood pressure which is the most significant risk factor for heart attack. It also helps to decrease left ventricular mass which results in the longevity of life. There is also substantial reductions in cholesterol levels when meditation is practised regularly.

4. Stress Buster

Numerous studies have suggested that meditation helps in easing stress. It allows you to create time for yourself and thereby stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, slowing your heart rate, and improving blood flow. These reactions are in turn what helps you feel relaxed and more at peace with yourself while meditating. Beginning your day feeling relaxed helps to ease the pressure that the rest of the day might bring forth, reducing overall stress and anxiety. If you make it a daily habit, meditation can help decrease levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and in the process enables you to become a more relaxed and laid back individual.

5.  Improve General Health

Meditating for 30 minutes on a daily basis reduces stress and, as a result, helps prevent emotional eating, says research from UC-San Francisco. Being relaxed helps you decide what to eat better and thereby you automatically switch to a more healthy and well-balanced diet. In this way, meditation helps you lose weight and prevents unnecessary weight gain due to binge eating. It also helps to fight fatigue by energising you and boosts overall energy levels. Kerry Bajaj, a certified health coach at the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center, says, “Meditation is going to make you feel better because you’re disconnecting from all the stimulation of life.” Since meditation is relaxing, it can even help you sleep better. Not only does it help you fall asleep faster but also significantly improves the quality of sleep.