How Does Regular Meditation Reduce Anxiety and Stress?

Stress and anxiety don’t wait for perimenopause — they can show up anytime. But with perimenopause, mood swings, anxiety, sleepless nights, and exhaustion seem to tag along. It’s no surprise that juggling all of this can push stress levels through the roof, affecting both mind and body.

That’s where meditation comes in! It’s been proven to help ease how we react to stress, and we think it’s a brilliant way to cope with some of the trickier parts of perimenopause. Meditation really can be your route to restoring calm, easing tension, and helping you feel more in control. In this article, let’s explore how this simple practice can make all the difference when stress and perimenopause collide. (1)

When the human body encounters stress, the sympathetic nervous system activates, tensing muscles, tightening blood vessels, and speeding up our thoughts (all exhausting stuff).

Once the stressful factor is removed from the picture, the parasympathetic nervous system calms the body by slowing the heartbeat and relaxing the blood vessels. This is vital to the practice of yoga because the parasympathetic system is what we try to activate through doing exercises such as meditation or yoga.

Meditation is a practice in which a person trains their mind to focus on one thing, such as the breath, a mantra or repeated phrase, or sounds or bodily sensations. Similarly to mindfulness, it encourages a mode of consciousness that clears the mind of overcrowding thoughts and encourages mental peacefulness.

To meditate, all you need is to find a way to sit comfortably on the floor or on a chair, with your spine nice and straight. Set a timer for the number of minutes you would like to practise. We suggest beginners start at 5 minutes and work their way up to 10, 15, and 20 (or longer!). 

Now, close your eyes or soften your gaze downwards, then start to gently focus the mind using one of the techniques mentioned above. Thoughts will inevitably appear in the mind, especially when we are new to the practice, this doesn’t mean you aren't doing it correctly. Let these gently pass across your brain and bring yourself back to your point of focus, without judgement or ‘clinging’ to the substance of the thoughts.

Put simply, effective meditation induces the body’s relaxation response, or parasympathetic nervous system. This happens in the moment of meditating but also helps us retain a calmer, less reactive response to outside stressors over time if we cultivate a consistent practice.

Reduction of Initial Stress Response

A regular meditation practice leads the body's initial response to stress (the sympathetic drive) to reduce, and over time, meditation helps us develop better control over this stress response, making it easier to manage.

Scientific Evidence of Meditation's Benefits

Numerous scientific studies have shown the incredible benefits of meditation. One published by Santhanam, Preetha, and Gayatri Devi in 2018 found that meditation significantly reduced stress levels among participants. Initially, 40% of the sample population reported high perceived stress, and 60% had moderate stress. After one month of meditation practice, only 10% still had high perceived stress, while 90% reported moderate stress, highlighting that meditation effectively reduces high stress to a more manageable level.

Mechanisms of Meditation (3)

Meditation, as research by Goleman and Schwartz (2017) has shown, "shares with certain relaxation procedures the induction of a generalised low arousal pattern of responses characterised by sympathetic inhibition, which may prove to inhibit the autonomic activation seen in the stress response." In simpler terms, meditation helps calm the body by actively reducing the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, which triggers our stress response.

Key Ways Meditation Reduces Stress (4)

There are two key ways that meditation helps us reduce stress levels in our lives, as outlined by Dr Ramosha Manocha, who holds a PhD in the scientific value of meditation. First, by reducing somatic arousal (physiological, or bodily, effects), thereby reducing reactivity of the individual to environmental stressors. Secondly, by altering the individual’s cognitive appraisal of and perceived self-efficacy with regard to stressors. This means that not only are those who regularly meditate less reactive to anything that can cause them to feel stressed, but when stress inevitably occurs, their body doesn’t react as strongly to it.

You might feel a bit bombarded by advice on how to manage the physical and mental symptoms of perimenopause at times, but one practice stands out for its positive effects on sleep, stress, and overall well-being: meditation. Regular meditation not only prepares the mind for a restful night but also decreases stress levels, enhancing mental health and improving how our body responds to everyday challenges (including those not related to your perimenopause!).

Who doesn’t want to be less stressed or anxious every day? Answer: no one. While meditation can’t take away all the concerns associated with perimenopause, it is a tool that can support you to cope better with this period (pun intended). Adding a meditation practice to your daily or weekly routine can enhance your sleep and reduce stress levels. It’s all about calming your mind and easing your body’s stress response, which makes falling asleep and dealing with daily challenges so much easier. Give it a go! Even a few minutes a day can make a big difference.

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