All over the world, people are raving about the positive benefits that meditation can have on the body, mind, and spirit. At Canada Vein Clinics, we focus on the body and mind aspects of meditation to help increase blood circulation yielding healthy and beautiful veins. We treat a variety of patients throughout Canada that are affected by varicose veins causing discomfort, reduced confidence, and sometimes pain.
Meditation works by connecting the conscious mind to the circulatory system and the heart in order to slow breathing and tireless beating to a steady, relaxed pace. This achievement with meditation isn’t simply done on the first try but takes concentration and practice. Tibetan monks study meditation by making it a daily practice as they dive deeper and deeper into a tactic called tummo meditation. This type of deep meditation for monks allows them to lower their body temperature and control the pace at which their heart beats in addition to the added benefits of reducing blood pressure and increasing circulation throughout the body.
Our lives become stressful with hectic schedules and the endless list of things we all need to get done. However, stress is the tipping point that inhibits the body and mind from coming together to complete certain activities. When we’re stressed, the body has difficulty performing and is essentially the complete opposite of the calm and control that meditation can bring into the environment within our bodies. To understand why we function at half capacity and why stress isn’t good for our health, we need to know what happens to the body in a stressful state as well as the opposite, relaxed state.
How Stress Affects the Body
When we think about stress, we become stressed. Many of us understand the negative repercussions of stress on the body, but rarely take the necessary steps to decrease our stress. When stress levels are maintained, we are healthier and don’t get sick as often; this is because the immune system is nearly nonfunctioning when stress responses are triggered. Stress is an evolutionary safety mechanism useful in the body in the face of danger, but can often be harmful. In order to address an immediate threat or worry, the necessary use of particular systems in the body are increased and other systems that promote a healthy or relaxed state are nearly turned off.
During times of stress, our immune function, digestive function, and memory retention are reduced, and our circulatory system is put in high gear; blood vessels constrict, blood flow increases, our pulse becomes raised and increased amounts of cortisol are pumped throughout the body. Unfortunately, when this stress response is sustained through the day or throughout our life health problems persist. This is a recipe for disaster when it comes to our veins. Healthy veins are not made in prolonged states of stress.
Stress-Related Health Issues:
- Diabetes
- Varicose Veins
- Heart disease
- Anxiety and Depression
- Early aging
- Weight gain
- Chronic fatigue
Relaxation, Meditation, and Your Body
How the body lowers and increases blood pressure has to do with a set of signaling pathways that will work with the kidneys and the heart to signal veins, arteries, and arterioles to narrow or widen. When these pathways narrow, blood pressure increases; when pathways widen, blood pressure decreases. Meditation allows the body to achieve a state of complete relaxation when we feel stressed or out of control by lowering our heart rate, decreasing our blood pressure and finding solace within ourselves. Meditation helps us to find homeostasis working through simple breathing exercises, lying still or walking peacefully.
Our bodies benefit the most when we are calm and collected. The heart reduces its pace to reduce the amount of stress and high-functioning stress responses when they are no longer needed. Meditation helps us to find peace and remain healthy in our lives. As we consistently work through meditations, our circulation is increased and pressure is lowered to maintain complete vein health. Veins that are relaxed and allowed to function without unnecessary stress are healthy veins.
There is no right or wrong way to meditate, but often simply sitting in a comfortable position and focusing on our breathing will bring us back to a much more relaxed state. Now that you know healthy veins come from healthy bodies without constant stress, you have the key to preventative vein care. To schedule a consultation and to assess the health of your veins with Canada Vein Clinics, call 1-888-876-8346.
