Increased stress levels can negatively impact your physical and psychological health. Stress can lead to headaches, skin conditions, high blood pressure, sleep deprivation, heart problems, and more.

There are many ways to decrease stress. Using meditation is an effective way that many people use.

How Meditation Decreases Stress

Meditation is proven to bring your body to a relaxed state. During meditation, your mind and attention are focused on positive things and breathing. This simultaneously shifts your mind from negativity to positivity.

One study found that meditation was able to decrease stress by over 14% in just 10 days. Meditation trains your mind to be more open to good thoughts. Your body understands when your mind is not at ease.

How to Meditate

While meditating is a practice that will take consistency, it is easy to do and can be done by anyone.

Choose a comfortable place.

Make sure that when you meditate, you are in a comfortable position and free of distractions. Depending on the meditation you choose to do, you want to make sure that you don’t have to move into multiple positions to regain comfort.

Set a time limit.

Choose what’s best for you in your meditation routine. For people who are new to meditation, you can start with 10 minutes of meditation a day. Eventually, you can work your way up to longer meditations.

Become one with your body.

While you meditate, focus on your breathing and centering your feelings. During meditation, you should try to realize different things your body feels, like aches and pains.

Notice your thoughts.

Thoughts drifting away during meditation is normal and healthy. Don’t be hard on yourself when it happens. Acknowledge your thoughts and bring yourself back to focus.

BetterSleep Meditations for Stress Relief

Finding the perfect meditation can be difficult. The BetterSleep app has many meditations to choose from that can help reduce stress:

• **Gratitude for Stressful Times. **This meditation is great for getting rid of negativity and leads you to happier/healthier ways to overcome stressful situations.
• **Breathing for Stress Release. **This meditation is a soft approach to overcoming stress and reducing its side effects.
• **SOS De-stress Meditation. **Stressful situations can occur at any time of the day. This quick meditation can help you de-stress before or after a stressful event.
• Self-love Body Scan. It’s important to show your body love and appreciation after the work it does throughout the day. This meditation helps you rest by relaxing your entire body.

The BetterSleep app has plenty of meditations and sounds to help you remain stress-free. Visit the app today for more ways to improve your overall mental health