What daily habits worsen anxiety that meditation fixes?
Written by
Gina Mason
Reviewed by
Prof. Benjamin Murphy, Ph.D.Many habits contribute to anxiety without you even realizing it until meditation alerts you to their patterns. Common day-to-day habits, such as multitasking and suppressing your feelings, create an undercurrent of tension that builds over time. Meditation's body of work is to identify these automatic responses and transform them into healthier reframes.
Attention Fragmentation
- Chronic multitasking fractures mental focus into scattered pieces
- Creates constant low-grade stress as your brain switches tasks
- Meditation trains sustained attention through single-pointed focus
Emotional Avoidance
- Suppressing feelings creates internal pressure that manifests as anxiety
- Unprocessed emotions surface as physical tension and worry cycles
- Meditation teaches non-judgmental observation of emotional experiences
Unceasing demands on the brain produced by continuous digital inputs inhibit it from getting sufficient rest. Galvanised by endless notifications and scrolling inputs, the brain's nervous system is on perpetual alert. Meditation creates a purposeful period of inactivity for the brain to replenish its energies, which fortifies it against the numerous stress-charged stimuli faced every day.
Shallow breath patterns directly stimulate your body's stress responses. Breathing in deeply activates the fight-or-flight response unnecessarily. Meditation trains diaphragmatic breathing so your nervous system can self-regulate. Deep breathing into the abdomen will ameliorate the physical reaction of anxiety right away.
Emotional avoidance through distraction or suppression has a boomerang effect. Denied emotion builds internal pressure that erupts as anxiety. Meditation provides a safe space in which to acknowledge and process feelings. This processing of emotion decreases the intensity and frequency of anxiety.
Read the full article: Meditation and Anxiety: Your Complete Guide
