30-day meditation results

Shortness of breath. Increased heart rate. Racing thoughts. A sense of impending doom. My personal favorite: Lying awake in the middle of the night obsessing over something you did two years ago that probably no one either a) remembers or b) cares about.

If you’ve ever had a panic attack at the hands of anxiety, you know this song and dance all too well. A study from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America found that 40% of those polled report that they experience persistent anxiety and stress in their everyday lives, including at work. Furthermore, according to the American Psychiatric Association Foundation, anxiety disorders result in an average loss of 4.6 workdays per month, and about 5.5 workdays of decreased productivity each month.

There’s no question that anxiety is taking a toll not just on our personal lives, but on our careers as well. While more people are opening up about their battles with anxiety, managing it is an entirely different thing altogether.

When I searched for ways to take control of my own raging anxiety, the concept of meditation kept coming up. Now, I was no stranger to meditation, or so I thought. I was well aware of its almost immediate effects in calming the mind and body, as well as the long-term benefits of leading a happier life. I’d taken a few yoga and meditation classes, but I never walked away from those sessions feeling how I imagined I was supposed to feel.

That is until I completed a 30-day meditation challenge. To be clear, I didn’t go into this challenge thinking that it would “cure” my anxiety. I wanted to add a few minutes of peace into my day. I found the challenge in an audio-based fitness app I’d started using since the new year. It seemed simple enough: meditate each day starting with five-minute sessions, and work your way up to 30-minute sessions.

Source: 30-day meditation results

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