High cholesterol is a dangerous condition and one that you want to do everything you can to prevent and manage. There are a number of ways that you can lower your cholesterol and get it back under control, but you may be surprised to learn how effective meditation can be for treating this condition.
Can Meditation Alone Decrease Cholesterol?
Let’s make this clear from the start: if you are only using mediation to treat your cholesterol, you probably are not going to lower it. Emotional stress can cause the body to release fat into the bloodstream, which can lead to issues with cholesterol levels. Mediation is a proven way of reducing stress levels, which can ultimately improve the markers of high cholesterol.
In other words, it can create the kind of conditions in the mind and the body where cholesterol could be more easily treated and handled, but it doesn’t actually lower cholesterol. That’s not to say that meditation has no use as a cholesterol control method. It’s quite the opposite.
How You Can Use Meditation to Help
While meditating alone is not the right way to deal with high cholesterol, we want to give you some ways that you can use it effectively. It is a great tool, and it’s something that a lot of people do that helps them get their cholesterol under control.
If you are taking medication for your cholesterol and you find that you are forgetful or that you just don’t want your medication or that taking medication makes you anxious, then meditation can help. It can get your body and mind into a more relaxed state and allow the medication to work more effectively and make you more likely to take your pills without trouble. So, not only does it enable you to take the medicine, but it allows it to be more effective.
Meditation also helps you to have better control over your body, your habits, your cravings and other aspects of your personality. A big part of reducing cholesterol is to make healthy lifestyle choices. You need to eat right, exercise more and live as healthy as possible. You may not be able to do that if you stress eat or if you feel depressed about your cholesterol and are unwilling to exercise some days. You may lack the motivation and the willpower to do what you need to to do to get your cholesterol under control. If you are meditating, then you will be more at peace, and you will have a clearer mind and be able to understand how proper lifestyle choices are so essential for you.
Meditation can also reduce stress. That is one of the leading factors of high cholesterol. So, while meditation is not lowering the pressure of your blood, using it can decrease stress, which has a direct effect on our cholesterol. That’s as close to a link between cholesterol control and meditation as you can make at this point in our understanding of their relationship. It’s no wonder that many doctors recommend meditating as a way to fight high cholesterol. They know how powerful its effects can be on your stress levels, and once those levels go down, your cholesterol should decrease as well.
Techniques for Meditating
You may want to talk to a meditation expert before you try to make meditation a part of your cholesterol treatment routine, but we can get you started with some basic techniques that will help you to be mindful and to meditate.
The most basic one is simple breathing techniques. Try to block out the world around you, perhaps by closing your eyes, covering your ears with headphones (you don’t even need any music on) and sitting or lying down in a relaxed position. Your body and mind can be at rest at that point, and you can just take some time to breathe. Take a few deep breaths, hold them for a few moments, and then let them out. Long, slow breaths are great for breathing meditation as well. Try to concentrate on the breaths you take and not focus on anything else around you.
You can also drown out nearby sounds with some relaxing music. Find music that is labelled as meditation music or just something that calms you. You don’t want anything with a beat, as that can elevate your cholesterol and increase your heartbeat. Once again, closing your eyes will allow you to relax more, and you want to be sure that you are in a comfortable potion. Just focus on the music and the sounds you hear, trying to pick apart the different instruments and what the different sounds you are hearing. Classical music is great for this technique as well, thought what works well for one person may not be the same as what works well for you, so you may need to experiment.
Personalized mantras are also effective. You can tell yourself over and over again that you need to relax, that you can lower your cholesterol and that you are getting rid of the stress in your life. You should customize it to you to make it more effective for you.
Don’t Forget Your Other Tools
Meditation can be an important and powerful tool in getting control over your high cholesterol, but you need to remember that it is not your only one. It is always more effective when coupled with other methods of relaxation and cholesterol control.
You can talk to your doctor about what you should be doing to lower your cholesterol, and you will often get the same answers. Eating less salt and more healthy foods is a big part of it. Healthy eating can change how your body behaves and make it easier for your cholesterol to get to an acceptable and safe level.
Exercising is equally important. The more exercise you get, the healthier your body will become and the more easily your blood will flow. Your arteries will become cleaner and clearer, and will not be as clogged, which will lower your cholesterol.
You also need to take your medication. Regularly medicating as your doctor has recommended can lower our cholesterol faster than anything, but that is only a temporary treatment and not a cure. You will have to exercise and eat right to get your cholesterol under control permanently.