February Health Hack – Meditation

Instead of trying to do lots of different health resolutions for this year all in one go I decided to test out a different health hack every month for the year of 2018 – the thinking was it is easier to attempt something for 1 month and doing 1 hack at a time may help me recognise any changes that take place on that specific hack for the month.

February was Meditation month. I decided to have a daily meditation practice of 10 minutes – I felt this was long enough to relax properly but not so long that I might deem it impossible to find the time. Meditation currently has a growing following and with the rising levels of stress we impose on ourselves daily it felt like a good choice. I like the idea of the mindfulness and focus that meditation can bring and I had tried to incorporate it into my daily routine previously without much success; so on my list of 2018 health hacks it went.

I chose to use meditation apps on my phone to help me with the task – I used 2 different apps through the month as I didn’t sign up to them I just used the free sessions they offer as a taster. I liked both apps equally, there were some similarities between them but each had its own merits. The apps I used were Headspace and Calm both of which I downloaded for free from the app store on my iPhone enabling me to meditate anywhere. I also had a reminder on my phone which for the most part I ignored when it popped up but it did help remind me later that day if I hadn’t yet done a meditation.

I found it harder than I expected to remember to meditate every day and often had to do it right before I went to sleep as I suddenly realised I hadn’t completed a session for that day, by the end of February I had managed to meditate on 24 days. I really enjoyed the meditation and while I didn’t notice any identifiable changes to my mood day to day I did have more awareness of how the meditation helped me in moments of stress – because meditation was on my mind I realised in those moments of stress and anxiety I could use the meditation to change my state of mind and I did this throughout the month and found it immediately reduced my stress levels. Altogether I found the month of meditation really helpful and hope to continue to meditate.

March’s health hack is no alcohol – come back at the beginning of April to see how I got on.