Living with fibromyalgia can cause day-to-day life to seem like quite a battle, both physically and emotionally.
With symptoms that range from sleep problems to deep muscle pain, it may seem like the bad days outnumber the good days.
While there are no medicinal treatments to cure fibromyalgia, an individual who must come face to face with this debilitating medical condition on a regular basis can still take steps to can improve the quality of their life.
Meditation–a simple yet multidimensional, no-cost method for stress relief and potentially fibromyalgia symptom relief–can make the day-to-day life of an individual living with fibromyalgia a little easier and a little less painful.
Managing fibromyalgia symptoms through meditation has many benefits, some of which are listed and explored below.
Relaxation and Relief
Stress and pain are often intimately related. Those living with fibromyalgia oftentimes experience both quite frequently. Meditation is a solution that has the potential to tackle both, thus killing two birds with one stone.
A therapeutic treatment which strengthens the mind and body, meditation is a mainstream approach to reducing pain, and those living with fibromyalgia would know that the medical condition, fibromyalgia, definitely falls under the category of pain.
Highly recommended by pain therapists, meditation can take the stress away from one’s shoulders and pain from one’s joints and muscles.
While meditating, distracting thoughts are let go, with the focus being on relaxation and pleasure. Deep meditation will often relieve the individual of the physical sensations they are being bombarded with, such as neck pain and muscle tension.
Taking just a few minutes to meditate can do wonders to calm and restore your inner peace. A type of mind-body complementary medicine, the process oftentimes results in enhanced well-being both physically and emotionally.
Living with fibromyalgia will often present individuals with loads of stress and pains due to symptoms including but not limited to headaches, fatigue, pain, and anxiety. From that list of symptoms, it’s clear to see that fibromyalgia has a large mental and emotional impact.
Meditation, when done appropriately clears the mind of thoughts and transports them to a different, calmer world. This, in turn, leads to physical relaxation and can reduce the painful symptoms that arise through fibromyalgia. Instead of focusing on the busy day or the painful sensations, the individual gets to be in the moment-a moment filled with peaceful bliss.
Simple and Convenient
Fibromyalgia is a painful disease that induces stress and emotional pain in individuals living with this medical condition. The last thing a patient needs is to be brought to financial ruin through treatments that present no improvement in the condition.
Different types of pain can be brought on through this disease and the pain would only amplify if the individual must pay bill after bill with no results.
Meditation, simple and convenient, can be performed at nearly any setting, whenever the pain arises. This allows for convenience too, as meditation does not require any particular equipment, although the individual is certainly welcome to aid the experience with personal touches such as dimly-lit candles and other items that will heighten the relaxation process.
Fibromyalgia symptoms often have a manner of showing up at any time of day, with the worst accumulating in the early morning, late afternoon, and evenings. As mentioned before, fibromyalgia shows up frequently and oftentimes, not very conveniently, but since when was pain convenient?
Pain can be hard to deal with but when it occurs at the work place or other inconvenient location, the individual may not have the time to take in an elaborate medical treatment.
Meditation comes to the rescue for these situations as all one really needs to practice meditation is space, themselves, their mind, their body, and an area that allows for sitting or lying.
Hormonal Balance and Regulation
Meditation has the capability of decreasing stress hormones, as shown in studies and trials, and has been proven to generate a better sense of well-being and improves the body’s functions which is key to reducing painful fibromyalgia symptoms.
This mind-body technique has the ability to regulate hormones, just like exercise, which is a more intense but also beneficial method to relieving the pain that is associated with fibromyalgia. When practicing meditation, breathing is controlled and regulated which provides for a calmer inner self that has the potential to control hormone regulation as well.
It doesn’t stop there, regular hormone processes alleviates physical pain which will definitely contribute to management of fibromyalgia symptoms.
Different Types for Different People
Contrary to popular belief, there are various ways and types of meditation. This ensures that the form of meditation is personally suited to you. For example, guided meditation is commonly practiced in studios which essentially means that a guide prompts you with mental images or visuals that will relax your mental state.
Another popular type of meditation, mindfulness meditation, has been studiously studied and has been shown to alleviate various chronic diseases and medical conditions, fibromyalgia included. This type of meditation heightens personal well-being through building of awareness and mindfulness of the current moment.
Fibromyalgia has the potential to destroy an individual’s lives in multiple dimensions: physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially, just to name a few. Meditation, which provides many benefits both to those who are not burdened with a medical condition, and those who are such as those who suffer from fibromyalgia, increases emotional and physical well-being.
For most, when they hear the word ‘fibromyalgia,’ the common symptoms that come to mind are excruciatingly painful muscles and joints, headaches, and tender points. However, there’s also the coined ‘fibro fog’ which refers to memory and concentration problems, anxiety, stress, and other symptoms that hurt an individual’s emotional health and well-being. Life doesn’t need to be a battle that starts again every single day. With meditation, the pain and stress present through the body can seep out through this mind-body complementary practice that will promote healthier well-being in all dimensions. While fibromyalgia does not have any proven cure, taking these relaxing, peace-inducing steps may cultivate a better sense of-wellbeing and take the painful edge off of some of those fibromyalgia symptoms.
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