Credits: Social Media
I tried a two-minute meditation technique every day and a strange but helpful pattern emerged
As conversations about mental health are becoming increasingly common, were often told to practice mindfulness techniques like meditation to help combat the stresses of everyday life.
This is something that Dr Rangan Chatterjee, a UK-based physician, author and podcaster has recently discussed in a video he shared on his Instagram, which takes a clip from a 2018 appearance he made on The Doctors Farmacy Podcast, hosted by Dr Mark Hyman.
The stresses of modern life
Were living in a society where were overworked, were underslept, weve got a constant stream of emails, tweets, Facebook, were never switching off, Dr Chatterjee said in the podcast.
For me, I find my email inbox stressful and we know that this psychosocial stress raises levels of our stress hormone, cortisol, he continued. If cortisol is too high for too long, it can damage the cells in our hippocampus which is where we lay down our memory.
I think if people really understood that, then we can help people understand that actually, the stress in our lives is impacting our brain function, he added.
As someone who feels that their memory of the past few years has become a little hazy, Dr Chatterjees words immediately caught my attention.
Give meditation a chance
Dr Chatterjee then went on to discuss several ways people can switch off and reduce the stress in their lives.
I always [say] to people, Get 10, 15 minutes of me time every day, you know, switch your devices off, just sit there, read a book, meditate, do some yoga, something, but just focus on that one task, he explained.
I see that having profound impacts all the time and I make it simple for people, I have made deals with my patients before, he continued. They say to me, Doctor, you know, meditation, Ive heard about that but I dont have time to meditate.
I [would say], Can you commit to two minutes a day? and theyre shocked because they think Im going to say they have to do 20 minutes a day, he said.
Look, you have four minutes to brush your teeth every day, right, he added. Lets make that meditation your normal habit but lets start with two minutes a day.
If you start with two minutes, that becomes five minutes, that becomes 10, Dr Chatterjee said. But if I start with 15-20 minutes, they do it for two days, they dont manage to do it the third day and they give up.
I tried two-minute meditation for a week
After hearing Dr Chatterjees advice, I decided to put it to the test and for the last week Ive been making time for two minutes of meditation every day.
Beginning on Friday, March 22, I would take a moment each day to set a two-minute timer before closing my eyes and focusing on my breathing, trying to clear my mind of any stressful thoughts.
Some days Id venture away from my desk, either sitting elsewhere in the house or lying down on the bed, while on others Id remain sat in my office chair.
Over the course of one week, however, its hard to pinpoint any obvious benefits to two minutes of meditation but after noticing an intriguing pattern emerge, Im inclined to continue with the practice to see if it does offer any longer-term benefits.
As I started my daily two-minute meditation on a Friday, the early days of trying it out fell over the weekend, at a time when Id be less stressed.
On these days, those two minutes felt like forever and I would notice myself opening my eyes to check the timer to see that it still had 30 seconds left.
But on days when I was working and felt more stressed, the two-minute meditation zoomed by, even leaving me wishing for more time on certain days, almost as if my brain hadnt had enough time to slow down by the time the two minutes were over.
After noticing this pattern emerge, Id be curious to continue daily meditation. But rather than stick to a strict two-minute time limit, Id perhaps look to increase the amount of time spent meditating on days when Im feeling stressed to see if it leads to more notable results for my mental health in lowering feelings of angst and anxiety.
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