Importance of Meditation for Doctors & Healthcare Workers

Importance of Meditation for Doctors & Healthcare Workers

With the pace of life increasing alarmingly each day and life becoming a heap of mind-bending situations, what is at stake is each one’s mental health. As healthcare workers it is a duty bestowed upon us to be the safeguards of our patient’s health both physically and mentally.

In the process of being instrumental to shape positive outlook towards life into the minds of patients’, what is not given due importance is the mental health of those who try to pull patients out of dark places. Hence, importance should be given to the mental health of the caregivers. The feeling of being at peace by helping those in need comes with the added burden of emotional and mental turbulence. With our schedules being extremely tight, finding out time for ourselves become very difficult and the easiest way to fix our own mental wellbeing comes through meditation.

Meditation has long been proven as a mean of providing calmness. The effect of such a mindful exercise is that, though it is an easier technique, the benefits fairly outweigh the work done. The importance of meditation dates back to centuries and the benefits have very well been documented in ancient texts too. The current trends of life make one believe that this is an outdated practice, but the relevance today is greater than that it was in the yesteryears.

Besides the fact, meditation have a calming effect on the mind and body, it also helps one to build a sharp focus.  In our field, the added focus only helps us in being more keen-eyed towards the patient’s concerns. The added pressure of being doctors also conferred upon us can lead to many things like, indulging in negative thoughts but meditation acts as a boon in that regard too. It boosts positivity and helps doctors to focus on the good in them, in their lives and to appreciate their true values.

The extra work hours and the delicacy of patient care teamed up with the variety of sickness that a doctor faces every day, it is customary to believe that this would lead the caregivers being worn out too. Meditation plays a prime role in building resilience, it makes the doctors more agile, compassionate and makes them ready for work beyond their capabilities.

Meditation should be opted as a life skill and must be practiced without self-deceits. Despite of busy schedules, each one of us has enough time to spend on ourselves and there is absolutely no harm in channelising that time into gaining something positive.

The overall wellbeing and mental health of a doctor is often on the line, as being surrounded by physically and emotionally draining situations throughout a major part of the day can raise the risk for depression, anxiety, fatigue and sleep disturbances. Finding out time each day to include meditation in their routine can help them separate themselves momentarily and also collect their thoughts.

Though meditation can be done in a variety of ways but finding time for a deep mediation practice might be difficult. One can always start with breathing exercises as they are proven busters for anxiety and stress. The best part is that breathing exercises can be done in the confines of a hospital setting, while doing rounds or even on taking a short break. One can also opt for a practice right before sleep, this would not only help relieve the stress of the day but also improve the quality of sleep. As working on minimum or low-quality sleep only makes the following day harder with a lot of clouded judgements.

Lastly, by opting for healthier choices in food and drinks, every doctor can focus on their physical health. What is often overlooked is one’s mental health and fixing it

is as important as any other components of total health. One can find the treasures of one’s mind simply through meditation, it places the mind at a higher level of consciousness and therefore improves the quality of life in total. Meditation is the workout of the mind and a mere 10 minutes each day is enough to feed the mind its source of balanced diet.

Meditation certainly is the easiest means to building mastery over our own minds. It is an embellish to suppress all the fears, worries and anxieties and be an expert over oneself and over the medical treatments that one performs.