Did You Know That Spirituality Helps To Manage Stress?

In recent years, different investigations have shown that spirituality helps reduce stress. Although for many people to speak of spirituality is to speak of religion, in reality, spirituality can be lived independently of religious beliefs or independently of one’s own religion without this implying any kind of contradiction.

In this sense, a religion is considered to be a coded set of beliefs and practices shared by a group of individuals regarding their relationship with a higher power. For its part, spirituality refers to the relationship of an individual with a spirit, which can be a higher power (such as a god) or simply a representation of the connection of the human being with a metaphysical reality greater than oneself.

This is why people can be religious without being spiritual and people who are spiritual without being religious.  We can even meet people who live their spirituality regardless of the religion they profess.

Notably, research has found that spirituality helps protect against depression as it thickens the cerebral cortex. A 2014 study conducted at Columbia University found thickening of parts of the cerebral cortex associated with regular meditation or other spiritual or religious practice. This could be the reason why these activities protect against depression, especially in people predisposed to the disease.

Expression of spirituality for stress management

Spiritual people have various ways of expressing spirituality, such as praying, attending religious services, interacting with people who share the same beliefs, meditating, through art or music (creating or contemplating / listening), contemplating nature, etc. .

For example, religious people often find in prayer a way to be more connected to their god. Praying helps them feel calm, more secure, and more grounded, which can help reduce stress. Meditation would have benefits similar to prayer , which also helps reduce blood pressure and increases immunity, among other factors that are conducive to stress management.

Being grateful and expressing gratitude are also ways of expressing spirituality that help manage stress. Gratitude can reduce the experience of stress. The contemplation of art or nature or the artistic expression itself can also help to manage stress if they are considered from a point of view of spiritual experience, of gratitude.

Spirituality helps manage stress

Spirituality can help reduce and manage stress in a number of ways. Spirituality generates a feeling of stillness and inner peace that helps us manage stress and regain communication with ourselves, with our mental and physical state.

We spend a lot of time working, jumping from one activity to another, sometimes even multitasking. We also spend a lot of time listening to others, trying to distract ourselves, while a lot of thoughts run through our minds uncontrollably.

Practicing spirituality can help us find moments of respite in the midst of everyday life. The time we spend meditating, praying or simply appreciating what is happening around us and within ourselves as mere spectators positions us in an intelligent way in front of reality. It is as if we hired an assistant, with the advantage that this assistant has very valuable information about ourselves.

Spirituality also helps us manage uncertainty. Trying to control everything is a very significant source of frustration, simply because it is an impossible goal. Thus, freeing ourselves from this goal, which we can see as a need, will decrease our basal level of anxiety.

On the other hand, spirituality increases meaning, to live events, both positive and negative, in a meaningful way, trying to learn from situations instead of victimizing or blaming ourselves or living them superficially.

There is no doubt that, in addition, spirituality enhances the feeling of connection. Feeling part of something bigger than ourselves can make us feel less isolated and alone. Most stressors seem smaller and easier to handle if we know we belong to something

Spirituality also helps us maintain a sense of purpose.   The enhanced sense of connection and the sense of meaning derived from spiritual practices allow us to look beyond ourselves. This increases our sense of responsibility towards our community, even towards the universe in general.

In essence, spirituality helps us manage stress thanks to the change in perspective that it proposes. Spiritual practice can help us transform obstacles that seem insurmountable into challenges that are manageable. Spirituality also helps us clarify our values ​​and focus on what is important.