The Impact of Nature and Meditation on Mental Health

by Zartasha Zainab

    Contemporary scientists and health practitioners have spent almost a decade now focusing largely on the impact of our mental health using the biomedical paradigm. Research has been directed towards exploring brain processes, functions and various parts of the brain, our genetic composition,  our biology and often blaming the victim of mental illnesses for the way they think or behave while ignoring the social context in which those illnesses or disorders take root. Several mood disorders that impact our physiological state both mental and bodily can be treated using natural techniques with fewer side effects.  New studies are finding holistic ways that will enable us to better perform, have better brain functions and better overall mental health. Whereas studies on drug use to cure mental illness has shown various hazardous side effects.. Tricyclics and antidepressants such as Tofranil and Elavil can lead to heart attack, stroke, hypotension, blurred vision, anxiety, tiredness, dry mouth, constipation, gastric disorders, erectile failure, and weight gain. The use of MAO inhibitors such as Parnate can have side effects such as fatal hypertension, dry mouth, dissiness, nausea, and headaches. The use of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors such as Prozac can lead to nervousness, fatigue, gastrointenstinal complaints, dizziness, headaches and insomnia. And finally the use of Lithium can lead to tremors, gastric distress, lack of coordination, dizziness, cardiac arrhythmia, blurred vision, fatigue and also death. When weighing the costs and benefits of drug therapy or biopsychosocial therapies that focus on thought processes that result in stress, relaxation and the role that our social and environmental factors play on allowing us to achieve mental health are a lot more effective.⁴  This article focuses on two key factors that impact our mental well being. (1) Spending time in nature and (2) The impact of meditation on mental health which often results in overall well being.

     Have you ever felt extremely stressful and then gone to a park or a nature walk to find yourself feeling renewed, refreshed, more tranquil as well as peaceful inside out? Well, that feeling is not just you. Various studies have shown that being around nature directly impacts our mental health and overall well being. Studies conducted on children have shown that children growing up in the inner city who are not often exposed to as much natural environment are at risk of academic underachievement, juvenile delinquency, teenage pregnancy and other important negative outcomes. In order to avoid these outcomes there is a necessity for self discipline, which requires directed attention which is a limited resource that can be renewed through contact with nature. Children who spent more time around nature showed greater concentration, impulse inhibition, and the ability to delay gratification. Girls especially showed a remarkable degree of overall better mental health being in close proximity to nature and boys showed better overall mental health being close to nature even from a greater distance.¹

    The next focus of this article is the impact of meditation on mental health. A variety of studies have shown that transcendental meditation also has an astonishing impact on overall mental well being. Transcendental meditation is a mental practice that focuses on putting the mind and body in a state of complete relaxation. This method has been shown to reduce anxiety as well as stress and also enhancing mental health. Studies were conducted over an entire twelve week period and test scores revealed overall well being in somatisation and anxiety as well as better immune functioning. Transcendental meditation allows the mind to settle into a quieter state and the body into a state of deep rest leading to relaxed alertness. It also reduces anxiety and distress. This is independent of age, sex and marital status.³ Meditation also has an enormous impact on our immune system. Meditation boosts antibodies, it melts away stress, it stimulates immune system brain function regions. Since our immune system is also linked to thoughts, for reasons unknown, it responds to both negative and positive thoughts. Meditation creates the perfect environment for the immune system to flourish allowing for better health, more energy and greater happiness.²

      Through natural environments and meditations, we are able to have an overall better immune system, better somatisation, relief from anxieties as well as depression as well as various stress disorders. These methods are much healthier than using drugs to cure the mood disorders which are accompanied by hazardous side effects. It also leads to better concentration and immune system. Meditation and nature allow us to develop a stronger mental and physiological state improving our autonomous nervous system as well as central nervous system both within our consciousness as well as sub consciousness.  These are just a few ways of understanding mental health from a more broader and holistic perspective that health professionals are beginning to research and target in order to develop better social, behavioural and environmental outcomes for our overall mental health and well being.          ____________________________________________________________________________________

            ¹Faber, A., Kuo, F., & Sullivan, W. (2002). Journal of Environmental Psychology, 22(2), 49-63. Retrieved November 10, 2014, from    http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494401902415

           ²Miserandino, M. (2012). Intrapsychic Foundations of Personality. In Personality Psychology.       New Jersey: Pearson

       ³Yunesian, M., Aslani, A., Vash, J., & Yazdi, A. (2008). Effects of Transcendental Meditation         on mental health: A before-after study. Clinical Practice and Epidiemiology in Mental  Health,4(25). Retrieved November 11, 2014, from  http://www.cpementalhealth.com/content/4/1/25

         ⁴Davison, G., Blankstein, K., Flett, G., & Neale, J. (2013). Mood Disorders and Suicide. InAbnormal Psychology Fifth Canadian Edition (5th ed., pp. 260-264). New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons

Health and Well Being in Islam - Table of Contents

Author's Note

Section One: Individual Well Being
    Chapter 1: Understanding the Self
    Chapter 2: Moral Development
    Chapter 3: The Muslim Helpline
    Chapter 4: Challenges in Adolescence (13-19)
    Chapter 4: Challenges in Young Adulthood (19-40)
    Chapter 5: Challenges in Middled Aged (40-65)

Section Two: Elders 65+
    Chapter 1: Understanding the Needs of our Elders
    Chapter 2: Preventing the Development of Old Age Diseases

Section Three: Children and Infants
    Chapter 1: Child Development
    Chapter 2: When does the 'rooh' Arrive?
    Chapter 3: Engaging Activities for Infants and Preschoolers
    Chapter 4: An Islamic School Environment
    Chapter 5: Engaging Activities for Young Children
    Chapter 6: Engaging Activities for Children 7-12

References




 

 

   

 

 

 

Article on Sanctity of LIfe - Aramesh and H. Shadi

    Islamic jurisprudence, based on a convincing

interpretation of the holy Koran, does not recognize a

person’s right to die voluntarily. The Islamic arguments

against euthanasia can be summarized in two main

reasons: 1-Life is sacred and euthanasia and suicide are

not included among the reasons allowed for killing in

Islam. And 2-Allah decides how long each of us will

live and two verses support this reason.

According to Islamic teachings, life is a divine trust

and can not be terminated by any form of active or

passive voluntary intervention.11 All the Islamic

scholars regard active euthanasia as forbidden (Hiram)

and there is no difference between Sunni and Shiite

schools.

    The moment of death, ajal, is under the control of

Allah and the human has no say in this matter; the

human can not and should not attempt to hasten or

delay the ajal. The prohibition on life applies equally

well whether for self, suicide, or others, homicide or

genocide. The concepts of autonomy, freedom and

individual choice does not apply here for these two

reasons: a. life does not belong to the human; and b.

taking life will cause harm to the family and society in

general. An individual's freedom of choice is

constrained by the harm it causes to others.

Justifying the stance of advocates of euthanasia on

the basis of other factors such as economic concerns,

consideration of resources that could otherwise be

utilized by other patients and death with dignity does

not seem plausible because of crime nature of mercy

killing in Islamic point of view.3 Of course, we have to

exclude the situation in which the life support

equipments are switched off from a brain-dead person,

aimed to use them for saving the life of a live person.

As a conclusion we can say that the Islamic position

is that life belongs to Allah. It is He who gives and

takes away life. No human can give or take it. Muslims

are against euthanasia. They believe that all human life

is sacred because it is given by Allah, and that Allah

chooses how long each person will live. Human beings

should not interfere in this.

   There are two instances, however, that could be

interpreted as passive assistance in allowing a

terminally ill patient to die and would be permissible

by Islamic law: Administering analgesic agents that

might shorten the patient’s life, with the purpose of

relieving the physical pain or mental distress, and

withdrawing a futile treatment in the basis of informed

consent (of the immediate family members who act on

the professional advice of the physicians in charge of

the case) allowing death to take its natural course.11

If a patient is medically presumed dead through

what is known as brain death, switching off the life

support may be permissible, with due consultation and

care, especially when it is clear that the life support

machine becomes of no use for the already-dead patient

or in the case of organ and tissue donation for saving

another persons’ life which is a routine practice in Iran

and some other Muslim countries. Regarding end-stage

dementic patients, they should be considered as

completely human being and according to Islamic teachings; their life is scared and should not be taken.

Resilience with Love

Recent studies reveal that the power of a kind word, good manners, politeness and social support and accepting the condition have a huge role on the resilience of people with disabilities. Our current society consists victim blaming, individualizing the client as deficient and stigmatizing behaviours towards those with illnesses. While we can hold the role of medicine accountable for curing several viral, bacterial and infectious diseases and saving lives, relieveing pain, enabling actives lives and performing caring functions, as the Prophet pbuh stated “you should seek medicaltreatment, because Allah, the Exalted, has let no disease exist withoutproviding for its cure, except for one ailment, namely, old age'."(Reported by Ahmad and the six sunnan. Tirmidi ), we cannot neglect the social conditions in which they exist. Through this article, I would like to raise awareness of the social factors contributing to the resilience of those with illness, the merit of becoming ill and helping those with illness and the impact of living the islamic lifestyle and following divine guidance that supersedes our limited understandings that are beyond our perceptions by comparing social anthropological studies that look at various social and environmental conditions and lifestyles.

Sickness; A Blessing or a Curse?

Historically in western soceity, religions were all generalized under giving illness stigmatizing labels such as deviance and satanic. (Crawford; 374)

The Prophet pbuh stated. “No Muslim is afflicted with any hurt, even if it is no more than thepricking of a thorn, but Allah wipes off his sins because of it and his sinsfall away from him as leaves fall from a tree'."(Abu Huraira)

Studies comparing migration of African Carribeans and Turkish in the Netherlands reveal that the social conditions for both groups included experiecing low levels of employment, low levels of education and while the social conditions made both groups vulnerable, the results were not the same. This suggests that the lower risks were reletaive to one’s expectations, ambitions and perceptions. The way we perceive illness and the conditions around us, and to the extent that which we internalize stress impacts our vulnerability to contractign diseases as well as resilience.

Accepting the societal labels, internalizing societal negative perceptions and stress can all heavily impact the well being of individuals. While certain lifestyle patterns can result in contractign dangerous chronic diseases including STDs, cancer and so on, many diseases do actually serve as blessings that expiate for sins in this world and should not be viewed negatively.   The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “On the Day of Resurrection, when people who had suffered affliction are given their reward, those who were healthy will wish their skins had been cut to pieces with scissors when they were in the world.”

Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 2402.

How to Treat Individuals with illness

Many diseases today are caused or prolonged due to stress, lack of social support, heavy reliance on psychoactive druge, sleepign aid and pain relievers. (Crawford 373). Elders are being placed on social welfare programs and old houses, toddlers are being dropped into daycares and the structure of society are becoming more and more consumer based and individualistic. By ignoring the underlying causation of societal conditions in which illness is beginning to take root and societal imbalances are beginning to take place. Illness are beginning to prolonged. This is what happens when we think that we “know” it all and our perceptions without the aid of the firmness of divine guidance. In this specific article, I’m going to be discussing the way we should treat those with illnesses. It is Islamic etiquette to visit a sick Muslim, to provide him moral support,and to make sure that he or she is well taken care of.

The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: "A Muslim has six obligations toanother Muslim." "What are these?" they asked. He replied:"To greet another Muslim when you meet him; to respond when he invitesyou; to give him your (sincerest) advice when he seeks it; to say 'may Allahhave mercy upon you' when he sneezes and says ' may Allah be praised '; tovisit him when he falls ill; and when he dies, to attend his funeral."

Negative attitudes stem from ignorance, fear and pity that are perpetuated by the media. Cross sectional studies indicate that Television is the main source of information about various illnesses and disorders. Family members also often become mroe hostile towards diseased members and act hostile towards them due to the perceived burden of care. (Smith & Reddy, 2011) . While women tend to be more expressive of compassion and empathy, these attitudes continue to persist. They negatively impact the social identity, social interactions and social institutions at the societal level causing distress for the individual and discrimination from the general public.   (Smith & Reddy, 2011)

In conclusion, I would like to make a point that as Muslims in society, we do not follow the negative attitudes that are created. That we - for the sake of Allah swt - show kindness, consideration, acceptance towards those with illnesses. That we see the merit in helping those and the rewards for doing good to members of our society during hardships.