Any athlete knows that greatness comes with a great amount of vigor, intensity, and endurance. Some athletes will put an extensive amount of time into training their body to handle these skill sets, but to be a great athlete you may need to take a second to focus on another strong part of your body–your brain.

Taking time to train your mind and relax your body may have health benefits that your gym workout couldn’t even dream of. An easy way to do this is by practicing meditation that uses focused breathing. You can also find exercises that help reduce your heart rate, respiration, and other factors that cause stress. These exercises do this by reducing levels of cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone.

This is extremely important when factoring in the fact that all sports themselves are their own mental game. No matter how hard you work out and build your physical strength, your mental strength can completely alter your performance.

Some benefits to meditation include enhanced focus, reduced sensitivity to pain, improved sleep, and a boosts to the immune system. So, not only does it benefit the mind, but it also improves physical well-being.

For those of you who wouldn’t consider themselves “athletes,” no worries. Meditation can help in all of these aspects without the added physical activity and can do so in as little as 5-10 minutes.

That being said, as I write an article on the benefits of meditating, I must also include the benefits of aerobic activity. When your body is active, it releases endorphins which are opioids in the pituitary glands that block pain, decrease appetite, promote feelings of euphoria, and reduce tension and anxiety.

Annabel Lasher competes on the girls swim team which means she participates in early practice on Wednesdays and Fridays. Early practice seems like it could be a pretty rough chore, but she says that it puts her in such a good mood. “It’s hard to get up early in the morning but I always feel refreshed and ready for the day,” she said.

No matter who you are, or what you do, properly taking care of your mind and body will give you results that can be seen in your day to day life. If you are able to develop these habits and use them throughout your life, they will surely increase overall well-being.