New scientific research is brimming with findings about the benefits of regular meditative practice. And while we are still a long way from understanding the mechanics of why the practice affects our health so profoundly, meditation studies have uncovered exciting evidence indicating that it plays a key role in health, longevity, and quality of life.
Some things are easy to see. During meditation, blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration slow; the body uses less oxygen; alpha wave activity in the brain increases (indicative of peaceful states), and lactate levels drop significantly, indicating a decrease in stress. In fact meditation has been shown to be the only known practice or activity which causes lactate to diminish.
Additionally, there have been more surprising findings. For instance, the medical journal Psychosomatic Medicine reported that meditation lowered lipid peroxide levels in practitioners' blood, the level of which is a solid indicator of biological age. Another study in the same journal revealed that meditators' left, prefrontal cortexes--associated with positive emotion and higher, human functions like decision making--were actually enlarged, indicating that the brain is directly, physically affected by the practice.
Meditative practice also has a clear impact on heart health. The journal Stroke published a study showing that patients suffering from atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) showed a marked decrease in the thickness of artery walls when they practiced meditation. In contrast, non-meditators actually showed an increase during the same time frame.
While researchers are still not sure why meditation causes such profound and diverse health benefits, the most recent research has discovered that the practice may be affecting us at the level of our stem cells and genetic programming.
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Studies show, meditation is powerful natural medicine:
→ Reduces cardiovascular disease rates by up to 80%
→ Reduces cancer rates by 50%
→ Reduces the chance of stroke by 33%
→ Alleviates depression, anxiety, and panic attacks
→ Positively affects the symptoms of stress, chronic pain, and arthritis
→ Eases painful symptoms of menopause and PMS
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