The Benefits of Meditation & Why You Can’t Afford Not to Try This Ancient Practice by Wendy Woods

This ancient practice, in addition to managing stress has many health benefits listed below.  You don’t need to become a Buddhist monk or move to India to start meditating.  You can start with as little as 5 minutes a few times a week and gradually increase your time.  There are also guided meditations to make your introduction an easy one since they only require that relax and listen.

Benefits:
* Meditation boosts the immune system (Stein, J. (2003) The Science of Meditation, TIME Magazine)

* Meditation controls high blood pressure at levels comparable to widely used prescription drugs and without the side effects of drugs (Hypertension, AMA Medical Journal)

* Meditators were able to reduce chronic pain by more than 50% even 4 years after completing an 8-week training course (Jon Kabat-Zinn, M.D. Stress Reduction Clinic,University of Massachusetts)

* Meditation may slow aging. A study found that people who had been meditating for more than five years were biologically 12 – 15 years younger than non-meditators (International Journal of Neuroscience, 1992)

* Meditation reduces the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (State University of New York, 2001)

* Meditation offsets the sluggishness of sleep deprivation better than a nap (University of Kentucky)

* Meditation increases in empathy (University of Wisconsin, 2008)