Meditation is great for your health. It is therapeutic for many injuries and medical conditions. Most people have heard that meditation is good for you, but how does it affect your health?

A bigger brain

Push-ups, crunches, gyms, personal trainers - people have many strategies for building bigger muscles and stronger bones. But what can one do to build a bigger brain? Meditate.

(source: Meditation May Increase Gray Matter.University of California - Los Angeles. ScienceDaily 13 May 2009. 29 September 2009.)

For thousand of years, Buddhist meditators have claimed that the simple act of sitting down and following their breath while letting go of thoughts can free one from neurotic suffering.


Research

Now, scientists are using cutting edge technology to watch the meditating mind at work. Although there have been many different studies into the effects of meditation with different outcomes, most studies have confirmed the benefical aspects of meditation.

Among the various effects are:

  • Happiness, positive feelings and emotional stability

    The area of the brain that feels the greatest effects of meditation is one that's associated with happiness and positive feelings. These areas are the hippocampus, the oribo-frontal cortex, the right thalamus and the left inferior temporal lobe. Researchers found that meditators have significant larger volumes of gray matter (neurons) in these areas than non meditators.

    This ties in well with other research and centuries of anecdotal evidence that say meditation helps relax us, release pent up stress, and makes us feel more at peace. People who consistently meditate have a singular ability to cultivate positive emotions, retain emotional stability and engage in mindfull behaviour.

  • Improving attention and concentration

    After being interrupted by a word-recognition task, experienced meditators' brains returned faster to their pre-interruption condition, researchers at Emory University School of Medicine found. This suggests that the regular practice of meditation may enhance the capacity to limit the influence of distracting thoughts.

  • Protection against aging

    People lose neurons (gray matter) and have more problems concentrating as they age. A study published in 2008 by researchers at Emory University School of Medicine found this wasn't true for the Zen practioners in their study. The Zen practitioners all had at least three years of daily practice experience. It's too soon to tell whether meditation causes new grey matter to form or whether it protects agains the normal decline of brain volume.

    Future research is required to see whether or not meditation is causing neural changes. Some people suggest that perhaps people with unusual brains especially drawn to meditation.

  • Reducing eating problems

    Some experts have noted that the chemical reduced by routine meditation, Cortisol, is related both to certain kinds of stress, and to over eating. A high level of this hormone will cause people to store extra fat on the abdomen, and causes them to crave fattening foods. Therefore, meditation may also be able to reduce your weight, if you suffer from stress-related over eating.

  • Positive effect on heart problems and high blood pressure

    Other physical evidence suggests that meditation can help people with heart problems or blood pressure, increasing their exercise tolerance and improving general heart health. Exercising the mind deliberately this way is also thought to help elderly people who are beginning to lose their mental facility. Other definite effects of meditation are a reduction in heart rate, respiration and other signs of stress through routine meditative practice.