Meditation and health

Meditation:

  • Increases happiness. Scientists at the University of Wisconsin reported that people newly trained in meditation have shown an increase in electrical activity in the left frontal part of the brain, an area associated with positive emotion and happiness.
  • Boosts the immune system. In the same study, meditators also showed a significant increase in immunity to the flu.
  • Enhances memory and attention. A study at Massachusetts General Hospital found that parts of the brain’s cerebral cortex were thicker in people who had practiced meditation daily for just 40 minutes for several years. The cerebral cortex is the part of the brain that deals with attention and processing sensory input and tends to thin with age.
  • Reduces the physical pain, anxiety, and stress of fibromyalgia. A study published in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics showed sustained benefits over a three year period in a group of women who had taken an eight-week course in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.
  • Lowers blood pressure. A 2004 study published in the American Journal of Cardiology showed meditation can lower blood pressure and mortality rates in older people with hypertension.
  • Helps alleviate mild to moderate anxiety and depression. Researchers at the University of Louisville found that mindfulness meditation alleviates depression in women with fibromyalgia.
  • Increases alertness. University of Kentucky researchers found that sleepy people who meditated for 40 minutes did better on a test of mental quickness than people who had taken a 40-minute nap.
  • Helps control binge eating. A study at Indiana State University found that obese women who practiced mindfulness meditation had an average of four fewer binge-eating episodes a week than before they took up the practice. Mindfulness can help bingers recognize when they want to overeat and lower the odds that they will.
  • Helps lower blood sugar: Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles showed that patients were able to lower their blood pressure, blood sugar and insulin by practicing transcendental meditation.

View Comments

  • Hi Bodhipaksa:
    I agree that a positive connection exists between meditation and boosting the immune system. My thoughts are for my daughter, who has health concerns due to autoimmune disease. The Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis all seem to result from too much "boosting" of the immune system. Do you know of meditation benefitting those whose immune systems appear to be attacking the body?

    Thanks, Marilyn

  • Hi, Marilyn.

    I doubt very much if the immune benefits that meditation brings would cause a worsening of autoimmune conditions. I'd expect that the reduction in stress levels would actually calm down the self-destructive immune reactions that are going on. But this is just a guess. One study did show that patients with MS (another autoimmune condition) improved with meditation. Another study showed that patients with rheumatoid arthritis showed improved mental health, but no improvement with the RA symptoms.

  • Hi Bodhipaksa-

    I've been doing a daily body scan, breath, and development of compassion meditation for the last three weeks. After doing the bodyscan + breadth meditations (from your "Still the Mind" CD) it takes me about 20 minutes to reconnect to the outside world.

    Lately I've been experiencing a large amount of physical fatigue owing to these meditations, so much so that I've had to rest for a few days. I should mention that I am taking an anti-depressant that is working pretty well.

    Is this "burnout" a result of the depression, or doing too much meditation at once, or the need for a large amount of energy to remove hindrances (which have surfaced), or..? Thoughts and/or suggestions welcome!

    Thanks, Robert

  • Hi, Robert.

    I'm not entirely sure why you'd experience fatigue after meditating. It's certainly not a common experience, although it may possibly be related to something that often happens on a meditation retreat, which is that people may for the first few days feel unaccountably tired. I usually put that down to people "catching up with themselves." They may have been tired before they arrived on retreat, but the busyness of their lives has prevented them from experiencing their tiredness. Whether or not that's related, I just can't say.

    But it does also sound like you're putting a lot of effort into your meditation (you talk about using "a large amount of energy" to deal with your hindrances) so perhaps it's related to that. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was. Not being gifted with psychic abilities, of course, I can't peer inside your experience and say whether you're working too hard (i.e. making unnecessary effort). You could play around with your level of effort, though, and see if it makes a difference. You might want, for example, to make a gentler, kinder effort and simply accept a bit more distraction, and see if you feel less tired afterwards.

    Maybe you could tell me what kinds of hindrances you're experiencing and what kinds of things you're doing to remove them? That might give me more to work on so that I can suggest alternative approaches.

  • There is a well researched breathing device called Respirate which was originally approved by the FDA for stress reduction - along with stress reduction it was noted to lower blood pressure if used at least 45 minutes a week. In a sense it is a guided breathing exercise - when your breathing rate drops below 4-6/ minute, it turns off the sympathetic (flight or fright) nervous system and increases parasympathetic activity.

    Web site https://www.resperate.com/us/welcome/index.aspx

    (I have no financial ties with the company)

  • Hello Bodhipaksa,
    I'm interested in your view/experience regarding suggestions for effective practices for physical fitness which harmonise most effectively with the mental practices & benefits that long term meditation can offer? Or is a life with full mediation a better life than a mix of the 2? I guess it's about balance, yet in a way, I wonder if mental practice is slightly more important than physical, given that the former nurtures awareness (amongst many other benefits), which nurtures self-control, and with that, the benefits of eating healthily...

    • Hi, Mark.

      What exercise works best with meditation seems to vary a lot from person to person. The two most common are hatha yoga and tai chi, but I know many people who meditate and also run. Many forms of exercise can be performed mindfully...

  • Hi Bodhipaksa,

    I would like to know.. if doing daily meditation can improve ovaries and uterus system.. I do have cysts in my ovaries and 2 small miomas in my uterus.... that cause some pain during my period days... also i do have Hypotyroidsm...for that im taking special medicino.. levotiroxine........ im getting back to my meditation since sunday... I used to meditate before.... but left it..because lack of discipline........

  • Dear Bodhipaksa
    Please sir I will like u to teache me how to meditate.and how to go about it Becos I will like meditate to be part of me,I once start it and on the way I stop but I need some one to help me to learn how to do it and to it well Becos I like meditation I went it to be part of me I know u can help me to do it I know so please I need ur guide to make it. Please help me Becos I need help

    • Hi, Cyrus.

      Welcome! I'm afraid I can't personally instruct you through the medium of these comments, but we have a large amount of meditation guidance on the pages of this site. If you look at the Meditation Guides link above you'll find links to guides on a variety of meditation practices.

      I wish you all the best with learning meditation!
      Bodhipaksa

  • Bodhipaksa, I warmly congratulate you for being such a caring and dedicated person. It is a blessing to have beings like you in a realm where darkness seems to prevail. Heartfelt thanks for your work!

1 2
Leave a Comment