Science Documents the Health Benefits of Meditation

I always ask my patients about their stress level. Typically 50 percent or more admit to being stressed out. If their stress level remains high for a couple weeks in a row, I ask if they've ever tried meditation.

It's like telling a bad joke. There's usually a long uncomfortable pause during which I imagine them groaning and rolling their eyes on the inside. Maybe it's because I was one of those people - I associated meditation with a particular sort of socially-conscious, newly-religious zealot.

But the simple fact is that meditation is good for you.

Recent research at Emory University suggests that meditation improves the ability to tune out distractions. The study tested the brain activity of 12 individuals who practiced daily Zen meditation for three years against 12 individuals who had never practiced meditation, testing their ability to recover normal thinking after being distracted. A separate study in Wisconsin confirmed this benefit.

Researchers discovered that meditation improved one's ability to recover normal thinking patterns after distraction, suggesting that meditation could be an effective adjunct therapy for ADHD, Alzheimer's and relapses in depression.

Another study found that meditation develops and thickens the pre-frontal cortex area of the brain. This disputes the established belief that the brain develops early in life and its structure does not change, and implies that it is possible to change the "inner workings and circuitry of the brain." This study compared the brain waves of Tibetan monks to ordinary individuals.

A University of Kentucky study found that meditation lowers blood pressure. This study focused on transcendental meditation, and found an average decrease of 4.7 mm systolic and 3.2 mm diastolic. That's right, just meditation.

Please note that while meditation is an important component of Buddhism, none of these meditations were religious in any way. The technique is simply focusing on the breath and clearing the mind.

Give it a try sometime. Why not? It's free and it's good for you.