If you don’t already meditate, take my advice: Start. It will be the best decision you ever make. I found these statistics and felt compelled to copy them - it's mind-blowing that so much research has been done showing the benefits, yet so many people still don't practice it. If this much evidence showed a pill to be so beneficial, everyone would be taking it. Hundreds of scientific studies have been conducted on the benefits of meditation at more than 200 independent universities and research institutions worldwide over the past 40 years.
The National Institutes of Health have awarded over $26 million to research the effectiveness of meditation for reducing stress and stress-related illness with a focus on cardiovascular disease. Findings have been published in leading, peer-reviewed scientific journals, including The American Journal of Cardiology and the American Heart Association’s Hypertension and Stroke. Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation Some of the findings:
At-risk adolescents reduce stress, anxiety and hyperactivity through Transcendental Meditation. This newly completed study found that 106 at-risk adolescents in three high schools reduced their levels of stress, anxiety, hyperactivity and emotional problems when practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique for four months at school, as compared with controls.
This two-year study of 250 students attending American University and surrounding colleges in Washington, D.C., found that the TM program produced beneficial effects for health, brain functioning and cognitive development compared to controls.
Transcendental Meditation reduces hypertension, obesity and diabetes in patients with coronary heart disease This study of 103 people with coronary heart disease found that individuals practicing Transcendental Meditation for four months had significantly lower blood pressure, improved blood glucose and insulin levels (which signify reduced insulin resistance), and more stable functioning of the autonomic nervous system compared to controls.
Reduced high blood pressure among high school students This eight-month study of 156 hypertensive African American high school students found that the Transcendental Meditation program reduced high blood pressure among the meditating students as compared with little or no change in the control group (twenty percent of African American teenagers suffer from high blood pressure).
Transcendental Meditation reduces stress and increases happiness among middle school students Two studies on 60 sixth-graders at two middle schools found the practice of Transcendental Meditation over four months positively affected emotional development in early adolescent children in a school setting. Meditating students also had significantly higher scores on affectivity, self-esteem and emotional competence.
Transcendental Meditation reduces the brain’s reaction to stress In this pilot study, 12 subjects practicing Transcendental Meditation for 30 years showed a 40–50% lower brain response to stress and pain compared to 12 healthy controls. Further, when the controls then learned and practiced Transcendental Meditation for five months, their brain responses to stress and pain also decreased by a comparable 40–50%.
Improved Brain Functioning
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I write about human behavior, meditation, body awareness, and a variety of other things that pique my interest.
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July 2022
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