Good To Know....Meditation

Each week we post ten things to know about a different subject of interest.

This week: THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK ABOUT MEDITATION

Meditation is good for your physical health:

- Boost the immune system and help prevent infections, neoplasms and other disease processes (as shown http://science.sciencemag.org/content/191/4226/435)

- The American Heart Association states on their website that meditation can lower levels of stress and risk of cardiovascular disease (http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/More/MyHeartandStrokeNews/Meditation-and-Heart-Disease-Stroke_UCM_452930_Article.jsp#.WCo-Hi0rLIU )

- The Harvard Gazette publish an article on the benefits on meditation for Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Inflammatory Bowel Disease in their May 2015 issue which can be found here http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/05/meditation-may-relieve-ibs-and-ibd/

- Dr. Fay Weisberg of First Steps Fertility Clinic promotes the benefits of meditation for fertility on her http://firststepsfertilityclinic.com/blog/meditation-how-it-helps-boost-fertility/

- Pain can be relieved or decreased through mindful meditation according to a study conducted by F. Zeidan, K.T. Martucci, R.A. Kraft, N.S. Gordon, J.G. McHaffie, and R.C. Coghill. (found here https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3090218/)

- The Mayo Clinic promotes the benefits of meditation on their website. They list several conditions that can be improved by regular meditation. Including:

• Anxiety disorders

• Asthma

• Cancer

• Depression

• Heart disease

• High blood pressure

• Pain

• Sleep problems

http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/meditation/in-depth/meditation/art-20045858