The use of meditation to calm the mind and focus or control thoughts is well known. But the benefits of meditation extend far beyond the mind. Several studies designed specifically to understand the effects of meditation on the body have shown that meditation helps to reverse heart disease, reduce pain, lessen chronological ageing, reduce blood pressure, fight inflammation, decrease anxiety, and control asthma.

Researchers at the Harvard Medical School found that deep, relaxing meditation seems to switch off 'disease causing' genes, while switching on genes that actively protect us from a variety of conditions such as high blood pressure, pain infertility, and even rheumatoid arthritis.

But there’s more good news. In people who don’t meditate, the researchers found that the process of turning off the bad genes and switching on the good ones, happened in as little as two months.

It sounds pretty amazing and begs the question: how can one technique be so effective against such a wide range of diseases?

It appears that a lot of the positive physical changes associated with meditation have their roots in stress management. In numerous studies, meditation has been shown to increase alpha waves (relaxed brain waves) and decrease production of the stress hormone cortisol.

Stress affects our heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen consumption, immunity and brain activity. While short-term stress seems to boost immunity, prolonged increases in levels of cortisol can suppress your immune system and decrease the number of brain cells, impairing your memory. Stress can also increase your susceptibility to cardiac disease and stroke.

Meditation and Overall Health

Over the years, research suggests that several conditions may benefit from meditation, including:

• Anxiety and depression - Meditation decreases oxygen consumption, heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure, and increases the intensity of alpha, theta, and delta brain waves--the opposite of the physiological changes that occur during the stress response. One study showed that cancer patients who practiced meditation for as little as 7 weeks were significantly less depressed and anxious than their counterparts who did not meditate.
• Pain – In one study, patients suffering from backache, chronic migraine and tension headaches were able to lessen or even stop their pain medication.
• Inflammation - Meditation slows the heart rate by sending signals through the vagus nerve. Researchers believe these signals may also reduce the immune response and the resulting inflammation associated with diseases like arthritis, asthma and eczema.
• Diabetes - Researchers have shown that following meditation, the reduced stress levels correlate with a decrease in blood glucose levels.
• Hypertension – Meditation also reduces blood pressure and contributes to the overall reduction in risk of cardiovascular disease. Researchers studying the effect of meditation on atherosclerosis reported that those who had practiced meditation for 6-9 months showed an 11% decrease in the risk of heart attacks and up to a 15% decrease in the risk of stroke.
• Infertility – A group of Italian researchers found that meditation, by stimulating the pituitary gland that is responsible for regulating female reproductive hormones, was able to help with infertility issues.

Sources:

Family Health Guide

There’s a lot of truth in the adage, “laughter is the best medicine.” Just ask gelotologists—people who study laughter and its psychological and physiological effects on the body. (Yes, there really is a field of study devoted to laughter.) Their research has given us scientific proof that laughter can improve our health.

Many of the beneficial effects of laughter are due to its affect on different regions of the brain. Studies have shown that brain regions normally involved in emotion, cognition, vision, and movement all respond to laughter. For example, the midbrain and hypothalamus — regions where dopamine is released in response to pleasurable stimuli — are activated by laughter. Dopamine is the major component of “reward” mechanisms. It reinforces pleasure-seeking behavior and influences our happiness.

Laughter also stimulates the release of other feel-good substances, including endorphins, which are opiates (sedatives) that can relieve pain, and growth hormone, which plays a role in growth and metabolism. These substances, among others released in response to laughter, have broad physiological effects, such as lowering blood pressure and blood sugar levels and boosting immune function.

Many experts believe that laughter also improves alertness, creativity and memory and may even protect your sanity too, which is probably related to its ability to release stress and ease tension.

Taking Your Medicine

Even if we “scientifically” establish that laughter really is good medicine, what now? It seems silly to “prescribe” laughter—something that is usually thought of as spontaneous and fun. But, like exercise—or anything that is good for us—sometimes it just doesn’t happen without a little pre-planning. And there’s no better time than National Humor Month to flex your “funny” muscles.

Here are some practical tips to infuse your life (and health) with more laughter:

• Use laughter to manage stress by keeping a joke book, cartoons (or whatever makes you chuckle) handy. Then before a meeting or stressful situation, pull out your humor stash and enjoy a smile or laugh. Humor makes you feel good and allows you to think more clearly and quickly.
• Being able to laugh at yourself is healthy. Humor keeps you from taking yourself too seriously and makes dealing with others easier. Researchers found that the stress of “perfectionist thinking” is associated with coronary artery disease.
• Create a “funny file” for whatever tickles your individual sense of humor. Whenever you’re feeling down, bored or uninspired, pull out the file for comic relief.

Sources:

WebMD

University of Maryland Medical Center

Larry Wilde

The scientific world is getting a bit wiser about the effect emotions can have on your health for better and for worse. How you handle your emotions may also affect the way your body manages the healing process too.

Scientists monitored the progression of healing of 93 patients with diabetic foot ulcers (neuropathic or neuroischaemic) four times during a 24-week span, taking into account their coping skills, cortisol levels and the psychological stress they felt.

Patients with a controlling personality -- My-way-or-the-highway, who-cares-if-you're-right folks -- were the least likely to heal from their foot ulcers. Because this disease requires long-term patience and treatment to recover, researchers believe those who seek to control and speed up the process also experience additional frustration and distress that work against healing.

Depression also contributes to the problem, as patients fighting their emotions demonstrated less healing and overall improvement by the end of the study, one more reason to seek out safer, gentler ways, like meditation, to calm your mind and body.

Diabetologia, Vol. 53, No. 8, pp. 1590-1598, August 2010

Bloomberg Businessweek August 6, 2010