Just to be more relaxed each day is enormously valuable for our health
. Meditation takes us one step further. Hundreds of .medical surveys support the contention that meditation is good for health. These are the most common findings.
Meditation releases muscular tension. This automatically relieves pain, increases mobility and lets the body relax.
The breath, the body fluids and the nerve impulses can flow more freely.
Meditation lowers high blood pressure. The release in muscular tension makes the body more pliable. The heart doesn't have to pump as hard to force the blood through the veins and arteries. When stressed, our blood becomes thick with cholesterol This thins out when we relax.
Meditation stimulates the immune system and the production of white blood cells. The immune system winds down when the body is stressed. The healing process works best when the body is relaxed or sleeping.
Meditation speeds recovery rates after illness or surgery. Meditation opens constricted air passages. It is particularly good for asthmatics or hayfever sufferers.
Meditation increases blood circulation to the digestive tract, the skin and the brain. When we are stressed, our digestive system shuts down. The blood supply is redirected into the big muscles for the "fight-or-flight" reflex. Meditation reverses this, and the digestive system can function efficiently again.
The flow of blood to the skin and the extremities can be directly experienced as a pleasant tingling when you relax. Improved circulation means the entire body is better fed with nutrients and waste products removed more efficiently.
Meditation dramatically affects hormonal activity. This is a complex finding that still needs interpretation. Obviously, the stress hormones diminish during meditation. However it also appears that a mediator's pattern of hormonal secretions is generally typical of someone five or ten years younger than themselves. This suggests that the physical stresses of age do not weigh so heavily on a meditator. Meditators are like people who are very fit.