Hundred, if not thousands of studies have been completed on the subject. The goal was to identify how the action of meditating can better the life of its practitioner on a physical, emotional, and psychological plan :

Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard University carried out several studies on the subject. In a series of experiments with meditation techniques, he discovered that meditation has a real positive impact on lowering stress levels and controlling the "fight-or-flight response." (1) (2)

Endocrinologist Hans SELYE describes in "the General Adaptation Syndrome" the 3 stages people go through under stress.

Stage 1 Alarm reaction: cortisol is released by the body to signal that a threat is perceived. This is the "fight-or-flight" response, where your heart rate speeds up, and you feel an adrenaline boost.

Stage 2 Resistance: the body stays on high alert in response to the stressful situation continuing. Stress hormones keep being released, impatience and difficulties to think start appearing.

Stage 3 Exhaustion: As the body is working at a higher pace under stress, it comes to a point where it burns all its energy and resources. The body breaks down, causing feelings of tiredness, anxiety, and even depression.

By calming the mind and giving a sense of control, meditation helps consider the threats easier to manage.

When suffering, we tend to give all our focus to the pain. By doing so, we amplify and deepen its sensation. Meditation allows us to manage our thoughts and redirect our attention to take our mind away from the pain.

Some exercises include visualization, which can be considered as self-hypnosis. Here the meditator creates an image of the pain and mentally moves the picture away from the body.

Various research supports the idea that pain can be softened with the regular practice of meditation.

In this study (3), 90 patients struggling with chronic pain had to follow a 10 weeks mindfulness meditation program. As a result, participants saw a significant reduction in pain, symptoms, and mood disturbance.

Also, their usage of painkillers decreased while their activity levels and self-esteem increased.

These positives results were witnessed up to 15 months after the meditation program.

Another example, in this research (4), scientists wanted to make sure that mindfulness meditation was indeed the cause of pain relief.

They carried an experiment on 75 healthy subjects divided into 4 groups, which would go under 4 different conditioning: mindfulness meditation, placebo intervention, fake mindfulness meditation, and book listening.

The results were irrefutable: mindfulness meditation presented the most significant pain relief of the 4.

This brings a lot of hope for the millions of patients suffering from chronic pain.

At the College of Maharishi Vedic Medicine, Iowa, a study (5) conducted on adult participants showed a significant reduction in blood pressure and heart rate.

The American Journal of Hypertension launched another survey (6) on the matter. The results demonstrated that blood pressure could be lowered a few points by practicing meditation twice a day for 15 minutes.

According to a Psychosomatic Medicine study (7), meditation practice proved to help battle infections and sickness.

For this experience, they formed two groups of volunteers. One of the groups was meditating regularly for 8 weeks. Both groups were injected with Flu shots. As a result, the blood test showed higher antibody levels against the virus for the meditation group.

Dr. Richard DAVIDSON (8) found that people who practice meditation regularly showed evidence of significantly higher brain activity. It revealed that some of the highest-frequency waves called "gamma waves," operate in areas associated with learning and happiness. Gamma waves involve mental processes, including attention, memory, learning, and conscious perception.

Additionally, another research (9) indicates that mindfulness meditation has a connection with the development of creativity and problem-solving.

Insomnia is a public health issue with severe consequences such as lower quality of life, depression, brain activity impairment. For example, in US hospitals, sleep deprivation has been attributed to medical errors causing 100 000 deaths.

Still, over 30% of the population attest having short-term insomnia and 10% long-term in the US. This plague could be minimized by integrating meditation into our lifestyle.

As proof, this investigation (10) conducted in 2015 achieved better results on sleep quality improvement by practicing mindful awareness meditation than educating the participants on sleep hygiene. It is believed that meditation influences the brain to reduce its automatic responses causing sleep disturbances.

In one study (11) for over 5 months, Dr. GOODALE irene examined the effects of relaxation on premenstrual syndrome.

It appeared that relaxation exercises helped decrease the PMS symptoms and pain by 58% while reading only improved the symptoms by 27%. So good news, friends, we now have a way to moderate those dirty cramps.

Another study (12) revealed that meditation may ease the intensity and frequency of hot flashes for menopausal women. The study found that by following a meditation program, hot flashes manifestations would decrease by 39%.

Meditation may also help with infertility by reducing anxiety, depression, and tiredness. This study (13) performed by Harvard Medical School, Boston, consisted of a 10-week meditation program completed by 54 Women struggling with infertility. Within 6 months, 34 % of the participant were expecting a child, magic!

If finding yourself, improving self-awareness, being more positive, or feeling relaxed did not already turn you into an avid meditator, it's time now to introduce meditation into your life.

It's free, little to no equipment needed, and with some guidance, it can dramatically change your life for the better. So make the decision; it's totally risk-free. You can check this post or get your free ebook "meditation for beginners" here for more insight.