Does Science Validate Meditation?

Meditation is an act of self-reflection, deep thoughts, and concentration on thoughts and feelings. It is a powerful tool that shifts your awareness. Meditation is a proven scientific technique to reduce stress, increase happiness, and improve overall health. Moreover, it is used for healing, stress reduction, boosting brain function, and problem-solving. But many people are still confused about this ancient practice.

The top mind-blowing meditation statistics for 2021 estimate that 200–500 million people meditate globally. Meditation improves 60% of anxiety symptoms and reduces the risk of getting hospitalized due to coronary diseases by 87%. Among the American population, 35 million people have tried meditation once. 

Meditation is one of the fastest-growing trends in healthcare. But what exactly is it? What are the different types of meditations? This article details some of the best-known meditative techniques, science-based facts about meditation, how it improves brain function, stress relief, and its effect on mental health.

Does Science validate mediation? 

Some people believe that meditation is still a hippie thing, and there’s no scientific proof of it, but scientific research validates that meditation brings numerous health benefits to a person.

For example, Dr. Mehmet Oz recently cited scientific studies showing the positive effects of meditation on health. He quoted, “I’m not enthusiastic about including 15 minutes alone in a room if it doesn’t bring measurable improvement in brain function.”

Research and evidence show that when we practice different types of meditation, our minds and bodies react in numerous ways. Over 18,000 available scientific studies have validated meditation for its positive impact on overall well-being. 

Studies such as “Mindfulness training modifies subsystems of attention” and “Does mindfulness meditation improve cognition?” have found that regular meditation benefits focus, creativity, memory, empathy, and stress. Neuroscientists have studied how meditation impacts the brain’s structure, function, and performance. Now researchers have identified specific benefits that extend beyond one’s imagination, including a global rise in compassion, increased generosity of spirit, and–perhaps most significant–helping to transform societal attitudes about age, weight, diseases, and economic status. [Read more…]