5 Things You Didn't Know About Meditation

The purpose of meditation is to create inner peace and happiness. Meditation allows us to have more focus and control over the mind, enabling us to release delusions that are the root cause of suffering e.g. fear, attachment etc.

1. Sustained meditation has been found to lead to neuroplasticity within the brain, this is defined as improving the brain's ability to change, structurally and functionally. Research by University of Wisconsin's neuroscientist, Richard Davidson has shown that people who meditate regularly exhibit high levels of gamma wave activity and display the ability to be able to control their thoughts and reactiveness to situations. 

2. A study conducted in 2005 on American men and woman found that those who meditated 40 minutes a day showed that they had thicker cortical walls than non-meditators. This means that their brains were aging at a slower rate, cortical thickness is also associated with decision making, attention and memory. 

3. The University of Wisconsin discovered that employees that meditated have a higher frustration tolerance, more joy in their work, a more cheerful and more optimistic attitude and higher energy levels. It is also clear that conflicts and unpleasant relationships among employees decrease when they start to meditate.

4. Deepak Chopra estimates that people who Meditate for many years often have a biological age that is between 5 and 10 years lower than their chronological age. 

5. Other benefits include: 

- A decrease in muscle tension and headache 
- Increase in the production of serotonin levels 
- Helps chronic diseases such as allergies and arthritis
- In women, meditation has been found to reduce symptoms of PMS

Here is a link to an article eradicating false myths about meditation for anyone who is new to the practice: 

Huffington Post: 6 Facts About Meditation That Might Surprise You