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Originally Posted by gigi11  Please tell me more - how often do you meditate? |
I meditate almost every day but I don't have a strict routine. I usually meditate at night if I can't sleep. Then it helps me to relax and fall asleep.
I probably don't need it very much for health because I live a fairly calm life. But it does help me to eventually fall asleep and getting enough sleep is important for health.
I believe that meditation can help mend the body if used along with other healthy lifestyle-habits. One thing seldom works alone. Take diet, for example. They say you should eat fruit, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds. Then they say you need a certain amount of exercise, avoid stress and get 8 hours of sleep. So it's not just one thing that makes you healthy; it's lots of things put together.
You mentioned liver disease, kidney disease and cancer. If someone gets diagnosed with one of these diseases, it can trigger stress and stress can depress the immune system. So it works against healing. Meditation can help relieve stress and thereby boost the immune system. Meditation can also help one to maintain a healthy lifestyle (mentioned above).
Some people don't eat a healthy diet because of stress and eating a healthy diet is necessary for healing. So everything is connected.
There was a study by Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn. Study subjects did the following: 1) ate vegetarian whole foods 2) got 10% of calories from fat 3) walked 30 minutes 6 days per wk. 4) used stress-reducing techniques (meditation?) 5) attended a weekly support group
The result was that they had a 29% increase in the enzyme "telo-merase". As I understand it this enzime repairs DNA. It repairs and legnthens telomeres. And this is important for immunity and longevity. A low level of telomerase means that you will be at increased risk for cancer and heart trouble etc.. And if you do get ill you need this to help make repairs.
Meditation to control stress is an important part of it, in my opinion. Have you read "The Relaxation Response" by Herbert Benson MD.?
Another interesting book is: "Train your mind, change your brain" by Sharon Begley.
I hope this post will be of some help to you.
