A good number of health complaints stem from chronic or situational stress. Medical researchers have found that use of meditation to encourage relaxation and reduce stress-related biochemical imbalances promotes overall physical and psychological well-being. This translates into fewer doctor visits. But the stress reduction benefits of meditation go far beyond cost alone; they go to the heart of the practice of medicine because having fewer medical visits is linked to better overall health. Meditation is the practice of focused concentration and relaxation.

Transcendental meditation (TM) is a meditation technique that involves repeating a mantra (a single word or phrase like "om"). TM practitioners assume an inactive state while repeating the mantra and adopt a passive "oh well" attitude as other thoughts crop into the mind. Recently the subject of a number of research studies, TM may offer important health benefits on physiology, brain function, biochemistry, psychological well-being, health and lifestyle. A recent study that appears in the publication, Neuroreport, looks at the results of functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests on five subjects during meditation. What the researchers found suggests that TM practice activates specific regions of the brain involved in regulating the nervous system, especially the respiratory functions and heart rate.

Another study of TM focused on its cost-effectiveness, concluding that the practice of TM reduces medical costs. This conclusion is based on a study using government health insurance records in Quebec, Canada. Researchers reviewed records from 1981 to 1994, and found that patients who practiced TM experienced an annual reduction of 14% in payments to physicians over a six-year period. In contrast, patients who did not practice TM saw their physician payments increase significantly over the same period. A separate study of the health subscribers to Blue Cross Blue Shield found an astonishing 60% reduction in total medical expenses for TM subjects compared to those who did not practice TM.

TM may also modify the ill effects of strenuous exercise on the body's immune function and serve as an effective tool in treating cardiovascular disease. Recent research with African Americans, a group at high risk for cardiovascular disease, found that TM practice was more effective than health education in reducing cardiovascular risk in hypertensive individuals.

Studies are showing us that it makes good health sense to not only 'keep in shape' but also to keep calm. Meditation is something we can all incorporate into our lives to make them healthier and, if not stress free, at least less stressful.

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