https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2016/mar/03/could-meditation-really-help-slow-the-ageing-process

Interesting article, but when are the media going to catch up and show pics of people meditating on the way to work, as so many do. Maybe sitting on the tube or service station car park with eyes closed isn’t quite so attractive, but it still does the job. 🙂

Could meditation really help slow the ageing process?
It may seem unlikely, but a small and growing body of evidence suggests that regular meditation can indeed slow ageing, at least at a cellular level

Buddhist monks meditating. There is a small but growing body of evidence that regular meditation really can slow ageing, at least at the cellular level. Photograph: Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-01/mcog-tmm011116.php

PUBLIC RELEASE: 11-JAN-2016
Transcendental Meditation may reduce PTSD symptoms, medication use in active-duty personnel

MEDICAL COLLEGE OF GEORGIA AT GEORGIA REGENTS UNIVERSITY

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201601/meditation-reduces-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-symptoms

Meditation Reduces Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms
Transcendental Meditation can reduce PTSD symptoms and use of medications.

Posted Jan 13, 2016
A new study reports that regular practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM) enables some active duty service members battling post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to reduce, or even eliminate, their use of psychotropic medications (link is external) and to better control the often-debilitating symptoms of PTSD. SHARE

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2015/nov/24/san-franciscos-toughest-schools-transformed-meditation

One of San Francisco’s toughest schools transformed by the power of meditation
A pioneering programme has reduced stress and improved grades at Visitacion Valley middle school – with lessons for the UK
THEGUARDIAN.COM|BY ANNA LEACH


Silversurfers on-line mag

So here I am, just turned 60 and like so many of our friends and contemporaries, we are starting to have to work on keeping fit and healthy.

I am not overweight (13 stone and 6 feet tall), male, when I last looked, and a regular exerciser with mountain biking, gym use and golf as my keep fit things to do.

However I have been dogged by high blood pressure for a few years at about 150 over 90 as an average level. With a history of heart disease in the family and a brother and sister with the same complaint, it was time to do something. So after the third set of blood pressure pills I started to look for something new. The pills made me feel very odd so the normal search on the web ensued.

How about Transcendental Meditation (TM), lots of articles about the benefits to wellbeing and blood pressure and reductions in hypertension?

So I was sceptical. Was it all “whale music and joss sticks”, mumbo jumbo and kaftans. I registered with a qualified teacher here in Guildford. Private consultation with a man in a suit and tie, a reasonable fee to be paid after the first free consultation. No kaftans in sight.

What is involved? Just a simple, stress free technique to calm your mind and reduce tension. It needs some work to get right but practice makes perfect. It is meant to be easy and stress free and it is. 20 minutes a day night and morning.

The results:

A reduction in blood pressure.
A more focussed approach to work tasks with a clearer head all day. You will make up the time spent in your day by clearer more efficient thinking.
Most beneficial though is am much improved sleep pattern. 7 or 8 hours a night, no problem, with no long periods awake at 4 a.m., any more.
I read about the explosion in insomnia in the UK, up fivefold from the early 90’s. Maybe partially due to the explosion in caffeine consumption (by chance up fivefold from the early 1990’s), but certainly due to the hectic and pressured working lives we are now expected to lead. So try this simple technique, do try to learn it form someone properly qualified. It will help with insomnia and hypertension if you take it seriously and put some time in. It really can sort your problems out with no horrid drugs to cope with.

Written by Clive
About the author

Clive

0 Up Votes
A father of two grown up boys and happily married, and enjoying life to the full! Just turned 60 and feeling great … l really enjoy golf, mountain biking and going to the gym. Get the odd bout of gout and swear by cherry juice as a natural cure, and now I have just discovered Transcendental Meditation.

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/oct/24/want-to-learn-faster-stop-multitasking-and-start-daydreaming?CMP=fb_gu

Students
Use your head
Want to learn faster? Stop multitasking and start daydreaming
Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin explains how students can avoid letting social media and multitasking ruin their study time

Make time to let your mind wander
Healthy breaks can hit the reset button in your brain, restoring some of the glucose and other metabolic nutrients used up with deep thought. A healthy break is one in which you allow your brain to rest, to loosen its grip on your thoughts.

Activities that promote mind-wandering, such as reading literature, going for a walk, exercising, or listening to music, are hugely restorative. Many students find that a work-break cycle of 25 minutes work followed by five minutes rest, or even two hours of work followed by 15 minutes of rest promotes efficiency to the extent that they get back the time they spent resting, and then some. A 15 minute nap is even better.

It all started about a year ago when a friend took a five-day course in the Oprah-approved practice of transcendental meditation (TM). “You’ve got to try it,” she told me. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”

How Meditation Halted My Weight Gain and Cured My Anxiety
One editor’s experience.
STYLECASTER.COM

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06bnq0t

 

 

Researchers say taking forty winks in the middle of the day could reduce blood pressure and stave off heart attacks.

The findings of the study were unveiled at a conference of the European Society of Cardiology.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34101263