You are here: Home > Diet & Health

Even more reasons to meditate

By Pamela Allardice
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Even more reasons to meditate

You already know that taking time out to practise meditation helps to still your thoughts and leaves you feeling physically and mentally calmer.

Now it seems that squeezing just 30 minutes of timeout into your busy daily schedule may also reduce your odds of developing dementia and possibly prevent mental health disorders such as depression.

In pictures: Ten hot tips to stay young

The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Oregon, who took two groups of students and asked one to practise a meditation technique for half an hour each day for a month, while the other group practised a relaxation technique.

They discovered that the students who meditated demonstrated significant improvements in the brain's anterior cingulate, the area that controls our emotional responses. And other research suggests that people with depression, dementia and ADHD tend to have poor performance in this part of their brains.

Your say: Have you found that meditation has improved your health?

Video: Meditation for stress relief

Also in this section

Recipe Search

Tip: Try "lamb & potato" or "Low GI"
advertisement
Features
Pictures
Video
How your place in the family rules your lifeFirst-born? Piggy in the middle? Or always the baby? Clinical psychologist Linda Blair reveals how birth order in the family can affect every aspect of your life. Multi-vitamins can make you smarterMany people consider vitamin supplements a waste of money, but a new study has found they can actually make you smarter. My wonderful daughter Emily SeebohmEmily Seebohm is one of Australia's most promising Olympic medal prospects, but she'll always be a little girl to her mum Karen. Here, Karen shares her favourite pictures of her superstar daughter. Juggling can grow brain by five percentJuggling might seem like something best left to professional clowns, but a new study has found it can increase the size of your brain. Natural help for hivesMy doctor prescribes antihistamines for my hives. What else can I do?
ww |

inspire me

My wonderful daughter Emily Seebohm

My wonderful daughter Emily SeebohmEmily Seebohm is one of Australia's most promising Olympic medal prospects, but...More >

My wonderful daughter Emily Seebohm

My wonderful daughter Emily SeebohmEmily Seebohm is one of Australia's most promising Olympic medal prospects, but...More >

Photo galleries

Desserts to impressDesserts to impress The best Italian recipesThe best Italian recipes

Weekly newsletter

Recipes in your inboxWe send you the latest recipes from the Weekly plus all the week's best bits to your inbox.
Sign up now >
ww |

topics

Handy hints(740)/ Expert advice(530)/ natural health(436)/ Books(426)/ diet(348)/ Recipes(287)/ Food(267)/ Health(252)/ Gardening(219)/ Craft(164)/ Royals(160)

Also on Ninemsn