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.
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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
