Meditation is good for your mind and body. If you want to look younger, improve your sex life and prevent Alzheimer, learn to meditate. Scientific studies and research about the long term effects of meditation have come up with these 5 conclusions:

1. It improves your memory

Prolonged meditation increases vitality. Those who practice meditation are able to better adjust their brain waves. Meditation practitioners are able to screen out distractions more quickly, giving their brain more room to accept and retain new information.

2. It slows down neurodegenerative diseases

Positive brain changes such as stress reduction can be directly linked to meditation. It also slows down cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. During a clinical study, it was concluded that Alzheimer’s patients who were part of the 8-week mindfulness stress reduction program showed less cognitive decline than those who did not participate.

3. It helps lower blood pressure

Meditation effectively lowers blood pressure because it leads to relaxation, which results in the production of nitric oxid. Nitric Oxid opens the blood vessels and lowers blood pressure. A study showed that 64% of patients who tried a meditation-based relaxation program for three months saw a significant drop in blood pressure and were able to reduce their medication.

4. It is one of the best anti-aging therapies

Forget expensive face creams. If you’re looking for a free but effective anti-aging ‘miracle’, start meditation today! Consider it as new anti-aging therapy! People who meditate daily for at least four years have longer telomeres (= the white ends of our chromosomes). Short telomeres indicate accelerated aging. Since meditation teaches us to keep our minds focused on the present moment, it’s no surprise that it slows down our aging process.

5. It improves your intimate relationship (yes, including your sex life!)

While sex is an important part of intimate relationships, the magic isn’t always there. This is because our minds are elsewhere, so we don’t really enjoy the moment. We are too used to being less conscious during sex. Too often we let it be accompanied by alcohol, avoidance behavior or fantasy. We also place too much emphasis on individual pleasure, forgetting that satisfying our partner can help us obtain our own satisfaction. By paying attention to your own heart and body as well as your partner’s, and slowing down in every action, you will discover that excitement is only the beginning.

Every last Sunday of the month we host an online group session led by our professional mindful meditation teacher Joeri Roelandt.

If you want to know more about meditation for yourself or your organization, please take a look at the Destination Meditation sessions.