How Does Meditation Slow Aging

Meditation stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system which is also known as the rest and digest response of the body. This is where the body is able to switch out of flight or fight protective mode and feel safe enough to use its energy to repair the body.

How Meditation Regulates The Flight or Fight Mode

Fight or flight mode is our body’s primal instinctual response to stress. Originally the stress us human beings were battling with was staying alive through wild animal attacks or battling through the raging natural elements.

Nowadays the challenges we face that activate our fight or flight mode are along the lines of making deadlines at work. With these challenges, we do not need out entire system to preserve itself by stimulating the sympathetic nervous system.

The sympathetic nervous system when in fight or flight mode activates the adrenal glands and triggers an increased heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate. Digestion slows or may even stop completely. It will release glycogen and fat in order to produce muscle action.

With the mundane stressors we encounter daily, it is not necessary for our body to constantly live in a state of fight or flight. Through meditation, we begin to teach the body to disconnect from its previous defense mechanisms and only use the fight or flight burst of energy when we need to utilize them.

Through present-focused awareness, one can find inner peace and drop the illusions of suffering.

How Does Stress Affect The Body

Ellissa Epel and Elizabeth Blackburn found a direct correlation to telomeres length and stress in their 2004 study. Telomeres are the protein caps on the end of each chromosome in your body.

During cellular division, telomeres will replicate themselves although they will become shorter while the chromosomes divide. The cell cannot divide and multiply when the telomeres eventually becomes too short. Stress has been shown to diminish the telomeres in the body.

How To Meditate

If you are just beginning click below to find meditation, mindfulness techniques, and chanting into your daily life. These are all profound tools to relax the body, let the mind go, and welcome your inner peace.

To make sure you are getting the full effect of meditation, tap into your mental and emotional bodies. Take note of how the state of your mind is throughout your daily life and also post-meditation.

Have you noticed a situation where you may have previously been impatient, but as of now you are able to stay calm and subjective throughout the scenario? This is an added benefit of meditation and it will show you if you are making progress toward where you would like to be.