How Meditation Impacts Your Immune System

Your immune system is one of the most critical, and most fascinating,

aspects of the mind-body connection. For a long time, the ability of
immune cells to attack invading disease organisms was considered
purely physical, even though the mechanism was not completely
understood.

Then, in the ‘80s it was discovered that the immune system is highly
intelligent; it became known as “a floating brain” because of the
ability of immune cells to participate in the chemical messages sent
by the brain throughout the body. This means that your thoughts,
moods, sensations, and expectations are transmitted to your immune
cells. When you meditate, these messages change in important ways.

Here are some interesting research findings that offer very good news
for anyone who mediates.

– Since your immune system responds to both negative and positive
thoughts, meditation creates a positive mental environment for the
immune system to flourish.

– HIV positive patients who practice mindful meditation slow down the
reduction of their CD-4 cell count. These are the immune cells that
are associated with keeping the virus from propagating.

– Meditation boosts antibodies. Read More
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12883106

– Meditation stimulates immune system brain-function regions.
Mindfulness meditation has shown increases in electrical activity in
the prefrontal cortex, the right anterior insula, and right
hippocampus, all parts that control positive emotions, awareness, and
anxiety. These are also the areas of the brain that act as a command
center for your immune system. When stimulated, they make the immune
system function more effectively.

These findings bring into focus a clear message: Your response to
potential illness, as managed by the immune system, improves with
meditation. This is in keeping with another strong message. Being
susceptible to chronic disorders like type-2 diabetes, obesity, heart
disease, and high blood pressure, conditions that are not the result
of invading microbes, is also reduced through meditation. The entire
mind-body system is brought into a natural state of balance to improve
our health and lifestyle.

So what kind of program can you adopt that focuses specifically on
preventing illness?

1 Keep up regular meditation morning and evening.
2 Reduce and avoid stress, since the immune system is easily
compromised when stress hormones surge.
3 Seriously address low-level chronic stresses that may be present at
home or work. You are not helping your immune status by putting up
with constant “minor” stress.
4 Get adequate sleep, which is directly connected to brain function
and hormone levels.
5 Wash your hands several times a day, and always after direct contact
with someone else’s skin. Doctors who make sure to wash their hands
after seeing every patient reduce hospital-borne infections by more
than 50 percent.

Meditation is the most important and powerful way to strengthen every
aspect of the mind-body connection.

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Best health for you!