Statistics on People who Meditate

Statistics on people who meditate can be found everywhere. Statistics on people who meditate have shown they become less stressed and calmer. Statistics on people who meditate in groups have even shown the crime rate in that particular area drop significantly. There are statistics on everything related to meditation. There are so many different statistics on meditation and statistics on people who meditate because meditation in one form or another has been around for thousands of years.

With its roots deep in India and Southeast Asia, meditation has made its way into modern Western culture, namely through Transcendental meditation, which was brought to the West by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and made popular by celebrities like The Beatles.

But what can somebody expect from practicing meditation? Well statistics on people who meditate have shown that daily reflection and rumination has dramatically decreased the occurrence of heart disease. Further, in patients previously diagnosed with heart disease, meditation has been proven to lessen the effects and somewhat reverse the disease.

Stress is a major cause of many things such as coronary disease, congestive heart failure, diabetes and high blood pressure. All of these afflictions have been shown through scientific study to be lessened or otherwise depleted with the help of meditation in fact health insurance statistics on people who meditate regularly have shown that they are less prone to illness. The actual statistics were that those who meditate reduced the likelihood of being hospitalized for coronary disease by 87 percent, and the possibility of getting cancer by 55 percent.

Many doctors have studied the statistics on people who meditate and now prescribe meditation for their patients. These patients have reported more energy, higher productivity and more patience. Business owners have reported that among employees, who meditate, absenteeism is lower, production is higher, and the quality of their work is better thus proving the statistics on people who meditate are right.

A Detroit based chemical plant posted the following results three years after implementing meditation:

• Absenteeism fell by 85%
• Productivity rose 120%
• Injuries dropped 70%
• Profits increased 520%

According to reports, there have been over 1500 separate studies since 1930. All were related to meditation and its effects on the practitioners. Some statistics on people who meditate include results like:

• Heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and oxygen consumption are all decreased.
• Meditators are less anxious and nervous.
• Meditators were more independent and self-confident
• People who deliberated daily were less fearful of death.
• 75% of insomniacs who started a daily meditation program were able to fall asleep within 20 minutes of going to bed.
• Production of the stress hormone Cortisol is greatly decreased, thus making it possible for those people to deal with stress better when it occurs.
• Women with PMS showed symptom improvements after 5 months of steady daily rumination and reflection.
• Thickness of the artery walls decreased which effectively lowers the risk of heart attack or stroke by 8% to 15%.
• Relaxation therapy was helpful in chronic pain patients.
• 60% of anxiety prone people showed marked improvements in anxiety levels after 6-9 months.

It has been documented that people who use meditation and relaxation techniques may be physiologically younger by 12 to 15 years; could this possibly be the Fountain of Youth? While there are probably many other studies to look at, I believe that the results reported above are tell-tale. Meditation, relaxation, reflection and deliberation can affect the physical body in a positive way just as stress and other factors effect the body in a negative one. In either case science and the statistics on people who meditate, has confirmed the positive effects of meditation beyond a shadow of a doubt.

By Joel Sparks