5 Surprising Benefits of Meditation You Might Not Know About 
 
The most well-known benefit of meditation is stress-relief. Different forms of meditation have been used for literally thousands of years to quickly, and sometimes instantly, relieve and remove stress and anxiety. The LiveAndDare.com website has identified 76 scientifically proven benefits of meditation. They include lowering instances of depression and reducing anxiety. 
 
Those mental benefits may seem logically linked to a practice where you calm your mind. However, some benefits of meditation may surprise you, including the following 5 beneficial effects of meditation you just might not know about. 
 
1    – Meditation Makes the Teen Years Livable 
 
High school can be a very difficult time, not only for teenagers trying to get through it alive but for their parents as well. The teenage years can be difficult because the human body and mind are changing so rapidly. This can cause self-doubt, frustration, confusion and sometimes a sense that the whole world is "out to get" the teenager.  
 
Research from the Harvard Medical School shows that relaxation practices like meditation and deep breathing improved students' abilities to cope with hormonal mood swings, and the constant drama surrounding teen years. 
 
2    – 'Meditation' Can Be Better Than 'Medication' for Chronic Pain 
 
The Journal of Neuroscience reports on a study that shows you can save major money on prescription drug costs, while simultaneously relieving pain more effectively, with meditation. Pills often have bothersome and debilitating side-effects. This is not true with meditation, that proved more effective than pain medication for chronic pain relief in that study. 
 
3    – Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Relief 
 
IBS can be frustrating, inconvenient, painful and embarrassing. The answer may just be to meditate on a regular basis. Research in one study shows an 8-week practice of mindfulness for stress-relief reduced IBS symptoms by an impressive 26.4%. 
 
4    – Meditation Actually Boosts Your Immune System 
 
Your immune system is the complex group of processes in your body that fights infection and disease. Stress and anxiety play havoc with your immune system, and this means you're more likely to become sick or ill from any cause. Meditating regularly slows the production of stress hormones like cortisol which naturally damage your immune system. 
 
5    – Improves Fertility Rates in Women 
 
Researchers are still not sure why this happens. However, there is an undeniably correlated presence of notably higher fertility rates in women who meditate regularly, than in those who do not. 
 

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