Meditation slows age-related loss of grey matter in the brain, finds a new study. (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150205142951.htm) (see also http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/10/health/can-meditation-really-slow-aging/index.html)
When we eat certain type of food, it shows how it affects our body. If it makes us healthy and even healthier, it means we are designed for that sort of food. Similarly, thinking is like food for the mind. Thinking affects our life.
1)
If we think that we are here by chance, then we begin to feel separated
and more important than others, and begin to assert things in favor of us. In
such thinking pattern, our desires becomes intense, and turn into anger (if
desire is met with obstruction) and greed (if desire is fulfilled). In either
situation we are not happy, it will be reflected badly in our physical health too.
2)
A person
who is in the habit of meditation go about relaxing his body, withdrawing his
attention from everything around him, including his body, viewing himself as
pure consciousness (or as immaterial being just like his source) affirming
himself to be the embodiment of lofty qualities such as peace, love, compassion
(which stem from the conviction that all are made of same substance). This
awareness continues even when he engages in other activities of the day. In
such thinking pattern, his desires do not become intense, and hence will not turn
into anger (if desire is met with obstruction) and nor into greed (if desire is
fulfilled). He is equipoised—does not feel elated over the pleasant happenings
nor troubled over the unpleasant happenings. In either situation he is alike,
and he is never stressed, but in harmony with his body and mind. Such people have
less age-related atrophy in the brain's white matter (because their
God-oriented attitude appears to help preserve the brain's grey matter, the
tissue that contains neurons. The scientists looked specifically at the
association between age and grey matter. They compared 50 people who had
mediated for years and 50 who didn't. People in both groups showed a loss of
grey matter as they aged. But the researchers found among those who meditated,
the volume of grey matter did not decline as much as it did among those who
didn't. Researchers were surprised by the magnitude of the difference. “We
observed a widespread effect of meditation that encompassed regions throughout
the entire brain,“ he said.
No wonder we are called human beings! Human refers to the physical aspect whereas Being points to the more important aspect, the immaterial substance. We say—my hand, my leg and my brain—all of which the “I” possess, yet the scientific tools cannot locate this “I” in our body. The only thing we can do is to declare that a person is dead when that "immaterial I" LEAVES his body, taking with it all the features such as ingenuity, power of reason ... etc!