IF MEDITATION WERE A DRUG, its benefits would be almost too amazing to belief. Over the past decade, researchers have found that regular practice can lower blood pressure, decrease anxiety, improve immune function, increase vitality, and improve sleep. "Meditation causes physiological changes that, over time occur even when you are not meditating -- like when a runner having a lower heart rate even when she is not running," says Diane Reibel, Ph.D., Director of the Stress Reduction Program at the Center for Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

You don't have to sit cross-legged for hours on end to reap these rewards. By spending just 20 minutes a day in a meditative state, you can improve your mental, physical, and emotional well-being.

Written by Sarah Bowen Shea

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