(NaturalNews) A study at the University of Wisconsin confirms meditation
can alter the structure of the brain, fostering a brighter outlook and
increased empathy. Since positive thinking and emotions affect health,
meditation can contribute to overall wellness.

Using MRI technology, contemplative neuroscientists were able to view the area of the brain,
the left-sided anterior region, believed to be associated with positive
thoughts. The researchers documented increased activity in this region
of novice meditators who participated in an eight week mindfulness meditation course.

Davidson’s
team discovered that the practice of compassion meditation also
stimulates the limbic system (the brain’s emotional network) while
increasing positive emotions.
Expert meditators with more than 10,000 hours of practice showed the
greatest activity in the limbic systems and appeared to have permanently
altered their brains
to generate positive thoughts. Even outside of meditation, committed
meditators permanently changed the way their brains operated.

Positive emotions and optimism are good for your health as well. Evidence shows that optimists take proactive steps to ensure wellness
whereas a pessimist tends to engage in health-damaging behaviors.
Research further validates that individuals with a positive outlook have
less hypertension, diabetes, and respiratory tract infections. Positive
emotions also increase immunity and resistance to colds and flu, while
reducing cortisol, incidence of stroke, and inflammation. As an added
bonus, optimism increases longevity.

According to Health and Wellness by Gordon Edlin and Eric Golanty:

Advances
in identifying the biological mechanisms of mind-body communication
confirm that the mind can affect health in powerful ways. Joy,
creativity, and contentment lead to a state of harmony, which we
experience as bodily health and subjective well-being.

Nerve cells in the brain’s thought and feeling centers connect to other nerve cells in the brain and body,
to hormone-producing tissues and organs and to immune cells. In this
way, mental activity is able to influence many of the body’s
physiological processes.

Meditation isn’t just for monks anymore.
Use this powerful tool to strengthen a favorable mind-body connection
that supports health and watch the mind become illuminated with positive
outlook.

Sources for this Article:

"Positive Affect and
the Complex Dynamics of Human Flourishing", Barbara L. Fredrickson,
University of Michigan, Marcial F. Losada Universidade Catolica de
Brasilia, October 2005, American Psychologist, 677-686

"The
Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions", Barbara L. Fredrickson,
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, Volume 359, September 2004,
1367-1378

"Optimism", Clinical Psychology Review, Volume 30, Issue 7, November 2010, 879-889, Positive Clinical Psychology

Health and Wellness, Gordon Edlin and Eric Golanty, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2007

"The
Health Benefits of Writing About Intensely Positive Experiences". Chad
M. Burton and Laura A. King, Journal of Research in Personality, Volume
38, Issue 2, April 2004, 150-163