Meditate to slow down ageing

20 April 2017 by
First published: 13 June 2016

Did you know you can meditate to slow down ageing; to help you live a longer and happier life? Meditation itself is a powerful tool for the human soul. And without giving you a lengthy list of its benefits, the most underrated one of them is this power. Interested? Here’s 5 ways mediating can slow down ageing

Decreases levels of stress hormones

Feeling anxious doesn’t do anyone any favours. As it’s considered to be a fundamental type of therapeutic medicine for the mind and body, meditation produces a deep state of relaxation and a sense of tranquility to help put your mind at ease. When you meditate, you are clearing your thoughts and allowing your mind to make room for positive perspectives on how to deal with those stressful situations. This decreases your stress levels, giving a strong immune system, healthy skin tissues and most importantly a positive mentality.

Increase hormone levels of oxytocin

Meditation is thought to increase the activity of oxytocin in the brain. This is a hormone that increases its levels when you hug someone, and it also supposedly has anti-ageing benefits.

Improves your sleeping pattern

Is it really that simple to feel tired from not doing a lot at all? Yes, it certainly is. But when meditation is performed regularly it can increase the productivity of the body’s melatonin, which is a hormone made in the brain’s pineal gland that helps to control your sleep cycles.

As well as improving your sleeping pattern, melatonin also helps with anti-ageing, enhancing your health by slowing down any cell damage.

Regulates cardiac function

Heart rhythm is a form of meditation that seeks to build the body’s circulation and nervous system to improve its relationship between the heart, mind and emotions. It’s a great tool to combat ageing because It focusses on coordinating breathing techniques with the heart activity, strengthening the heart by regulating heartbeats. 

Increase levels of the enzyme telomerase

Your mind’s wellbeing can have a positive or negative impact on your physical health and research has suggested that more telomerase means better health. So what is telomerase and how can I get it? The telomere is the compound of structures located at the ends of your chromosomes, and like a knot at the end of the thread, they prevent any activity of the chromosome from unraveling. Telomerase are responsible for repairing these telomeres, so older people tend to have shorter telomeres, and each time a cell reproduces, its telomeres shrink, causing its ability to protect the chromosome to be deflated, which is in turn a cause of ageing, according to researchers.

The fundamental goals of meditation, including better management of stress, acceptance and better body circulation, are all related to improving the telomerase to mitigate and possibly stop cell ageing.