While you can’t technically die of “old age;” there’s a clear link between anti-ageing wellness an your overall wellbeing. In fact, the American Academy of Anti-Ageing Medicine states that 90% of all adult illness is due to the degenerative processes of ageing. But what exactly is anti-ageing medicine, and how does it work to help you prevent potentially life-threatening diseases? According to Angela Eksteins, a qualified expert in organics, alternative healing techniques and philosophies, ‘Anti-ageing medicine, aiming for longevity and optimal health, is most certainly the “specialty” of the future and is based on the early detection, prevention and reversal of age-related disease. While science continues to search for answers, research has already revealed that meditation is a potent anti-ageing practice that can take years off your physiological age.’
But how can meditating help you to stay young? Eksteins explains, ‘Ageing is most certainly a complex issue with many factors coming into play, but one thing that researchers do agree on is that stress (mental, emotional, and physical) causes us to age… In a recent interview with CNN, Dan Buettner, author of The Blue Zones and researcher into longevity hotspots around the world, suggests small lifestyle changes can add up to 10 years to most people’s lives. He says ageing is 10% genetic and 90% lifestyle. Buettner stated that having mechanisms to shed stress, like prayer and meditation, was of high importance in the longevity hotspots he studied and a major factor in long-term health and ageing.’
Eva Selhub, MD, Medical Director of the Mind/Body Medical Institute notes, ‘If we can affect the stress response, we can affect the ageing process. There’s a reason why experienced meditators live so long and look so young.’ Dr. Robert Keith Wallace has actually looked into this reason; publishing research based on the practice of Transcendental Meditation in the International Journal of Neuroscience. He found that participants with an average age of 50 – chronologically speaking – who who had been practicing Transcendental Meditation for over five years had a biological age 12 years younger than their chronological age. This means that meditating long-term can give you the physiology of a 43-year-old when you’re 55. In fact, several of the subjects in the study were found to have a biological age 27 years younger than their chronological age, meaning that 55-year-olds could half their physiological age!
Eksteins points out, ‘History reveals many examples of seemingly “ageless” saints, dedicated to the practice of meditation, whose lives have demonstrated the enormous capacity of the human body to live much longer than today’s average life span. Yes, these ageless saints and yogis practically dedicated their whole lives to meditation but even we, as average householders, can potentially live much longer, healthier lives. Meditation has revealed itself to be one of the most beneficial practices to relieve some of the stress related to ageing.’
In his book Love, Medicine and Miracles, Bernard Siegel, MD, Professor at Yale University School of Medicine, wrote, ‘Other doctors’ scientific research and my own day-to-day clinical experience have convinced me that the state of the mind changes the state of the body by working through the central nervous system, the endocrine system, and the immune system. Peace of mind sends the body a “live” message, while depression, fear and unresolved conflict give it a “die” message.’ He adds, ‘The physical benefits of meditation have recently been well documented by Western medical researchers. Meditation also raises the pain threshold and reduces one`s biological age… In short, it reduces wear and tear on both body and mind, helping people live longer and better.’
