There are literally hundreds of commonly experienced and scientifically validated benefits of meditation. We’ve compiled the top twenty that will make you want to start meditating right now.

We’ve broken them up into two main categories – the physical health benefits and the psychological benefits.

Physical health benefits of meditation

• Meditation literally grows your brain… both in volume and thickness. This doesn’t just make you smarter; it increases your memory, attention, self-awareness, and self-control alongside a whole list of other desirable qualities.
• Meditation increases blood flow to your brain… the brain can’t function without a strong steady flow of blood to it. The stronger and steadier the flow, the better the brain functions.
• Meditation reduces cortisol production, a stress-induced hormone that suppresses the immune system and can make you feel anxious nervous and unsettled for no real reason (other than having too much cortisol in your system).
• Meditation reduces blood pressure and heart rate, which alleviates unnecessary pressure on your heart and arteries.
• Meditation increases neuroplasticity. This is the brain’s ability to organize itself, adapt to demands and enables you to become more efficient in the learning process.
• Meditation increases the production of good neurotransmitters including serotonin and dopamine, both of which play a huge role in controlling our moods. It’s understood that low levels of serotonin cause depression.
• Meditation triggers the parasympathetic nervous system, which enables us to rest and recover from