7 Fascinating Facts About Meditation share this story Over the
last decade, interest in the science of meditation has
skyrocketed. We now know more than ever before about just how
meditation affects our minds and bodies. Increased research has
led to a plethora of fascinating discoveries: Take, for
instance, the fact that meditation can prevent heart disease. Or
that it reduces stress. Or that it can significantly lessen ADHD
symptoms, and in many cases, beats medication. Still, much is
left to be discovered. We know more but we definitely don't know
everything. While we wait for science to catch up with ancient
wisdom, check out this slideshow on the complex effects of the
simple act of focused breathing. It Makes Your Brain Plastic
Quite literally, sustained meditation leads to something called
neuroplasticity, which is defined as the brain's ability to
change, structurally and functionally, on the basis of
environmental input. For much of the last century, scientists
believed that the brain essentially sto