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Alternative Medicine Alternative Medicine - Preventative

Meditate Your Stress Away

Summary & Participants

If stress is the plague of the 21st century, meditation may be a cure.

Medically Reviewed On: August 01, 2008

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Stress! It's inescapable, and it contributes to a wide range of health problems. But if stress is the plague of the 21st century - meditation may be a cure.

Dr. Myra Weis, D.S.W., Psychotherapist: It really does help you to accept things that you cannot change and the courage to know the difference about when you can and when you can't.

ANNOUNCER: Meditation refers to a group of techniques, some of which have been around for thousands of years. They call for focusing the attention - either on the breath, an object or a word. The idea is to derail the fight or flight response.

Benjamin Kligler, MD, MPH, Continuum Center for Health & Healing: When you go into a meditation state, there are neurotransmitters that are released in the brain that cause your muscles to relax, your blood pressure to go down, your heart rate to slow down, your brain waves to change and all those things then turn into a calmer feeling, basically.

ANNOUNCER: Research shows meditation may have all kinds of health benefits - from easing depression to decreasing stomach acid production. But it takes commitment -most experts say you need to meditate about 20 minutes - twice a day.

Benjamin Kligler, MD, MPH, Continuum Center for Health & Healing: The patient has to really take it on and embrace it and learn it and do it and keep doing it. So, in that sense, it's not at all a miracle. It's hard day-to-day work.

ANNOUNCER: Katherine studies a form of meditation called Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, focusing on the body and breath. She says the practice makes each day a little easier.

Katherine, Studies Meditation: I'm not so emotional or sort of out of sorts by the things that drive us crazy. You know, we're all running late for work sometimes. We're all, you know, we just missed the bus. I don't get caught up in those moments. I just accept them for what they are.

ANNOUNCER: Thanks for joining us on today's Once Daily.