The benefits of meditation

Paul McCartney once said, “Meditation is a lifelong gift. It’s something you can call on at any time.” Ringo says: “At the end of the day, I can end up just totally wacky, because I’ve made mountains out of molehills. With meditation, I can keep them as molehills.” And George Harrison’s point of view rounds it out: “So yoga, all these [meditative] methods, are really ... just to stop further pollution of your system and consciousness and to cleanse the system.”

When it comes to meditation and your system, George may have been right on. If you regularly do deep meditation for several years, it may alter your gastrointestinal system — and your gut biome in particular. That’s the finding of a small study in the journal General Psychiatry.

When researchers looked at the gut microbes in 37 Tibetan Buddhist monks from three temples, they found that they differed substantially from those of their nearby neighbors and the microbes that were more plentiful in the monks than in “civilians” are linked to a lower risk of anxiety, depression, and cardiovascular disease. The differences were seen in the prevalence of Bacteroidetes (they made up 29% of the monks’ stool samples and just 4% of their neighbors) and Prevotella (42% vs 6%). And the benefits happen because of the neurological and metabolic effects of certain gut bacteria.

Want to get started? For detailed info on meditation techniques and its benefits visit the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health at www.nccih.nih. gov and search for meditation or visit www.greatagereboot. com.

Health pioneer Michael Roizen, M.D., is chief wellness officer emeritus at the Cleveland Clinic and author of four No. 1 New York Times bestsellers. His next book is “The Great Age Reboot: Cracking the Longevity Code for a Younger Tomorrow.” Do you have a topic Dr. Mike should cover in a future column? If so, please email questions@ GreatAgeReboot.com.