Want to strengthen your immune system? Give meditation a shot!

We all know that meditation is a great way to relieve stress and relax your mind. But did you know that a meditation practice can strengthen your immune system as well!

According to the findings of a new large-scale genomic study, eight days of silence with 10 hours of meditation daily causes robust activation of the immune system.

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The first-of-its-kind study on the biological impact of meditation included 106 volunteers aged 40 years on average and was published in the journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America).

Blood samples taken before and after the retreat showed that post-meditation there was increased activity in 220 genes directly related to the immune response.

The team explained that their findings prove that the immune system can be voluntarily influenced by nonpharmaceutical interventions like yoga and meditation.

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