Meditation goes mainstream: this ancient technique can reduce stress that contributes to many diseases--and may even extend your life.

Researchers are taking a fresh look at meditation, the age-old technique that helps reduce stress. They are studying the way meditation influences the mind and body and confirming its benefits in preventing, slowing, or managing a variety of ailments.

There's even some evidence meditation can help you live longer. A study last May in the American Journal of Cardiology showed that people who meditate have a 23 percent reduction in overall death, a 30 percent reduction in death from cardiovascular disease, and a 49 percent reduction in death from cancer.

As the practice enters the mainstream, more physicians are recommending it and more patients are embracing it. Some 10 million people, most of them women, report regularly practicing some form of meditation.

Stress and your health

In numerous surveys, Americans say stress is their number one health concern, with more than half the respondents reporting daily stress. If left untreated, stress can seriously affect health. Studies show between 60-90 percent of all physician visits are for stress-related complaints.

When you are stressed or anxious, your body reacts with the stress response. Breathing becomes quick and shallow, blood pressure and heart rate increase, muscles tense, and the hormone cortisol, which inhibits the immune system, is released. People who have a lot of stress are often in this increased state of arousal; over time, their body wears down and their immune system starts to decline. They become at risk for high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke, as well as for mental diseases and immune syndromes.

"A large percentage of suffering is due, not to the stressor itself, but the way we respond to stress," explains Joseph Loizzo, MD, PhD, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University and director of the Nalanda Institute for Meditation and Healing. "While you can't eliminate stresses, you can definitely change the way you interpret or respond to stress."