What do telomere lengths and meditation have to do with each other? And why should I care? Well, it turns out that telomere length determines how well the chromosomes fare. The longer the telomere, the fewer the mutations. Guess what? Fewer mutations mean less aging.

So, long telomeres are a good thing and those of us who have long ones will have fewer wrinkles, less chance of getting cancers and heart disease. In short, telomeres might be the fountain of youth that everyone seeks.

Now meditation is not my thing. I still see meditation as a kind of New Age quest. Yet studies have shown that meditation can reduce blood pressure, anxiety and promote a sense of well being. And what about those telomeres? Well, a recent study showed some amazing results.

Study subjects had never meditated before (sounds like me) and were taught how to meditate. They meditated about 25 minutes twice daily for a few months. Telomere length was measured before and after the few month meditation period. This length was compared with controls who did not meditate. Sure enough, the telomeres remained at a greater length in meditators than in controls.

What’s great about this study is that participants did not require Botox treatments, fancy, expensive skin creams or God knows what other kind of  care to promote youth. It seems that meditation somehow promotes preservation of telomere length, which in turn is a kind of fountain of youth.

I know of no real downside to meditation, except that you might miss the latest tweet about Kim Kardashian. I for one will give meditation a shot and I encourage you to do so as well.