Let me hear an oooom

It's science, people.

Researchers who tracked 201 people as they underwent either transcendental meditation or health education classes found that those who meditated had lower blood pressure and a 47% reducation in strokes, deaths and heart attacks, which they calculated together as one result.

A previous study, in 2009, found that meditation can cut the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death by almost 50% in patients with existing coronary heart disease, according to a new clinical trial. The findings indicate that relaxation and mental focusing can be as effective as powerful new drugs in treating heart disease.

The reason for such a dramatic improvement isn't obvious, but the researchers note that the meditating patients had lower blood pressure, a key risk factor for heart attacks and stroke. Past studies have also indicated that meditation reduces stress hormone levels and dampens the sympathetic nervous system, which triggers the body's stress response. "We've shown that the brain has a direct positive influence on clinical outcomes," says Schneider, whose team presented its findings at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Florida.

Meditation has also been found to:

• significantly reduce depressive symptoms. 
• have greater pain relieving effects than morphine.
• decrease the levels of the stress-causing hormone, cortisol.

The most important discovery, however, is that cats that were unwell became less stressed when they listened to yoga meditation music. The poorly felines calmed down and began to breathe more slowly.