Can meditation slow rate of cellular aging? - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

We consider two psychological processes or states that are in opposition to one another-threat cognition and mindfulness-and their effects on cellular aging. Psychological stress cognitions, particularly appraisals of threat and ruminative thoughts, can lead to prolonged states of reactivity. In contrast, mindfulness meditation techniques appear to shift cognitive appraisals from threat to challenge, decrease ruminative thought, and reduce stress arousal. Mindfulness may also directly increase positive arousal states.

Given the pattern of associations revealed so far, we propose that some forms of meditation may have salutary effects on telomere length by reducing cognitive stress and stress arousal and increasing positive states of mind and hormonal factors that may promote telomere (A telomere is a region of repetitive DNA at the end of a chromosome, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration/aging) maintenance.

More Here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19735238

More Here: http://voices.yahoo.com/the-anti-aging-effects-mindfulness-meditation-5893648.html?cat=68

More Here: http://bodyecology.com/articles/study-shows-meditation-slows-aging.php