Can Meditation Increase Longevity Part II

The study, by psychologists Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert of Harvard University, is described in the journal Science. You can also read a summary in the Harvard Gazette.

In the gazette article, Killingworth says that  “Mind-wandering is an excellent predictor of people’s happiness, in fact, how often our minds leave the present and where they tend to go is a better predictor of our happiness than the activities in which we are engaged.” And, as the researchers note in the journal article: “Many philosophical and religious traditions teach that happiness is to be found by living in the moment, and practitioners are trained to resist mind wandering and to ‘be here now, These traditions suggest that a wandering mind is an unhappy mind.” The authors go on to note that this research “suggests these traditions are right.”

So if meditation helps you live, without distraction, in the present and happy people live longer, then meditation could help you live longer...