Why Our Next President Should Meditate

Our next president, whether it be Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton, or Bernie Sanders, should meditate every day, says Darrin Zeer, who is known as America’s Relaxation Expert. “The presidency is the toughest job on earth and the most important.” he tells Newsmax Health.

“We want our president to make the right decisions for global safety and security,” Zeer says, and meditation can help the president manage stress and concentrate better.

Meditation doesn’t have to be complicated, says Zeer, or take up much of the president’s limited time. “Keep it simple,” he says. “Just sit and close your eyes for three to five minutes and focus on your breathing.”

Meditation could have specific benefits for each presidential candidate, according to Zeer. “Trump could probably use some help with stress management, while Hilary might find that meditation creates acceptance of painful events in her past. Studies have found that meditation slows the aging process, and that might be particularly helpful for Sanders.”

Meditation is a form of “mindfulness,” which focuses attention on both internal and external experiences that are occurring in the present moment.

It’s not just the presidential candidates that could benefit from meditation. Recent studies have shown that meditation provides a wide range of health benefits for virtually everyone:

Protects against heart disease. A study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes followed 201 African-American men and women diagnosed with heart disease. They were divided into two groups: One group practiced meditation while the second group participated in an educational class about heart-friendly exercise and diet.

After five years, the meditation group experienced a 48 percent reduction in the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death from any cause. “Transcendental Meditation may reduce heart disease risks for both healthy people and those with diagnosed heart conditions,” said lead researcher Robert Schneider.

Fights depression. A recent study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s found that mindfulness, a form of therapy that uses techniques such as meditation and yoga to cope with negative emotions, worked as well as prescription drugs to lift depression in seniors diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment.

Meditation helps all ages. Scientists at Rutgers University found that just two weekly sessions of a combination of meditation and aerobic exercise for two months cuts depression by 40 percent in depressed students. The scientists pointed out that these low-cost solutions to depression are available to everyone.

A 2014 review of 47 randomized clinical trials found that meditation — an average of about 2.5 hours a week — reduced depression. “It was surprising to see that with so little training we were still seeing consistent results,” wrote study author Dr. Madhav Goyal of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Eases back pain. Scientists at Seattle’s Group Health Research Institute found that eight weekly sessions of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), such as meditation, relieved pain and improved ease of movement better than over-the-counter pain killers. Even a year later, the mindfulness group in the study still showed a substantial improvement, with 69 percent reporting continuing improvement compared to 44 percent in the study’s control group.

Cuts medical costs. Researchers at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital found that people who practiced meditation, as well as other deep relaxation techniques, decreased their doctor visits by 42 percent when compared to the year before learning to practice meditation.  In addition, lab use dropped by 44 percent. Researchers believe the relaxation lead to healthy changes in the body, including less inflammation.

A Canadian study divided 284 people with consistently high medical costs into two groups; one group practiced meditation and the other didn’t. After five years, physician fees in the meditation group decreased by 28 percent. In a subsequent study involving senior citizens, those who practiced meditation reduced their expenses by 70 percent. “It may be possible to rescue Medicare and Medicaid by adding coverage for learning the transcendental meditation technique,” said study author Robert Herron, Ph.D.