Prescribing meditation

6.3 million Americans, or roughly 1 in 30 individuals, are being referred by doctors to practice activities like meditation, according to a joint study between Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

The study suggests that doctors recognize the benefits of meditation and yoga. 

Researchers collected information from approximately 23,000 households in the United States. 

The full results of the study are available in the May 9, 2011 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Robert Puff, Ph.D., author of the Pyschology Today article about the study, notes optimistically that the medical community appears to be embracing "meditation over medication."

08/10/12

[image © flickr.com/opensourceway and bainesmcg]