A wealth of research studies confirms the benefits of meditation.

Physical benefits include reductions in pain (Kabat-Zinn et al. 1986); improvements in stress responses with biofeedback as meditation (Glueck/ Stroebel; Goleman/ Schwartz), substance abuse (Sharma et al. 1994), and other behavioral parameters; reduced pulse and blood pressure; changes in respiration rate, oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide elimination; reduced muscle tension and blood lactate levels (associated with anxiety and hypertension); higher skin resistance (indicating relaxation); subjective experiences of �feeling better� in various ways;  lower cholesterol (M. Cooper/ Aygen); and reduced prostate specific antigen with prostatic cancers (Saxe et al.). Meditation has been demonstrated to be a cost-effective treatment for chronic pain (Caudill et al.). An extensive overview of meditation research has been compiled by the *Maharishi International University, covering over 500 studies and including a meta-analysis (Orme-Johnson/ Farrow), and three other reviews: two by Michael Murphy and Steven Donovan cover over 600 studies, and a briefer, annotated bibliography by Bogart (1991).

The practice of meditation has been found to be cost effective, in that those who meditate regularly have significantly reduced health care use (McSherry; Orme-Johnson 1987).

Much more on meditation in Benor, Daniel J. Healing Research, V. 2 - Professional edition - Consciousness, Bioenergy and Healing, Medford, NJ: Wholistic Healing Publications 2004
   BOOK OF THE YEAR (The Scientific and Medical Network, UK 2004)

References

Bogart, Greg. Meditation and psychotherapy a review of the literature, American Journal of Psychotherapy 1991 (100 annotated refs) http://www.jps.net/gbogart/med_article.html

Caudill, M et al. Decreased clinic use by chronic pain patients: response to behavioral medicine intervention, J of Chronic Pain 1991, 7, 305-310.

Cooper, M/ Aygen, M. Effect of meditation on blood cholesterol and blood pressure, J of the Israel Medical Association 1978, 95 1-2.

Glueck, R/ Stroebel, C. Biofeedback as meditation in the treatment of psychiatric illnesses, Comprehensive Psychiatry 1975 16, 303-321.

Kabat-Zinn, JL. Lipworth, et al. Four-year followup of a meditation-based program for the self-regulation of chronic pain, Clinical J of Pain 1986, 2 15-173.

LeShan, Lawrence. How to Meditate: A Guide to Self-discovery, New York: Bantam/ Little-Brown 1974. Best 'how to meditate' book

McSherry, E. Medical economics, In: D. Wedding, ed. Medicine and Behavior, St. Louis: Mosby 1990, 463-484.

Murphy, Michael / Donovan, Steven. Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation, New York: Tarcher/ Putnam 1995.

Murphy, Michael/ Donovan, Steven. The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation: A Review of Contemporary Meditation Research With a Comprehensive Bibliography, 1931-1996. San Rafael.CA: Esalen Institute of Exceptional Functioning 1997.

Orme-Johnson, DW. Medical care utilization and the transcendental meditation program, Psychosomatic Medicine 1987, 49:493-507.

Orme-Johnson, T/ Farrow, J (eds). Scientific Research in Transcendental Meditation Programme, Geneva, Switzerland: Maharishi European Research University Press 1976. See annotated bibliography also at http://www.WholisticHealingResearch.com/References/Meditation.htm  

Saxe, GA et al. Can diet, in conjunction with mindfulness-based stress reduction affect the rate of increase in prostate-specific antigen after biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer? Alternative Therapies 2001, 7(3), 109-110.

Sharma HM, Dillbeck MC, Dillbeck SL. Implementation of the Transcendental Meditation program and Maharishi Ayur-Veda to prevent alcohol and drug abuse among juveniles at risk. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 1994, 11: 3-4, 429-457.

Annotated bibliography of Transcendental Meditation research

Meditation and other approaches as self-healing:
Benor, Daniel J. Healing Research, Volume II: (Popular edition), How Can I Heal What Hurts?  Bellmawr, NJ: Wholistic Healing Publications 2005