Dr James Alexander, PhD- Psychologist

As discussed in Chaper 17 of 'The Hidden Psychology of Pain', there is plenty of research evidence to support the proposition that meditation is essentially good for your health. In the last 15 years, cognitive-behavioual psychologists have discovered what many humans have been doing for countless thousands of years- and have called it Mindfulness. This is not a discovery for humanity as much as it is a discovery for conventional psychology. Be that as it may, the important point is that meditation is good for emotional balance and wellbeing, and for physical health. What role might it play in the adjunctive psychological treatment of chronic health conditions like cancer? Please note that i am not medically qualified, so none of this can be construed as medical advice- do see a qualified medical practitioner for medical advice. From wide reading, my understanding is that inflammation is viewed as being a culprit in many chronic health conditions, including cancer. Apparently, one's genes can be damaged by exposure to environmental carcinogens, which includes too much sunshine.

The attached article discusses research which demonstrated that a day of meditation by a group of practicing meditators was able to create a  range of genetic and molecular differences, including altered levels of gene-regulating machinery, and reduced levels of pro-inflammatory genes, which in turn correlated with faster physical recovery from a stressful situation.

As stated in 'The Hidden Psychology of Pain', there is no good reason to not be a meditation practitioner. In terms of its ability to radically reduce chronic pain, this appears to only be possible for people who are long term meditators. The sooner you start meditating, the sooner you will also become a long term meditator.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131208090343.htm