In stressful situations, our bodies have a natural response that can include increased heart rate, dilated pupils, slowed digestion. These prolonged reactions can induce more serious ones such as heart attach or stroke. A group in a stress management study was taught the practice of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and compared with a control group that was taught to manage stress with healthy eating, exercise, and sleep. The MBSR group was taught to allow whatever thoughts they were having to rise in their head and "pass over like a cloud in the sky." At the end of the study, the control group that was taught to cope with diet, exercise, and sleep turned out to be more stressed, where the MBSR group showed much fewer signs and indications of stress when placed under the same stress-inducing scenarios.

Read more: How meditation can change your body's response to stress - CBC.ca