Ponder the universe regularly, and you get to stay in it longer

The LA Times is reporting that a study has found that people who practice Transcendental Meditation (TM) have much, much lower risk of heart disease and clinical cardiovascular events.

The study focused on a group of African American men and women who either practiced TM or traditional health education classes on heart disease prevention. Those who participated in TM had a 50% lower rate of heart attacks, strokes, and death.

So sitting and thinking about the universe in all its glory is apparently very healthy… this shouldn’t really come as a surprise. The fact that humanity is biologically wired to reward those who take time out of their day to ponder the mysteries of life, or more accurately the fact that our bodies punish us for being too busy to do so, speaks volumes about our ingrained genetic values… it says that our ancestors were the ones that took the time to ask questions and ponder the imponderable (which, granted, at the time would have been more along the lines of “if fruit tasty, why stick so not tasty?”) and were subsequently rewarded while their ignorant cousins continued to play in treetops.

Of course, one might argue that the joys of evolution have also led mankind along to path to developing slavery, nuclear weapons, and Facebook… perhaps the ignorant cousins still playing in treetops were on to something.