8. The effects of meditation last beyond the time spent meditating.

As great as all these benefits of meditation are, they wouldn’t be all that useful if they just lasted the time you spent meditating. Thankfully though the effects last outside the meditative state as long as you meditate regularly. Just 10 to 15 minutes of meditating daily can bring you all these benefits and way more (including lower blood pressure and an actual positive physical effect on the brain).

So it's kind of like exercising muscles?

Yes, exactly, and I am sure there is a stash that goes into greater detail about this.  I'm new to meditation so I need to beef up my Meditation stash.  

Well I'm interested in hearing what you learn. Why did you start meditating?

Noisy brain.

And meditation helps it become quiet?

2. Meditation quiets your conscious thoughts.

If you have an over-active mind at night, or during the day, you know how frustrating it can be. One unimportant event can run through your head over and over, branching off into “what ifs” and “what ifs” of those “what ifs”. This can lead to mental fatigue.

When you meditate though you are focusing on just one thing. Your mind may slip at times but you can bring it back to that singular focus. With regular meditation you will begin to develop a quiet mind and inner peace.

3. Meditation helps you sleep.

I used to have great difficulty sleeping until I began to meditate shortly before bedtime. Not only does meditation help you to fall asleep quicker but it also improves the quality of your sleep. If you sometimes wake up feeling more tired than when you went to bed that meditation is something you need to try.

For more tips on getting a better sleep, click here.

The benefits of meditation listed above are like saying that the benefits of an iPhone 6 is that SMS becomes easier :-) There is an explicit assumption behind all the Indian meditation traditions, that you can custom create your own Universe when your mind field is totally in sync. The reason we don't experience this in daily life is because our thoughts are so scattered, so the power of our thoughts are very weak. Once they are synchronized/entrained in a particular way, the synergistic effect is so strong that your intention then ... just happens.

So it's really about giving our thoughts a rhythm, a flow, an efficiency, a calm.

Thanks!  Sounds supremely rewarding.