The title says it all really. Is there any evidence that meditation is beneficial to the body, or is it all a load of hippie nonsense? Trying to search online for an answer, I can only find sites with an obvious bias. A lot of them say it’s “scientifically proven”, but with no reference to scientific studies.
There are many studies on meditation and its benefits on PubMed. It seems that it is beneficial in treating some things. Here is one abstracton Mindfulness-based stress reduction.
Endorfins and other natural drugs can be generated while meditating. One of my customers was a Sidja Yoga Meditation temple, the long term members had an unbelievably youthful appearance about them for their ages. This seemed to be a cult although many of the members seemed to come and go freely and acted very normal in all respects, others seemed to be more dedicated to the prayer and meditation aspect and appeared in somewhat of a mild stupor. They held the medition sessions at frequent intervals throughout the day.