For more than 30 years, medical researchers have acknowledged the multifaceted health benefits of practicing mindfulness meditation in its varied forms.In 2005 alone, more than 40 peer-reviewed articles reported on research on the physiology and medical and social benefits of meditative and mindfulness practices. Investigators have concluded that these practices can contribute to reduction of recurrent depression and suicidal thoughts and behaviors; reduced stress and improved sleep and self-awareness in middle-school children; reduced anxiety, depression, and insomnia in solid-organ transplant recipients; reduced stress and work burnout among nurses; decreased stress and increased empathy among nursing students; increased compassion in caretakers and reduction of patients’ subjective experience of pain; mitigation of the effects of stress and disease; improved brain and immune function; promotion of well-being and reduction of mood disturbances and stress among people with cancer; and support of hospice caregivers.