According to scientific studies recently done involving meditation we now fully understand what all of the meditation hype has recently been about, according to studies performed at UCLA with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology they have found that those who practice long term meditation had significantly higher amounts of grey brain matter compared to control subjects in areas regulating emotions, which demonstrates a significantly higher amount of emotional control, less stress which leads to a strengthened immune system, along with an increased ability to focus.

A similar study was done at harvard and has shown that meditation can prevent age related mental issues.
The meditation used in this study was called insight meditation, which focuses mainly on the stopping of thoughts and not letting thoughts wander which in turn strengthens your mind and gives your more control of your own brain processes.

"Our data suggest that meditation practice can promote cortical plasticity in adults in areas important for cognitive and emotional processing and well-being," says Sara Lazar, leader of the study and a psychologist at Harvard Medical School. "These findings are consistent with other studies that demonstrated increased thickness of music areas in the brains of musicians, and visual and motor areas in the brains of jugglers. In other words, the structure of an adult brain can change in response to repeated practice."