Are you tired of taking pills when you are ill? Well, scientists seem to have found a new way to help you get better.
Meditating can fight off cancer and viruses like Covid-19, say researchers.
But you need to do it for 10 hours a day for more than a week to get the maximum benefit.
Scientists in the US said intense yoga and meditation, known as "inner engineering", dramatically boost the body's immune system.
During a tightly-controlled research retreat, volunteers stayed silent for eight days, meditated for more than 10 hours daily, ate vegan meals and followed a regular sleep schedule.
The study's author Dr Vijayendran Chandran, from the University of Florida, said: "What we found was that multiple genes related to the immune system were dramatically activated when you do inner engineering practices."
The immune boost enjoyed by the volunteers was mainly due to meditation rather than diet, sleep or gender, the researchers found.
Dr Chandran said it was the first time anyone had shown that meditation can boost the body's defences against disease.
He added: "It demonstrates a way to voluntarily influence the immune system without pharmaceuticals."
