There has been a lot of scientific research conducted on meditation and its numerous effects on both mental and physical health. Here are a number of links to research papers if you want to delve even deeper into the subject.

• A comparison of mindfulness-based stress reduction and an active control in modulation of neurogenic inflammation.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3518553/

• A protocol and pilot study for managing fibromyalgia with yoga and meditation.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22398352

• A randomized controlled trial of compassion cultivation training: Effects on mindfulness, affect, and emotion regulation.

http://ccare.stanford.edu/article/jazaieri-h-mcgonigal-k-jinpa-t-doty-j-r-gross-j-j-golden-p-r-2013-a-randomized-controlled-trial-of-compassion-cultivation-training-effects-on-mindfulness-affect-and-emotion/

• A Randomized, Wait-List Controlled Clinical Trial: The Effect of a Mindfulness Meditation-Based Stress Reduction Program on Mood and Symptoms of Stress in Cancer Outpatients.

https://journals.lww.com/psychosomaticmedicine/Abstract/2000/09000/A_Randomized,_Wait_List_Controlled_Clinical_Trial_.4.aspx

• Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation.

https://journals.lww.com/psychosomaticmedicine/Abstract/2003/07000/Alterations_in_Brain_and_Immune_Function_Produced.14.aspx

• Brain Mechanisms Supporting Modulation of Pain by Mindfulness Meditation

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3090218/

• Can Meditation Slow Rate of Cellular Aging? Cognitive Stress, Mindfulness, and Telomeres.

https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04414.x

• Coherence Between Emotional Experience and Physiology: Does Body Awareness Training Have an Impact?

https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~agyurak/Szeatal_E_2010.pdf

• Compassion Training Alters Altruism and Neural Responses to Suffering.

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797612469537

• Effect of compassion meditation on neuroendocrine, innate immune and behavioral responses to psychosocial stress.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306453008002199

• Enhancing Compassion: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Compassion Cultivation Training Program.

http://ccare.stanford.edu/article/enhancing-compassion-a-randomized-controlled-trial-of-a-compassion-cultivation-training/

• Influence of a mindfulness meditation-based stress reduction intervention on rates of skin clearing in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis undergoing phototherapy (UVB) and photochemotherapy (PUVA).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9773769

• Initial results from a study of the effects of meditation on multitasking performance.

https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1979862

• Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness.

http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-13989-015

• Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361002/

• Mental Training Affects Distribution of Limited Brain Resources.

https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.0050138

• Mindfulness meditation improves cognition: Evidence of brief mental training.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810010000681

• Mindfulness training modifies subsystems of attention.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/CABN.7.2.109#page-1

• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Health Care Professionals: Results From a Randomized Trial.

http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2005-05099-004

• Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources.

http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-14857-004

• Positive impact of integrated amrita meditation technique on heart rate, respiratory rate and IgA on young healthy adults.

http://koreascience.or.kr/article/ArticleFullRecord.jsp?cn=TJHOBI_2013_v3n2_13.1

• Systematic Review of the Efficacy of Meditation Techniques as Treatments for Medical Illness.

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acm.2006.12.817

• The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Cognitive Processes and Affect in Patients with Past Depression.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:COTR.0000045557.15923.96

• The underlying anatomical correlates of long-term meditation: Larger hippocampal and frontal volumes of gray matter.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811909000044

• Three-year follow-up and clinical implications of a mindfulness meditation-based stress reduction intervention in the treatment of anxiety disorders.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/016383439500025M

• Workplace based mindfulness practice and inflammation: A randomized trial

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889159112004710