If we told you that closing your eyes for five minutes every day was all it would take for you to reach your weight loss goals, you would probably laugh in our face, then resume picking at your kale salad. Reality check: meditation (or rather, a focused clearing of the mind) has a number of scientifically proven health benefits—one of which happens to be assisting weight loss. In fact, a number of studies have shown that meditation can help with everything from stress to insomnia—both pitfalls that can lead to mindless binge-eating (read: not good news for your skinny jeans).