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My formal sitting (and walking) meditation practice is mostly Shamatha-Vipassana oriented, including Metta meditation. I'll be happy to answer any specific questions that you may have about those practices.
Long-term meditation fights age-related cognitive decline:
http://www.memory-key.com/research/news/long-term-meditation...
via this article:
Anapanasati:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anapanasati
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anapanasati#cite_note-16
Interesting.
I've heard a lot about Transcendental Meditation but it makes my spidey senses tingle because it feels cult-ish. At $500-$1,000 it also seems very expensive https://www.tm.org/
They ask students to practice 2 hours per day. I rarely do two hours, but find one hour in the evening to work. I also still drink alcohol on occasion, which means I will never qualify for the 20-day retreat. C'est la vie.
Check it out at http://dhamma.org
What works for me is just to sit there at my computer seat, eyes closed, with jazz playing on my headphones. Breathe in, breathe out. I do it for at least half an hour before starting work.
When you get down to it, mediation is just about forcing your mind to run in subconscious, maintenance mode.
Yes, meditation is vital and a regular practice can bring serenity to your life, and the lives of those around you. Many people have different systems and different ideas as to what constitutes meditation, but it is essentially investigation into the nature of being, or the nature of mind, or the nature of Reality. In close, attentive and relaxed examination, one's mind+body complex is gradually becoming more attuned…
An extra piece of advice for anyone serious about learning meditation:
1. You'll need a teacher. Find your local Buddhist centre and chances are they'll have classes focused on teaching beginners. You simply won't learn by making something up yourself and calling it meditation, or reading stuff on the internet (including my answer) - you'll need both guidance and someone to look up to. I can't stress this enough: even the Buddha himself had teachers :)
2. "Meditation" as a technique is obviously found in countless religions and other secular systems, so that some people claim you can learn "mindfulness" as a stand-alone tool, without the Buddhist package that usually comes with it.
Although it might be possible to a certain extent, the understanding you'll have of the practice will be immensely impoverished. You don't have to become a Buddhist to practice meditation, but without some Buddhist context you'll limit yourself to an extremely diluted, dumbed-down version of the real thing. So I'd recommend you start there, and in time you'll carve your own path.
Best of luck, it's an incredible journey.