Research shows that meditation not only calms the mind, but affects the nervous system as well.
While the evidence is not definitive, it appears that chronic stress causes long-term elevations in blood pressure, and that certain stress-management techniques may be able to counteract these rises in blood pressure.
There are many ways to reduce stress: Massage, yoga, tai chi, and stress management classes are some of the more popular methods. But the relaxation technique that has been studied most widely—and has been shown to be effective for reducing blood pressure—is a type of meditation called transcendental meditation.
Introduced to the Western world by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1959, transcendental meditation involves sitting comfortably in a quiet place with your eyes closed. You start off with a few slow, deep breaths, and then silently repeat a soothing one-syllable word, called a mantra, in your mind to focus your concentration. After 20 minutes, you open your eyes, take a few moments to reorient to the world around you, and then continue with your day.
Proponents of transcendental meditation believe that it works through its effects on the nervous system; transcendental meditation calms the mind, slows the heartbeat, and releases tension from the muscles. As a result, transcendental meditation might also have an impact on your blood pressure readings and overall cardiovascular health.
Here is what recent research on meditation has shown:
- At the Medical College of Georgia and other institutions (including the University of Illinois and Maharishi University of Management), researchers evaluated 150 people with slightly elevated blood pressure (an average of 142/95 mm Hg), and had them practice either transcendental meditation or progressive muscle relaxation (tensing and relaxing muscle groups in succession) two times a day for 20 minutes, or to participate in a health education program.
In a report in the American Journal of Hypertension, investigators noted that the meditation group experienced greater decreases in blood pressure (average declines of 3/6 mm Hg), compared to the other groups (average decreases of 0.5/3 mm Hg) over a 12-month period. The meditation group also was able to reduce its use of blood pressure medication, while the other groups actually increased their reliance on these drugs.
- The American Journal of Cardiology published a report that combined the results of two randomized trials, which examined the effect of stress reduction on death rates in 202 people age 55 and older with prehypertension or mild hypertension. Some of them participated in a transcendental meditation program, while the rest practiced other relaxation techniques (progressive muscle relaxation, mindfulness training, and mental relaxation) or were part of a control group. They were followed for an average of eight years. At the end of the follow-up period, those in the meditation group fared the best, experiencing a 30% decline in the rate of cardiovascular deaths, and a 23% reduction in the rate of death from all causes, compared to the control group. When compared with the other relaxation techniques, transcendental meditation was associated with a 32% lower incidence of cardiovascular deaths, and a 27% reduction in death from all causes.
