Meditation May Benefit Patients With Heart Disease
June 13, 2006
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Patients with heart disease may get relief for some of their cardiac risk factors by meditating.
Researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, studied the effects of transcendental meditation in patients with coronary heart disease. Participants were either instructed in transcendental meditation or received health education.
Study results revealed patients in the transcendental meditation group had significantly lower blood pressure, improved fasting blood glucose and insulin levels, and more stable functioning of the autonomic nervous system.
"These current results also expand our causal understanding of the role of stress in the rising epidemic of the metabolic syndrome," write the authors. "Although current low levels of physical activity, unhealthy eating habits and resultant obesity are triggers for this epidemic, the demands of modern society may also be responsible for higher levels of chronic stress."
The researchers say stress causes the release of cortisol and other hormones and neurotransmitters, which damages the cardiovascular system over time. They add because of transcendental meditation's ability to control the body's response to stress, it may be a new way to treat and prevent coronary heart disease and therefore warrants further study.
SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, 2006;166:1218-1224
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