Meditating Your Way to Lower Blood Pressure

Meditation can be a powerful tool for alleviating anxiety and combating stress. Not only is it clear that people often report simply “feeling better” after meditating, but a new study suggests that the body really does respond physically to meditation. And, the numbers, measured in lower blood readings, may be there to prove it.

Researchers at American University, Washington, D.C., randomly assigned 298 college students to participate in a standardized transcendental meditation program or wait-listed control group for three months. They then identified a subgroup of students who were at risk for hypertension because their blood pressure was higher than normal, but not high enough to be considered hypertension.

Results, published in the American Journal of Hypertension showed that at-risk students who meditated lowered their systolic blood pressure by 5.0 mm Hg and their diastolic blood pressure by 2.8 mm Hg on average. Improvements of this magnitude, if sustained, could reduce the likelihood of these at-risk students developing hypertension by 52%, according to the authors of the study.

This is encouraging on several levels. For one, meditation had the strongest effect on the people who needed it most. Students who were not at risk for hypertension who meditated also improved, but not as much, while the control group’s blood pressure actually increased during the study. Secondly, it shows that, with the help of something as easy and accessible as meditation, you really can exert a measure of direct control over your blood pressure.

Finally, a couple caveats are in order: it’s safe to say that, like any other therapy, getting real results from meditation probably requires that you adhere to some sort of formal routine, as the participants in this study did. And, while meditation can be a great adjunctive or “add-on” therapy, it’s certainly no substitute for more conventional ones like blood pressure medications, eating healthfully, and regular exercise.

Source: Healthcommunities