Hypertension and meditation

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Feb-March, 2005 by Robert A. Anderson

Cardiovascular responses to stress reactivity appear to be a risk factor for hypertension. Baseline ambulatory blood pressure and laboratory cardiovascular reactivity to stress were determined in 39 normotensive men. After 4 months, the laboratory stress response in those randomly assigned to practice Transcendental Meditation was no different vs. those attending a cognitive-based stress education program. The meditators, however, demonstrated a reduction of 9 mm Hg in average ambulatory diastolic blood pressure vs. controls (p<0.04).

Wenneberg SR, Schneider RH, Walton KG et al. A controlled study of the effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on cardiovascular reactivity and ambulatory blood pressure. Int J Neurosci 1997 Jan; 89(1-2):15-28

COMMENT: Ambulatory BP monitoring has been shown to be a better predictor of cardiovascular complications of hypertension than clinic measurements. In this study of men with normal blood pressures, Transcendental Meditation significantly reduced ambulatory diastolic readings even though laboratory pressures remained unchanged. Thirty-five years ago when I shifted my own lifestyle to include better nutrition, physical activity, attitude adjustments and meditation, my blood pressure dropped from 150/95 to 110/70. I credit meditation most of all for the change.