Transcendental meditation protects the heart from stress

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

According to a new study, practising transcendental meditation lowers blood pressure and decreases insulin resistance.
Transcendental meditation (TM) is a relaxation technique derived from the ancient Vedic tradition in India. Previous work has shown that it can lower blood pressure. Now a new study from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, reveal that its benefit may be even further reaching.

They assigned a group of 103 paticipants with heart disease to either 16 weeks of TM or to health education. After this time, the TM group had lower blood pressure, improved fasting glucose and insulin levels. The latter two measures mean less insulin resistance, which would decrease the risk of diabetes. Recently, stress has been shown to play a role in metabolic syndrome - a cluster of symptoms like insulin resistance, high blood pressure and obesity. The researchers suggest that TM modulates the response to stress, protecting the heart from its adverse effects. These benefits were acheived without losing weight or increasing physical activity. Further research is needed, but it looks like TM could be a powerful tool helping people keep their heart healthy.

Source
Archives of Internal Medicine 12th June 2006 Volume 166 pages 1218-1224