Health
Transcendental meditation can lower blood pressure
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted April 19, 2004
Black adolescents at risk for hypertension as adults can lower their blood pressure through twice daily transcendental meditation, according to a study published in the April issue of the American Journal of Hypertension.
A study of 156 inner-city black teens in Augusta, Ga., with high-normal pressure showed that teens who practiced 15 minutes of transcendental meditation twice a day steadily lowered their daytime blood pressures over four months and that their pressures tended to stay lower.
"Allowing the mind to go to that state of inner quietness and be there for a time has an effect on the physiology by reducing stress hormone levels like cortisol and reducing activation of the sympathetic nervous system which controls the fight-or-flight response," said Vernon A. Barnes, PhD, physiologist at the Medical College of Georgia and principal author of the paper.
The technique can be used throughout a lifetime without side effects or additional expense, Dr. Barnes noted.
The teens registered an average drop of 3.5 mm Hg in their systolic pressure and 3.4 mm Hg in their diastolic pressure.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/04/19/hlbf0419.htm.
