Meditation can lower the risk of heart attack

[Guest guest]

Meditation can lower the risk of heart attack in subjects with existing

disease, comparable to that of powerful new drugs. In a 5-year study,

meditating cardiac patients were almost 50% less likely to be affected.

 

The effect that meditation techniques have on blood pressure, stress and

cognition are well known. However, until recently, there was little

scientific research on how the practice can affect the health and clinical

condition of patients.

 

A study of the subject was done by preventive medicine specialist Robert

Schneider of the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, and

endocrinologist Theodore Kotchen of the Medical College of Wisconsin in

Milwaukee, reports Science magazine.

 

 

 

The researchers enlisted 201 patients with narrowed coronary arteries – a

risk factor for heart attack and stroke. The subjects were all African

American, a high-risk group for heart disease.

 

The volunteers were assigned into two groups. Both were taking standard

medicine for high blood pressure and atherosclerosis and were taught good

practices for patients with cardiac conditions. One group was also taught

transcendental meditation and asked to practice for 15 to 20 minutes a day.

Transcendental meditation is a technique developed by Indian guru Maharishi

Mahesh Yogi, which became internationally known after the Beatles practiced

it.

 

Over 5 years, the meditation practitioners showed 47% lower rates of heart

attacks, strokes, and death compared to the control group. Meditation has

proved as powerful as any new class of heart disease medications entering

the market, says Schneider. The mechanism for this is not obvious, but is

probably linked with lower blood pressures associated with meditation,

researchers believe.

 

It’s early to call transcendental mediation a wonder cure for the heart,

however. The effect may not translate well to other ethnic groups with lower

risks of cardiac diseases. On the other hand, other techniques reducing

blood pressure and stress levels could prove effective too. Those may

include yoga or even prayer, commented cardiologist Sabahat Bokhari of the

Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City.