The excellent media coverage continues ont the University of Kentucky
meta-analysis on TM and high blood pressure!

REUTERS HEALTH
Meditation technique can lower blood pressure
Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:26pm EDT
By Anne Harding

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Practicing a particular type of meditation
twice a day can significantly reduce blood pressure, according to an
analysis of existing research on the technique.

The blood pressure reductions associated with regular practice of
transcendental meditation, or TM, would translate to a 12-15 percent
reduced risk of dying from cardiovascular causes and a 15-20 percent lower
risk of stroke, Dr. James W. Anderson, the study's lead author, told
Reuters Health.

In TM, a person sits in a comfortable chair for 20 minutes twice a day and
attempts to quiet the mind by focusing on a mantra, Anderson explained.
"It's fairly simple but you need training to get into it," he added. "It
allows you to get below the kind of 'cocktail chatter' that's always going
on in your brain."

There are a number of different types of meditation and relaxation
techniques, Anderson pointed out, but he said TM has a unique ability to
bring the practitioner into a "quiet zone" that acts as a kind of
"sanctuary" for a person, refreshing them and reducing stress.

Some research on TM has been criticized as being biased and of poor
quality, the researcher and his colleagues at the University of Kentucky
in Lexington note in their report in the American Journal of Hypertension.

To better understand the real benefits of the practice for people with
high blood pressure, they looked at nine trials that compared blood
pressure changes in a group of patients practicing TM versus a "control"
group. The researchers limited their analysis of the findings to the three
clinical trials they rated as being high quality.

Based on these three studies, TM reduced systolic blood pressure (the top
number in a blood pressure reading) by 4.7 points, and diastolic blood
pressure (the bottom number) by 3.2 points.

"Sustained blood pressure reductions of this magnitude are likely to
significantly reduce the risk of heart disease," Anderson and his team
conclude.

SOURCE: American Journal of Hypertension, March 2008.



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