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| Transcendental Meditation Lowers Blood Pressure in Black Adolescents |
| By AScribe Newswire |
| Published: 04/26/2004 |
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Black adolescents at risk to be hypertensive adults can lower their blood pressure through daily transcendental meditation, according to research published in the April issue of the American Journal of Hypertension. A study of 156 inner-city black adolescents in Augusta, Ga., with high-normal pressure showed that teens who practiced 15 minutes of transcendental meditation twice daily steadily lowered their daytime blood pressures over four months and that their pressures tended to stay lower, according to Dr. Vernon A. Barnes, physiologist at the Medical College of Georgia and principal author of the paper. Adolescents in the study who practiced transcendental meditation experienced an average 3.5 millimeter drop in their systolic pressure, the top number that indicates the pressure inside blood vessels that the heart is pumping against, and a 3.4 millimeter decrease in diastolic pressure, the bottom number that indicates pressure while the heart is at rest. Participants in health education classes, who served as the control groups, experienced no significant change. Heart rate, probably one of the simplest measures of stress level reduction, also dropped in meditating students and remained consistent in the control groups. High blood pressure affects one in four adults in the U.S. and is a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke, the first and third leading causes of death, respectively, according to the National Center for Health Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The underlying physiologic pathways that enable meditation to lower blood pressure are unclear and also need further study. However, the practice that transcends thought has been shown to reduce sympathetic nervous system response and stress hormone levels, which ultimately reduces the workload on the heart. |
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Thanks for letting us know about this meditation method to lower blood pressure. My mates are taking the meditation class in London, and they don't know anything about this. I'll make sure to tell them about this relaxation method.