More Proof of Meditation's Health Benefits

A pair of medical stories that the Los Angeles Times reports to have been released this week strongly suggests that Om is where the heart is.

The first produced results described as so promising in reducing risk for heart disease one might have expected a powerful and powerfully effective new drug may have been involved. The benefits illuminated by this study were not due to medication, however, but to meditation.

Described as the first major long-term study of the health effects of Transcendental Meditation (TM), a team of researchers from the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University in Iowa followed a study population of black men and women during a period of nine years. Participants were assigned by random either a regimen of meditation or of attending a variety of classes on health and disease prevention during the nine-year period. The risk profile for heart disease and stroke among those who were in the meditation cohort was determined to be half of that of the group taking the health classes.

The Times quotes a statement provided in a press release by lead author Robert Schneider in framing the significance of the findings:

"Previous research on Transcendental Meditation has shown reductions in blood pressure, psychological stress, and other risk factors for heart disease, irrespective of ethnicity. But this is the first controlled clinical trial to show that long-term practice of this particular stress reduction program reduces the incidence of clinical cardiovascular events."

The second study cited by the Times came about through work performed by Maharishi University once again, this time in collaboration with American University. In looking at a study population of college students, a three-month regimen of TM practice was determined to bring about lowered blood pressure, reduced risk for developing hypertension in later years and improvement in stress reduction, depression and overall psychological health.

Photo courtesy of alicepopkorn, via Flickr