Transcendental Mediation Good for Stress

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Transcendental Meditation Good for Stress

(June 12, 2006) -- Practicing transcendental medicine not only mellows the mind but may also calm the body's damaging responses to stress that leads to heart disease and diabetes, researchers said on Monday.

In a 16-week trial featuring heart disease patients averaging 68 years old, those who were taught the principles of transcendental meditation from the ancient Vedic tradition in India experienced several health benefits, the study said.

Meditation has been previously shown to lower blood pressure, but researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, found it also decreased heart rate variability and insulin sensitivity.

The heartbeat is controlled by the body's autonomic nervous system that can be adversely affected by stress, and variability can damage the cardiovascular system, said the report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes, occurs as the body becomes less and less capable of using insulin produced by the pancreas to convert sugar into blood glucose for energy.

Chronic stress may be the common denominator upsetting the body's automatic functions, study author Maura Paul-Labrador said.

"Such stress causes the release of cortisol and other hormones and neurotransmitters, which over time damage the cardiovascular system ... transcendental meditation may modulate response to stress rather than alter the stress itself, similar to the physiological impact of exercise conditioning," she wrote.

Source: Archives of Internal Medicine

Last updated: 06/06

Transcendental Meditation Good for Stress

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