MEDITATION NEWS ITEM

Yoga & Meditation Help Reduce Hypertension

FRIDAY, 24 AUGUST 2007

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, remains the most common reason for office visits to physicians for non-pregnant adults in the United States. Some 50 million Americans are believed to have hypertension. Despite its prevalence and the complications associated with it, control of the disease is far from adequate. As a result, hypertension will likely remain the most common risk factor for stroke, heart failure, and kidney disease for years to come.

Mind-Body medicine, one of five major branches of CAM therapeutics, uses behavioral techniques to augment the mind's capacity to affect bodily function and symptoms, utilizing varied approaches such as meditation, prayer, mental healing, and therapies that use creative outlets such as art, music, or dance. The 2002 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) found nearly 30 million users of relaxation techniques including meditation and yoga, and 10 million users of yoga therapies. One-fourth of those who used mind-body therapies rated them “very helpful.”

According to www.newswise.com, there has been little quality research to discriminate between positive anecdotal evidence, marketing schemes, and practices that are consistently effective and safe. As a result, a team of researchers conducted a systematic review aims to assess the efficacy of mind-body therapies (MBT) versus placebo or active control in the treatment of hypertension. The main outcome measures include change in systolic and diastolic blood pressure pre- and post-intervention period.

Participants in these trials were men and non-pregnant women, greater than 18 years of age with hypertension defined as a systolic blood pressure of >140 mm Hg and/or diastolic blood pressure >90 mm Hg. (Normal is defined as systolic >140 and/or diastolic >90 mmHg). The types of intervention undertaken by the study participants were mind-body techniques with the greatest rates of utilization (>3.5 percent prevalence of use in the general population) being meditation, yoga, and guided imagery techniques.

The review and synthesis of 12 published randomized trials found largely favorable effects of the most popular mind-body therapies on systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Mind-Body Therapies (MBT) significantly reduced systolic blood pressure (SBP) by a mean 11.52 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) by 6.83 mm Hg. Of the three MBT analyzed, yoga therapies demonstrated results of the greatest magnitude, with mean SBP reductions of 19.07 mm Hg and DBP by 13.13 mm Hg. Significant results were seen in SBP reductions by yoga and meditation therapy, while only yoga therapies demonstrated significant reductions in DBP.

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