|
Investigators from the Division of Cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles evaluated the efficacy of Transcendental Meditation (TM) on components of Metabolic Syndrome and Coronary Heart Disease (CHD).They conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of 16 weeks duration on a total of 103 subjects with stable CHD, testing the impact of TM vs. health education.
Main outcome measures included blood pressure, lipoprotein profile, and insulin resistance; endothelial function as measured by brachial artery reactivity testing; and cardiac autonomic system activity, as measured by heart rate variability
The study found that the TM group showed beneficial changes in adjusted
systolic blood pressure, insulin resistance, and heart rate
variability, as compared to the health education group, respectively.
There was no effect of brachial artery reactivity.
The researchers conclude that using TM for 16 weeks in CHD patients
improved blood pressure and insulin resistance components of the
metabolic syndrome, as well as cardiac autonomic nervous system tone,
as compared with a control group receiving health education. These
results suggest that TM may modulate the physiological response to
stress and thus improve CHD risk factors. This appears to be a novel
therapeutic target for the treatment of CHD.
Citation: Paul-Labrador M, Polk D, Dwyer JH, Velasquez I, Nidich S, Rainforth M, Schneider R, Merz CN.
Effects
of a randomized controlled trial of transcendental meditation on
components of the metabolic syndrome in subjects with coronary heart
disease. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2006 Jun 12; 166 (11): pages 1218-24.
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/hide comments
Show/hide comment form