Meditation Could Be Potentially Useful In Bringing Down BP In Adults

Nikki Attkisson | Last Updated : December 30, 2021

According to the results of a random study, transcendental meditation (TM) practices could prove to be helpful in bringing down systolic blood pressure (BP) amongst the Black population with high-normal blood pressure, though this practice did not prove to be helpful for the population with normal blood pressure.

Meditation Could Be Potentially Useful In Bringing Down BP In Adults

The report of this study, which has been published in the American Journal of Preventive Cardiology, could prove to be ideal for bringing down health imbalances in heart ailments and the co-morbidities related to cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Meditation Could Be Potentially Useful In Bringing Down BP In Adults

In comparison to the white population in the United States of America, the population of Black adults in the country has been observed to have a disproportionately high rate of mortality as well as morbidity.

Some of the major contributors to this imbalance are health-related conditions like cardiovascular heart ailments, which include hypertension (high blood pressure) as well as Coronavirus in the ongoing pandemic. These health concerns are possibly related to social factors that could possibly affect health as well as psychosocial stress. 

Studies conducted in the past have proven that reduction in stress levels with various meditation techniques showed success in bringing down blood pressure levels in the black population in both men as well as women, who happen to belong to the grade 1 category, though there does not seem to be enough data to support evidence of the same for normal as well as high normal blood pressure levels.

Therefore, with the purpose of bridging the gap of sufficient knowledge as mentioned above, Mr. Robert H Schneider of the Institute for Prevention Research, Iowa, the United States of America along with his colleagues, have undertaken the randomized controlled trial (RCT) to assess the effects of the reduction in stress levels with the help of transcendental meditation (TM) techniques amongst the black adults, which include both men as well as women with normal blood pressure levels and normal blood pressure levels using international classifications.

The above-mentioned study was conducted on a total of 304 black women as well as men with high normal blood pressure levels; in the range of 130 – 139/85 – 89 mm Hg and normal blood pressure levels in the range of 120 – 129/80 – 84 mm Hg.

These groups were randomly divided into either of the two categories; health education (HE) and transcendental meditation (TM) groups. Post the baseline check-up, their blood pressure levels were recorded after three, six, nine, twelve, twenty-four, thirty, and thirty-six months.

A comparison was drawn between the fluctuations in blood pressure levels amongst the health education (HE) and transcendental meditation (TM) group participants in the normal blood pressure as well as high normal blood pressure groups with the help of linear mixed model analysis.

Survival analysis was undertaken for hypertensive events and all the participants of this study had been followed for 19.9 11.1 months median.

Post an average follow up for the above mentioned period of time, the researchers came to the below conclusions:

  • Blood pressure levels in the high regular transcendental meditation group showed a significant reduction in post test SBP, which was recorded at -3.33 mm Hg
  • In the normal blood pressure group in both the TM as well as HE categories, there was no significant change noted in the SBP and DBP levels.
  • The hazard ratio for high blood pressure events in the high normal blood pressure category was recorded to be 0.52. There was no difference recorded in the normal blood pressure group.

Thus, the researchers concluded that meditation could be a helpful addition to one’s lifestyle to manage high blood pressure. 


Nikki Attkisson

With over 15 years as a practicing journalist, Nikki Attkisson found herself at Powdersville Post now after working at several other publications. She is an award-winning journalist with an entrepreneurial spirit and worked as a journalist covering technology, innovation, environmental issues, politics, health etc. Nikki Attkisson has also worked on product development, content strategy, and editorial management for numerous media companies. She began her career at local news stations and worked as a reporter in national newspapers.

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