Meditation Cuts Risk of Heart Attack in Half

Meditation has been used by individuals around the world to find a balance within their lives for thousands of years. While some individuals use meditation specifically because of its spiritual side effects, others rely upon meditation specifically because of the deeper state of relaxation that can be obtained through the proper use of the various disciplines.

There are a variety of meditative disciplines around the world that have absolutely no spiritual emphasis whatsoever, but instead focus on creating a relaxed and peaceful state of mind that enhances an individual’s state of well-being. As any medical or alternative practitioner can verify, the better a person feels about himself or herself, the less stress they perceive.  The less stress an individual internalizes, the better their overall health due to the stimulation of positive feelings that encourage the body to release a healthy mixture of hormones and chemicals.

How Effective is Meditation?

There have been over 180 scientific studies performed to determine exactly how meditation works. For the most part, the side effects of medication are multiple. At its most basic level, meditation alters the body’s metabolism, heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and the corresponding brain chemistry. It has been used in clinical settings to relieve stress and pain.

In 2007, the United States National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine published an independent analysis of research conducted at the University of Alberta.  During this time, 813 studies were conducted on five specific types of meditation with the report concluding that, “The therapeutic effects of meditation practices cannot be established based on the current literature and firm conclusions on the effects of meditation practices in healthcare cannot be drawn based on the available evidence. However, the results analyzed from methodologically stronger research include findings sufficiently favorable to emphasize the value of further research in this field.”

One of those follow-up studies was a $3.8 million study performed by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. They discovered a unique side effect: individuals suffering from coronary heart disease who practiced transcendental meditation had a nearly 50 percent lower risk of heart attack, stroke and premature death as compared with a control group that did not perform any style of meditation. The research was conducted at the Medical College of Wisconsin in conjunction with The Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention.

The randomized controlled trial followed 201 African-American men and women for nine years with an average age of 59, who had been diagnosed with narrowing of arteries in their hearts. They continued their regular medications and other medical care throughout the study, but half of the patients were randomly assigned to a group who practiced transitional meditation specifically to reduce stress.

According to Theodore Kotchen, MD and co-author of the study and associate dean at the Medical College, “This study is an example of the contribution of a lifestyle intervention—stress management—to the prevention of cardiovascular disease in high-risk patients.”

This is promising news for individuals seeking ways to alleviate cardiovascular issues and once again proves the profound importance of reducing the impact of life stressors.

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