TM lowers blood pressure in at-risk teens
Dr. Vernon Barnes announces research results
Teenagers at risk to become hypertensive adults can lower their blood pressure through daily Transcendental Meditation, according to research published in the April issue of the American Journal of Hypertension.
A study of 156 inner-city African-American adolescents in Augusta, GA., USA with high-normal pressure showed that those teens who practiced 15 minutes of Transcendental Meditation twice daily steadily lowered their daytime blood pressures over four months and that their pressures tended to stay lower, according to Dr. Vernon A. Barnes, physiologist at the Medical College of Georgia and principal author of the paper.
Adolescents in the study who practiced Transcendental Meditation experienced an average 3.5 millimeter drop in their systolic pressure, the top number that indicates the pressure inside blood vessels that the heart is pumping against, and a 3.4 millimeter decrease in diastolic pressure, the bottom number that indicates pressure while the heart is at rest.
Participants in health education classes, who served as the control groups, experienced no significant change. Heart rate, probably one of the simplest measures of stress level reduction, also dropped in meditating students while remaining consistent in the control groups, Dr. Barnes says.
“Even if your blood pressure comes down a few millimeters when you are young, if you can maintain that into adulthood, you can significantly reduce your risk for cardiovascular disease,” he says.
Dr. Barnes will announce the results of his study during a news conference on Friday, April 2, 11 a.m., to be held at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, Mount Olympus Room, 1755 North Highland, in Hollywood.
His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who first introduced Transcendental Meditation in Los Angeles 45 years ago in April 1959, will address the news conference live via satellite from Holland. In addition, a group of celebrities, scientists, educators, and parents will launch a campaign to bring Transcendental Meditation to the classroom. Celebrities include Oscar-nominated film director David Lynch, Emmy-winning director Bill Duke, and actress Laura Dern.
High blood pressure affects one in four adults in the U.S. and is a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke, the first and third leading causes of death, respectively, according to the National Center for Health Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “This is not a problem that occurs suddenly at age 45 or 50,” Dr. Barnes says. “High blood pressure starts at a young age, and it seems it’s starting at a younger age than we had previously thought. So we wanted to look at intervention with young people, specifically young African-Americans who likely will have the most severe problems with hypertension when they grow up.”
Dr. Barnes’ research was supported by funding from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and an American Heart Association Scientist Development Grant.