Heart Disease and Stroke
Transcendental Meditation (TM) reduces the major risk factors for heart disease including high blood pressure, smoking, high cholesterol, anxiety and depression. Australian Family Physician 2002. View full article (PDF Document).
A multimodality MVHC treatment program in the elderly significantly reverses carotid atherosclerosis (a measure of hardening of the arteries associated with both coronary heart disease and stroke). In this study 57 healthy seniors (mean age 74 years) were randomised to the 3 treatment groups: a MVHC group (diet, exercise, herbal food supplement and TM), a modern medicine group (conventional dietary, exercise, and multivitamin approaches) and usual care (no added intervention), The Carotid artery lining thickness (IMT) was determined by ultrasound before and after 1 year of treatment. These results show that the multimodality MVHC approach reduces atherosclerosis in older subjects, particularly those with marked coronary heart disease risk. American Journal of Cardiology 2002; 89: 952-958.
Transcendental Meditation reverses carotid atherosclerosis in hypertensive African Americans. 138 volunteers were randomly assigned to either the TM program or a health education group. After 6 – 9 months, 60 subjects completed the study. The TM group showed significant decrease in the Carotid artery lining thickness (IMT) as determined by ultrasound compared to a slight increase in the control group. This is the first time a stress reduction alone has been shown to have this effect. Stroke 2000; 31: 568-573.
Transcendental Meditation practised for 3 months twice daily, significantly improved exercise tolerance, angina episodes, and quality of life in 9 women with chest pain and normal coronary angiograms (cardiac syndrome X) - a condition often associated with chronic sympathetic activation, anxiety, and depression, and resistant to conventional anti-anginal treatment. American Journal of Cardiology 2000 Mar 1; 85(5):653-5, A10.
A randomised controlled single blind study was conducted on 16 patients with chronic stable angina (chest pain on exertion) and documented coronary artery disease (on angiogram or history of myocardial infarction) over a period of 8 months. Half of the patients learnt Transcendental Meditation and the other half, who became the control group, were informed that they would learn TM after 8 months. The TM group was found to have 15% increase in exercise duration, 12% increase in maximal workload, 18% delay of onset of ST depression (ECG changes indicating restricted coronary artery blood flow) and reduction in double product (heart rate x systolic blood pressure) on exercise stress testing. All changes were highly significant for the TM group while the control group had no substantial change. American Journal of Cardiology 1996; 77: 867-870.
Analysis of health insurance data of participants in the multimodality MVHC program over a 4 year period showed that hospital admissions were 11.4 times less for cardiovascular disease for the MVHC group compared to the control group (see “other chronic disorders” below). American Journal of Managed Care 1997; 3:135-144.
A study of 12 patients hospitalised with chronic congestive heart failure, unresponsive to conventional therapy, showed that the addition of the Ayurvedic herb Terminalia Arjuna over an average of 24 months improved left ventricular function (ejection fraction). At the start of the trial all patients were short of breath at rest or after minimal activity. After 2 weeks all patients could walk at least 200m at their usual pace. All surviving patients were back to work and reported a better quality of life. International Journal of Cardiology 1995; 49: 191-199.
Health insurance data of regular TM participants over a 5 year period found that, compared to members of the same age and profession, TM practitioners had 87% less hospitalisation for cardiovascular disease (heart disease) and strokes (see “other chronic disorders” below). Psychosomatic Medicine 1987; 49: 493-507.
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