Meditation 'cuts risk of heart attack by half'

Chalk up yet another reason in a long list of beneficial aspects behind meditation...

Those of us who have adopted these practices have long been aware of the psychological benefits it has afforded us. Science is affirming that it is extending BEYOND the well being of mind into the entire organism:

The researchers from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee in collaboration with the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, calculated heart attacks, strokes and deaths as one result and found a 47 per cent reduction in meditating patients. They also had lower blood pressure and significant reductions in their stress levels, the researchers said.

Dr Robert Schneider, lead author and director of the Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention, said: "Previous research on Transcendental Meditation has shown reductions in blood pressure, psychological stress, and other risk factors for heart disease, irrespective of ethnicity.

Full Article:


www.telegraph.co.uk...

[edit on 17-11-2009 by DimensionalDetective]

Benevolent, 319 year old man marauding about in the Himalayas. Kel'no'reem without a sssnake, or the science-fiction!

Health!

Interesting, but take a breath .

201 isn't much of a sample size. Few other methodological details are given. "Heart attack, stroke, and death" is an odd grouping, maybe an improvisation to get some power out of the small sample, or worse, fiddling and diddling. Cut by X% is a statistic, not a statistical test.

In any case, it's a conference presentation, so not necessarily even a finished study yet.

The emphasis on the trademarked Transcendental Meditation is suspicious. Would, for example, any mantra meditation produce the same results?

There is plenty of good work on meditation in physiology and medicine, especially Herbert Benson,

www.massgeneral.org...

Back in the day, Benson took TM money, too. But he went his own way. He advanced science.

This thing? We'll see.

--
Disclosure: daily meditator

[edit on 17-11-2009 by eight bits]

Meditation reduces stress. Great. Reduces heart attacks wonderful! IT'S WHERE YOU HEAR THE VOICE OF GOD!!!!!. It is where you can reach self realization. Meditate..all of you...everyday...twice a day. Soon you'll feel cheated if you don't. Clear your mind of all the bull#/?@! It's the best thing you can do for yourself. Bless you all! NAMASTE!

This is not really news imo. There have been hundreds of studies done showing meditation is good for all kinds of things relating to reducing stress, restoring emotional balance to the body, and everything those come with.


The people who talk trash about meditation are probably just frustrated because they can't do it themselves. People take for granted how hard it is to sit down with nothing but your own mind and not go insane from the sheer psychosis/total boredom that is THEIR OWN SELF.

It is really a wake-up call to how sick people are today.