How Saying “Ohm” Helps Your Heart

When I was in high school, I wanted to take a class in Transcendental Meditation, but it was expensive. A friend who did enroll in the program told me that it was all built upon repetition of a secret word that would lead to an enlightened state… and, maddeningly, she wouldn’t reveal the word! All these years later, I’m pretty sure I don’t need it—being in the business of studying health research, I realize that this is just one form of meditation and I’ve seen countless reports on its magical benefits, from controlling blood pressure to reducing anxiety and depression to lowering levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. And now, a recent study that happens to focus specifically on Transcendental Meditation (TM) shows that it cuts rates of heart attack, stroke and death by nearly half.

BETTER THAN ANY MEDICINE

Meditation can bring about a state of deep relaxation in which your heart rate, blood pressure and respiration slow down, giving your cardiovascular system a much needed rest. TM is a particular brand of meditation that is “simple and precise,” I was told by Robert Schneider, MD, professor of physiology and health at Maharishi University of Management in Iowa. It is practiced for 20 minutes twice a day while sitting comfortably with eyes closed and silently repeating a calming word to produce “a natural state of restful alertness.” Dr. Schneider said that the health benefits of regular TM potentially include not only lower heart rate and blood pressure, but also reduced total cholesterol and insulin resistance, less need for blood pressure medication and a slowing or reversal of the hardening of arteries that contributes to heart disease.

Building on the results of past meditation research, Dr. Schneider and his colleagues examined the specific effect of TM on heart disease patients. In a randomized controlled trial, they assigned 201 men and women (average age 59) with narrowing of cardiovascular arteries to either a TM group or a control group. For an average of five years, all participants received regular medical care, including medication as needed and lifestyle advice about risk factors such as diet and exercise. In addition, the TM group meditated for 20 minutes twice a day at home while the control group attended classes on cardiovascular health.

Dr. Schneider and his colleagues found that participants who had meditated…

  • Experienced a 47% reduction in heart attacks, strokes and death, compared with those who did not.
  • Reduced their blood pressure by an average of five points.
  • Had significant reductions in psychological stress as measured by standard psychological tests.

Sponsored by the NIH, the study was done collaboratively by researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Maharishi University. Findings were presented at an annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando last November.

A POWERFUL LIFESTYLE CHOICE

Dr. Schneider equates the dramatic effect of TM on heart patients to the discovery of a whole new class of drug therapy—one that taps into the body’s own natural pharmacy of healing resources.

In Dr. Schneider’s opinion, TM’s heart benefits cannot automatically be generalized to other meditation techniques since they weren’t studied. That said, you can learn more about other ways to meditate (and meditation in general) at Web sites such as www.relaxationresponse.org and www.how-to-meditate.org. Additional options include guided imagery or visualization (in which you imagine specific images during meditation)…mindfulness meditation (an increased awareness of the present moment)…and techniques such as yoga, tai chi and qi gong that combine meditation, breathing exercises and movements or postures.