In one study, elderly people with hard-to-treat isolated systolic hypertension who underwent relaxation response training were more likely to be able to control their blood pressure to the point whereby some could reduce and even eliminate their blood pressure medications. Benson's research has found that this technique can help with high blood pressure and other disorders caused or made worse by stress. This self-induced quieting of brain activity has aspects of both transcendental meditation and mindfulness meditation.ĭr. The relaxation response is the opposite of the stress-induced fight-or-flight response. Herbert Benson, director emeritus of the Harvard-affiliated Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine. Still, a number of well-designed studies show that meditation can modestly lower blood pressure, according to an American Heart Association scientific statement published in the journal Hypertension.Ī related technique, designed to evoke the so-called relaxation response, was developed by Dr. Second, the people most likely to volunteer for a meditation study are often already sold on meditation's benefits and so are more likely to report positive effects. For one thing, some studies don't include a good control treatment to compare with meditation. All are types of meditation, which use different methods to reach a state sometimes described as "thoughtful awareness" or "restful alertness."īut while researchers are now beginning to better understand how these mental changes affect the cardiovascular system, studying meditation has proved somewhat challenging. Several practices that help calm the mind can also lower blood pressure.
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