Meditation Could Alter Insulin Levels

[Guest guest]

Heart disease patients who practiced meditation for four months showed slight improvements in blood pressure and insulin levels, a small government-funded study found.

Patients who learned Transcendental Meditation did better on those measures than patients who spent the same amount of time on lectures, discussions and homework about the effects of stress, diet and exercise on the heart.

The 103 heart patients in the study in yesterday's Archives of Internal Medicine received regular medical care as well, including drugs to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. Adding meditation had " a strong enough effect that we could show a benefit over traditional health care, " said co-author Noel Bairey Merz of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Some of the researchers involved are affiliated with the organization that teaches Transcendental Meditation around the world, raising questions about potential bias.

Meditation involves sitting quietly and focusing on a repeated sound, called a mantra, for about 20 minutes every morning and evening. Previous studies have found meditation can lower blood pressure, but the new study is the first to show an effect on insulin function.

[Guest guest]

Hi folks:

When I enter " transcendental meditation " in the window at PubMed and

hit the 'Go' button, I get 617 studies referenced.

Rodney.

>

>

> Heart disease patients who practiced meditation for four months

showed

> slight improvements in blood pressure and insulin levels, a small

> government-funded study found.

>

> Patients who learned Transcendental Meditation did better on those

measures

> than patients who spent the same amount of time on lectures,

discussions and

> homework about the effects of stress, diet and exercise on the

heart.

>

> The 103 heart patients in the study in yesterday's Archives of

Internal

> Medicine received regular medical care as well, including drugs to

lower

> cholesterol and blood pressure. Adding meditation had " a strong

enough

> effect that we could show a benefit over traditional health care, "

said

> co-author Noel Bairey Merz of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

>

> Some of the researchers involved are affiliated with the

organization that

> teaches Transcendental Meditation around the world, raising

questions about

> potential bias.

>

> Meditation involves sitting quietly and focusing on a repeated

sound, called

> a mantra, for about 20 minutes every morning and evening. Previous

studies

> have found meditation can lower blood pressure, but the new study

is the

> first to show an effect on insulin function.

>