High-Risk Black Adults Benefit from Transcendental Meditation Practice: American Journal of Cardiology

Maharishi International University - Achievements    Translate This Article
19 July 2022




''Black Americans who suffer from health inequalities
and all at-risk adults would benefit from naturally lowering
their BP through the Transcendental Meditation program.''

— Robert Schneider, MD, FACC; Dean, College of Integrative Medicine, Maharishi International University

The latest NIH-sponsored study led by Dr. Robert Schneider and collaborators at the Medical College of Wisconsin was published in the December 2021 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Cardiology. The study found that the Transcendental Meditation^® technique reduces risk for cardiovascular disease and potentially related co-morbidities, such as COVID, in Black adults with high normal blood pressure. Dr Schneider is Dean of the College of Integrative Medicine at Maharishi International University (MIU).

In 2022 Black men and women continue to suffer from disproportionately high rates of death and hospitalization due to heart attack, stroke, heart failure and, over the past two years, COVID. High blood pressure poses the greatest risk for many of these conditions, accounting for 50 percent of the disparities between Black and white adults.

These disparities in cardiovascular health are associated with social determinants of health, including racism, which lead to psychosocial stress. Stress in turn contributes to high blood pressure and inflammation, which predispose to life-threatening diseases.

There was a significantly greater systolic blood pressure reduction in the TM group compared to the health education group for participants with high normal blood pressure.

''High blood pressure contributes to severe illness and death from COVID as well as heart attack and stroke,'' said Dr. Schneider. ''Black Americans who suffer from health inequalities and all at-risk adults would benefit from naturally lowering their BP through the Transcendental Meditation program.''

Although prior studies have shown the benefits of the TM^® technique on hypertension in Black Americans, this is the first published clinical trial studying the long-term effects of stress reduction for at-risk individuals with high normal blood pressure, also called prehypertension. More than half of Black adults suffer from either prehypertension or hypertension.

The study followed 304 Black man and women who were randomized to either the TM program or a health education group. Their blood pressure was measured regularly for up to 36 months.



Co-authors Dr. Komal Marwaha, Dr. John Salerno, Dr. Carolyn King,
and Dr. Sanford Nidich

The study showed a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure in the high normal group assigned to practice the TM technique over an average of 20 months. In the normal blood pressure group, there were no significant changes in blood pressure.

These results suggest that the practice of the TM technique in patients with high normal blood pressure can contribute to the prevention of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and related health disparities in high-risk Black populations.

The study was a collaboration between MIU's College of Integrative Medicine, the Institute for Prevention Research, and the Department of Medicine of the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Co-authors of the study at MIU were Dr. Komal Marwaha, Dr. John Salerno, Dr. Carolyn King, and Dr. Sanford Nidich. The study was supported by a grant from the (US) National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Copyright © 2022 Maharishi International University

See related articles:
∙ TM prevents abnormal enlargement of the heart, reduces chronic heart failure - new study published
∙ Transcendental Meditation with cardiac rehabilitation increases blood flow to the heart: New study published



Translation software is not perfect; however if you would like to try it, you can translate this page using:

(Google) Select a language English to Afrikaans English to Albanian English to Arabic English to Belarusian English to Bulgarian English to Catalan English to Chinese (Simplified) English to Chinese (Traditional) English to Croatian English to Czech English to Danish English to Dutch English to Estonian English to Filipino English to Finnish English to French English to Galician English to German English to Greek English to Hebrew English to Hindi English to Hungarian English to Icelandic English to Indonesian English to Irish English to Italian English to Japanese English to Korean English to Latvian English to Lithuanian English to Macedonian English to Malay English to Maltese English to Norwegian English to Persian English to Polish English to Portuguese English to Romanian English to Russian English to Serbian English to Slovak English to Slovenian English to Spanish English to Swahili English to Swedish English to Thai English to Turkish English to Ukrainian English to Vietnamese English to Welsh English to Yiddish

(Altavista babelfish) Select a languageEnglish to Chinese-simpEnglish to Chinese-tradEnglish to DutchEnglish to PortugueseEnglish to FrenchEnglish to GermanEnglish to GreekEnglish to ItalianEnglish to JapaneseEnglish to KoreanEnglish to RussianEnglish to Spanish