Two new studies provide compelling reasons to consider taking up transcendental meditation (TM). One, presented last week at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting, showed that people with heart disease who practiced TM over a five- to nine-year period slashed their risk of dying, or of having a heart attack or stroke, by 47%. Their blood pressure decreased significantly, and people in a high-stress subgroup also reduced their stress levels.
The nine-year study followed 201 African-American men and women. Their average age was 59, and they all had narrowing of their heart arteries. They were randomly assigned to learn and practice TM, or to take classes about heart risk factors, including diet and exercise advice.
Researchers from the Medical College of Wisconsin, in Milwaukee, conducted the study in collaboration with the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management, in Fairfield, Iowa.
According to study author Robert Schneider, MD, the director of the Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention, the effect of TM was like adding a class of new drugs for preventing heart disease. “In this case, the new medications come from the body’s own internal pharmacy, stimulated by the transcendental meditation practice,” he says.
TM lowers blood pressure and eases anxiety and depression
The second study, to be published in the December issue of the American Journal of Hypertension, showed that TM reduces anxiety, depression, and anger among at-risk college students.
In a three-month study, 298 students from American University and other Washington, D.C.–area colleges were randomly assigned to learn and practice TM, or to a group who didn’t learn TM. The study was conducted by American University and the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention. A subgroup of 159 students at risk for hypertension was analyzed separately.
At the end of the study, students in the TM groups lowered their systolic blood pressure by 6.3 mmHg and their diastolic pressure by 4 mmHg—reductions that are linked to a 52% lower risk of developing hypertension later on. At the end of the study, students who’d meditated were less anxious, angry, and depressed than students who hadn’t meditated.
What is TM?
Transcendental meditation is a simple technique that produces a “profound state of restful alertness,” says Sanford Nidich, EdD, a professor and senior investigator at the Maharishi University of Management Research Institute. It’s the practice where you murmur a mantra for 20 minutes, twice a day, and it’s what the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi taught the Beatles back in the late 1960s. Since then, more than 30 clinical studies have confirmed its many benefits. You learn TM from a certified teacher in a seven-step program.
How does it work?
That’s the question I put to Nidich. “Daily practice enlivens the body’s own inner intelligence,” he tells me. As I reported here last year, TM can turn down your fight-or-flight response, which leads to lower levels of stress hormones circulating through your system. Those stress hormones play a role in the inflammatory process that can trigger or worsen chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer.
I wasn’t very successful last year when I tried to reinvigorate my TM practice, so now I’m going to try what TM experts recommend: I’m scheduling a checkup with a TM teacher to refresh my technique. For more information about TM, visit the transcendental meditation official website.
Note: Next week, more details about my program with Dr. Braverman. So far, results have been pretty terrific: I’ve lost 3 pounds and I’m sleeping through the night for the first time in years.
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Comments (4)
Nice piece, Sara. I’ve been doing TM for 35 years and realized long ago that it’s all about staying the course. Making it part of your daily routine. Like eating well and exercising, meditating routinely is what brings the benefits over the long haul. At age 71, I have 120/70 blood pressure and bountiful energy and bliss to show for it. Besides, it is a very simple and enjoyable practice. Go get your technique checked and get back into it. You’ll be glad you did.
Nice article. My friends are quick to say that all meditations are the same but that’s not been my experience. My TM meditations yield more profound results and side benefits than other meditations I have tried. TM is really easy and more enjoyable too in my opinion. Thanks for highlighting the research.
Unfortunately TM has a horrible track record in regards to research. It’s mostly done to try to sell their overpriced meditation technique. These studies, like almost all TM studies use controls very poorly, in order to deceive the public.
In fact, TM, when investigated independently, turned out to be the worst technique for lowering your blood pressure.
See http://www.box.net/shared/static/eycqy25sh2.jpg for a chart showing how bad it is.
The TM Org is a pseudoscience cult, not that different from Scientology. You will always see TM cultists posting “happy” things about the latest article, because they’ve been told to do so.
This is not the first time this person of many aliases, including an MD, has posted the same negative comment. I find it hard to believe that a medical doctor would make such a claim. Roni Rabin, New York Times health writer, said this in response to a similar charge: “Some of the researchers are affiliated with Maharishi University, but it should be noted the Milwaukee clinical trial was funded through a $3.8 million grant from the National Institute of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. It was a randomized controlled clinical trial, of the kind considered the gold standard in medicine.” http://bit.ly/dDCef
I agree. The NIH is not in the business of funding cults. MUM’s Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention was given a mandate from NIH-NCCAM to do collaborative research with other university research/hospital centers, like Howard U in DC, Cedar Sinai in LA, Medical College of Wisconsin, and many others, using the Transcendental Meditation technique on underserved ethnic populations suffering from CVDs. Over $25 million has been provided by NIH/NCCAM and NHLBI, and other funding agencies for this research. This is not in-house research. For a look at some of the peer-reviewed published studies see: http://www.tm.org/research-on-meditation.
In addition, there have been several published meta-analyses comparing the Transcendental Meditation technique to many other relaxation and meditation methods. It was statistically found that the effect size on certain variables like anxiety, and other risk factors, was twice as large with TM than with the other practices, which were no more effective than placebo. See: Five Meta-Analyses Comparing the Transcendental Meditation Program with Other Meditation and Relaxation Techniques, found at TruthAboutTM.org . http://www.truthabouttm.org/truth/TMResearch/Co...
Neural imaging and EEG studies indicate that TM practice creates a unique brain pattern: it is the only meditation technique known to create widespread brainwave coherence. The TM technique also produces deeper rest than other practices, and studies show the technique to be more effective at reducing anxiety and depression and increasing self-actualization. See: Ask The Doctors discussing results from other forms of meditation and TM: http://www.doctorsontm.com/popups/home_question_tm.html
Over 40 years, and 700 scientific research studies later, the TM technique continues to demonstrate the health benefits to mind, body, and behavior, for the individual and society as a whole. Further studies continue to add to this impressive body of research on the most widely studied and practiced technique for health and human development.
Ken Chawkin
Media Relations Director
Maharishi University of Management
David Lynch Foundation