Meditation Calms Blood Pressure, Too
(HealthDayNews, 2/9/05)

Dr. Frank Staggers Jr of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic's Drug Rehabilitation Program, San Francisco, and team, randomly assigned 150 black adults with stage I hypertension to three groups: 1) Transcendental Meditation (TM); 2) progressive muscle relaxation; or 3) conventional health education classes. At the end of a year, members of the TM group achieved average blood pressure reductions of 3 mm systolic and nearly 6mm diastolic; while subjects in the other two groups had an average drop of 3 mm diastolic, but no change in systolic pressure. In addition, there was a 23 % relative decrease in the use of blood pressure medication by the TM group as compared with the other two. These findings suggest that TM may effectively reduce or eliminate the need for hypertension drugs.

(American Journal of Hypertension, news release, January 28, 2005)