Re: Study: Meditation Aids Teen Blood Pressure

From: Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD (andrew_at_heartmdphd.com)
Date: 08/29/04 

Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 15:53:04 -0400

Mozz wrote:
>
> ATLANTA - A study by the Medical College of Georgia found that two
> 15-minute meditation sessions each day — once at home, the other at
> school — helped teenage students lower their blood pressure over four
> months. Their blood pressure even continued to drop for four months
> after the meditation sessions ended, researchers said Friday.
>
> One high school senior who benefited from the study was Nick Fitts.
> Fitts had a lot on his mind going into the research — two jobs, no car
> and rocky relations with his mother.
>
> The stress raised his blood pressure enough to put him at risk for
> developing hypertension, even though he kept active with track, band
> and junior ROTC.

Blood pressure is the measured variable for diagnosing hypertension
rather than defining risk for developing hypertension.

>
> When college officials asked Fitts to join a study of whether
> meditation could lower blood pressure, he thought they were out of
> their minds. But getting into his mind was the key.
>
> Fitts says the program helped him.
> "The meditation calms me down and makes me think better about things,"
> said Fitts, now a nursing student at the University of South Carolina
> at Aiken.

Prayer likely would have had the same effect with the added bonus of
God's blessing (assuming one prayed to God).
 
> Researchers screened 5,000 students and found 156 had blood pressure
> similar to Fitts. Half of that group received the meditation sessions
> and the other half, a control group, were placed in health education
> classes. All students wore blood pressure monitors 24 hours a day.

What would have been more interesting if the control groups included a
prayer group and an aerobic exercise group.
 
> The control group did not have any reduction in blood pressure,
> according to the study in the American Journal of Hypertension.

If the control group exercised, there likely would have been a reduction
in blood pressure. I suspect a prayer group would have also had a
comparable reduction in blood pressure.

> One in four adults have hypertension, which is a risk factor for heart
> attack and stroke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
> Prevention (news - web sites), and health officials say teens who have
> higher-than-normal blood pressure are more likely to develop the
> chronic disease when they're older.

Teens with higher-than-normal blood pressure are by definition
hypertensive.

> "It's no longer considered to be an adult disease," said Vernon
> Barnes, a physiologist at the medical college and lead author of the
> study.

Especially as trends for teenage obesity continue upward.

> Meditation is just one of several things — including healthy eating,
> exercise and even medication — that can help lower blood pressure,
> said Dr. Elizabeth Ofili, chief of cardiology at Morehouse School of
> Medicine in Atlanta.

For obesity, especially when there is concomitant hypertension and/or
T2DM (adult-onset diabetes), healthy eating is *less* eating with goal
of achieving permanent weight loss.

See:

http://www.heartmdphd.com/wtloss.asp
 
> She added that people regularly need to have their blood pressure
> checked: "It's never too early to be aware of the risk of blood
> pressure."
>
> Besides reducing their blood pressure, students who meditated also had
> lower rates of absenteeism, school rule violations and suspensions
> than those in the control group, Barnes said.

Such would probably also happen with prayer and regular exercise.
 
> "It's noteworthy for educators — meditation might be included in the
> school day as a program for reducing stress in the schools," Barnes
> said.

I can imagine Buddhist meditation being welcomed in schools where prayer
has been banned.
 
> Fitts said he now meditates 45 minutes each morning.
> "I make peace with me," he said.

Ime, better to make peace with the Creator of the universe.

 
Servant to the humblest person in the universe,

Andrew 

--
Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD
Board-Certified Cardiologist
http://www.heartmdphd.com/
**
Who is the humblest person in the universe?
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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Study: Meditation Aids Teen Blood Pressure
    ... Their blood pressure even continued to drop for four months ... > One high school senior who benefited from the study was Nick Fitts. ... > and the other half, a control group, were placed in health education ...
    (sci.med.cardiology)
  • Study: Meditation Aids Teen Blood Pressure
    ... Their blood pressure even continued to drop for four months ... after the meditation sessions ended, ... One high school senior who benefited from the study was Nick Fitts. ...
    (sci.med.cardiology)