Meditation good for the heart, study finds

< Prev | 1 | 2

'Something deeper going on'
Maharishi University was founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Indian guru who introduced TM to the West. Schneider directs the university’s Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, a center funded by the National Institutes of Health to research the health effects of TM and other forms of “natural” medicine.

Exactly how meditation may bestow health benefits is not completely clear. There is general agreement that regular practice can ease psychological stress, but Schneider believes there is also “something deeper going on.”

Meditation works better than other practices like muscle relaxation, he asserts, because it may awaken the body’s innate ability to “self-repair.” Meditation, both Schneider and Barnes say, is physiologically different from resting or sleeping because practitioners become still mentally and physically, but remain awake and aware.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

INTERACTIVE
Heart attacks
Are you at risk?
Different types of meditation take different routes to this state. In TM, practitioners sit comfortably, with their eyes closed, and silently repeat a mantra — a sound, word or phrase — to quiet their mental activity. Advocates of the practice say it doesn’t require any particular religious belief or lifestyle change, though TM is rooted in Hinduism.

Other forms of meditation — which go by names like mindfulness meditation and relaxation meditation — encourage people to quiet their minds through methods other than a mantra, such as by bringing their attention to their breath or gazing at an object like a candle flame.

Fitts says that becoming mentally and physically still was a hard task at first. “It took a lot of discipline,” he recalls. “If you don’t do it regularly, you won’t get the maximum benefit.”

For those with heart disease or risk factors for it, Schneider says it’s important to stick with your doctor’s advice on treatment. Nor does meditation negate the importance of a healthy diet, exercise and other lifestyle measures that do a heart good.

Still, Barnes says, “We need to do something for the mind as well as the body.”

< Prev | 1 | 2