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| Regular meditation can reduce chances of death |
| Press Trust of India / Washington Nov 18, 2009, 12:07 IST |
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American researchers claim to have proved that regular practise of meditation twice a day can significantly reduce chances of death in heart patients.
At a meeting of the American Heart Association, the researchers said they had randomly assigned 201 African Americans to meditate or to make lifestyle changes. After nine years, the group recorded a reduced possibility of heart stroke, attacks and even death by 47 per cent.
The African American men and women who were selected by the team from the Medical College in Wisconsin and the Maharishi University in Iowa had an average life span of 59 years and narrowing arteries.
They practised meditation for 20 minutes twice a day and received education classes in traditional risk factors, including dietary modification and exercise, Maharishi University's Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention said.
After nine years, there was a clinically significant drop (5mm Hg) in blood pressure and a significant reduction in psychological stress in the lifestyle change group besides reductions in death, heart attacks and strokes.
"This is the first controlled clinical trial to show that long-term practise of this particular stress reduction programme reduces the incidence of clinical cardiovascular events, that is heart attacks, strokes and mortality," lead author Robert Schneider said.
Dr Schneider said that the effect of Transcendental Meditation in the trial was like adding a class of newly discovered drugs for the prevention of heart disease.
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