High Blood Pressure Lowered By Technique Incorporating Meditation and Yoga

Technique incorporating meditation and yoga can benefit patients with high blood pressure or 'prehypertension', reveals a new study.

The study by Joel W. Hughes, PhD, of Kent State (Ohio) University included 56 women and men diagnosed with prehypertension.

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One group of patients was assigned to a program of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR): eight group sessions of 2 and a half hours per week. Led by an experienced instructor, the sessions included three main types of mindfulness skills: body scan exercises, sitting meditation, and yoga exercises.

The other "comparison" group received lifestyle advice plus a muscle-relaxation activity. This "active control" treatment group was not expected to have lasting effects on blood pressure.

Researchers found that patients in the mindfulness-based intervention group had significant reductions in clinic-based blood pressure measurements. Systolic blood pressure (the first, higher number) decreased by an average of nearly 5 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), compared to less than 1 mm Hg with in the control group who did not receive the mindfulness intervention.

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Diastolic blood pressure (the second, lower number) was also lower in the mindfulness-based intervention group: a reduction of nearly 2 mm Hg, compared to an increase of 1 mm Hg in the control group.

"Mindfulness-based stress reduction is an increasingly popular practice that has been purported to alleviate stress, treat depression and anxiety, and treat certain health conditions," Dr Hughes said.

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The study is published in Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine.

Source-ANI

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