Researchers said that mediation helps to lower rates of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, and coronary artery disease. The survey carried out by some United States researchers revealed that meditation has beneficial effects on a number of conditions like cardiovascular health.
The researchers lead by Dr. Chayakrit Krittaanawong of the Michael E. Debakey VA Medical Centre, and his colleagues made use of data from the National Health Survey, conducted annually by the National Centre for Health Statistics. They observed data of more than 61,000 participants of which 6,000 said they participated in various forms of meditation. Those who participated have lower rates of cardiovascular health issues compared to those who did not.
Engaging in any form of meditation has been linked to decreased stress, greater mindfulness, and improved psychological health. According to the researchers, it may lead to long term functional and anatomical changes in the brain.
Speaking on the outcome of the research, Krittaanawong said, “I believe in meditation, as it gives us a sense of calm, peace, and stress reduction, leading to improvement of our emotional well-being.”
The researchers submitted that meditation is “probably associated with lower prevalence of cardiovascular risk.” While the result suggested that meditation can improve cardiovascular health, the study group suggested that there is still need for a clinical trial to determine whether meditation can benefit cardiovascular health.
The research result shows that the prevalence of cardiovascular risks in the meditation group compared with the non-meditation group was 65 percent for high cholesterol, 71 percent for diabetes, 76 percent for stroke, and 86 percent for high blood pressure.
A study previous carried out submitted that meditation may have beneficial effects on a number of conditions like cardiovascular reduction, blood pressure cholesterol level, quitting smoking, and other related health issues but the study was not definitive.
Meanwhile in spite the research’s strong link between meditation and cardiovascular health, it remains silent on important issues like, the kind of meditation, the duration, intensity and frequency of the meditation.
