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Worldwide news media report: Transcendental Meditation helped heart disease patients reduce risk of heart attack, stroke, and death by nearly 50%
by Global Good News staff writer

Global Good News Translate This Article
30 November 2009

Reports about the benefits of the Transcendental Meditation Programme for people with heart disease have been featured by major US and world media such as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, BBC News, and Daily India. Patients with coronary heart disease who practised the stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation Technique had nearly 50 per cent lower rates of heart attack, stroke, and death compared to nonmeditating controls, according to the results of a first-ever study, presented at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Florida, USA, on 16 November 2009.

Global Good News has featured a News Release from the Medical College of Wisconsin, USA (see below) as well as reports on several news articles, including two from The New York Times.

Following is a selection of US and worldwide news media that have reported on the study:

The New York Times
Los Angeles Times
Wisconsin Public Radio - Superior Telegram
Cape Cod Times
Monterey County - The Herald
Health.com
Medical Breakthroughs - Reported by Ivanhoe Newswire
Science Daily

Great Britain
BBC News
Telegraph.co.uk
Daily Mail
Newstin.co.uk

Ireland
Independent.ie

India
MedIndia
NewKerala.com
Trak.in News
DailyIndia.com

Thailand
Thaindian News

Brazil
Correio Braziliense

South Africa
Independent Online

Reprinted below is the Medical College of Wisconsin News Release published in Global Good News 18 November:

News Release:

Results of first-ever study to be presented at annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, November 16

Patients with coronary heart disease who practiced the stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation^® technique had nearly 50 percent lower rates of heart attack, stroke, and death compared to nonmeditating controls, according to the results of a first-ever study presented during the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Fla., on Nov. 16, 2009.

The trial was sponsored by a $3.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health—National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and was conducted at The Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee in collaboration with the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa.

The nine-year, randomized control trial followed 201 African American men and women, average age 59 years, with narrowing of arteries in their hearts who were randomly assigned to either practice the stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation technique or to participate in a control group which received health education classes in traditional risk factors, including dietary modification and exercise.

All participants continued standard medications and other usual medical care.

The study found:
- A 47 percent reduction in the combination of death, heart attacks, and strokes in the participants
- Clinically significant (5 mm Hg average) reduction in blood pressure associated with decrease in clinical events
- Significant reductions in psychological stress in the high-stress subgroup

According to Robert Schneider, M.D., FACC, lead author and director of the Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention, 'Previous research on Transcendental Meditation has shown reductions in blood pressure, psychological stress, and other risk factors for heart disease, irrespective of ethnicity. But this is the first controlled clinical trial to show that long-term practice of this particular stress reduction program reduces the incidence of clinical cardiovascular events, that is heart attacks, strokes and mortality.'

'This study is an example of the contribution of a lifestyle intervention—stress management—to the prevention of cardiovascular disease in high-risk patients,' said Theodore Kotchen, M.D., co-author of the study, professor of medicine, and associate dean for clinical research at the Medical College. Other investigators at the Milwaukee site included Drs. Jane Kotchen and Clarence Grim.

Dr. Schneider said that the effect of Transcendental Meditation in the trial was like adding a class of newly discovered medications for the prevention of heart disease. 'In this case, the new medications are derived from the body's own internal pharmacy stimulated by the Transcendental Meditation practice,' he said.

Fast Facts on Coronary Heart Disease
- Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death in the United States
- There are nearly 1.5 million heart attacks per year in the US, according to the American Heart Association
- An American will suffer a heart attack every 34 seconds
- Coronary heart disease is also the leading cause of health care costs. More than $475 billion is spent annually on treating CHD, including:
— $100,000 for each coronary bypass surgery
— $50,000 for each angioplasty
— $30,000 for each diagnostic cardiac catheterization
- There are nearly 500,000 coronary artery bypass grafts and 1.3 million angioplasties performed every year
- Stress is thought to contribute to the development of CHD

Medical College of Wisconsin
Office of Public Affairs
8701 Watertown Plank Road
Milwaukee, WI 53226
Fax (414) 456-6166

For more information, contact:
Toranj Marphetia (toranj@mcw.edu)
Director of Media Relations
Cellular: 414-303-1242
Office: 414-456-4700

CONTACT for MUM/INMP:
Ken Chawkin
(US) +1 641-470-1314
kchawkin@mum.edu

© Copyright 2009 Global Good News^®

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