Some calming habits can also lower blood pressure. All of these are forms of meditation that use different methods to reach a state that is sometimes described as “thoughtful awareness” or “restful alertness.”
Researchers are now beginning to better understand how these mental changes affect the cardiovascular system.A number of well-designed studies have shown that meditation can moderately lower blood pressure, according to a scientific statement from the American Heart Association published in the same journal. high blood pressure.
Blood pressure benefits of calming the brain
Related techniques designed to induce the so-called relaxation response have been shown to help with high blood pressure and other diseases caused by or exacerbated by stress. This technique, developed by Dr. Herbert Benson, director emeritus of the Benson Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine at Harvard University, is the opposite of the fight-or-flight response triggered by stress. This self-induced calming of brain activity has aspects of both Transcendental Meditation and Mindfulness Meditation.
In one of Dr. Benson’s studies, older adults with difficult-to-treat isolated systolic hypertension underwent relaxation response training. Study participants were more likely to be able to control their blood pressure, and some were able to reduce or stop their blood pressure medications.
Further research found that lower blood pressure during the relaxation response reduces inflammatory and vasoconstrictive activity, causing blood vessels to dilate. This benefit appears to be mediated by nitric oxide, a molecule produced in the body that (among other things) relaxes and widens blood vessels and helps control blood pressure.
Another small study found that people who practiced relaxation responses for eight weeks had higher levels of nitric oxide in their breath, whereas a control group showed no such changes. .
Dr. Benson recommends practicing the relaxation response for 10 to 20 minutes twice a day, similar to what other meditation experts recommend. Here’s how:
- Close your eyes and sit in a quiet place.
- Relax your muscles and silently repeat your chosen word, phrase, sound, or short prayer over and over again.
- When thoughts get in the way (and they will), let them go and return to your words, phrases, and sounds.
For more information on how to control your blood pressure, purchase Harvard Medical School’s special health report, “Controlling Your Blood Pressure.”
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