Meditation can halve your risk of a heart attack and stroke by reducing blood pressure, thickening of the arteries and cholesterol, a ‘seminal’ new study has discovered.
Researchers from the US’s National Institute of Mental Health say that Transcendental Meditation (TM) – where the meditator keeps repeating a mantra – can even protect against diabetes. “If TM were a drug conferring so many benefits, it would be a billion-dollar blockbuster,” said research team leader Norman Rosenthal.
TM was tested on a group of 201 men and women with an average age of 59 who had been suffering from atherosclerosis for nine years. Half were instructed in TM – which they performed for 20 minutes twice a day – and the rest were given advice on modifying their diet and exercising regularly.
The TM group saw such a dramatic improvement in their condition that the researchers reckon they reduced their risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke by 47 per cent.
(Source: Annual meeting of the American Heart Association, November 16, 2009).
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