Meditation May Help Teens' Blood Pressure

A study of African American teens found that those on the brink of having highblood pressure may benefit from practicing transcendental meditation, a techniquefor calming the body and mind.The technique works by individuals sitting quietly withtheir eyes closed for 15 minutes, letting the mind and body naturally settle. Theresearchers tested the practice on 156 high school students who spent 4 monthseither practicing transcendental meditation or taking a health education class.

Upon learning the technique, the transcendental group practiced meditation for 15minutes 2 times a day, every day. During the week, 1 of the sessions took place atschool. On many occasions, the participants wore small ambulatory blood pressuremonitors. The results showed that over 4 months the participants in the transcendentalmeditation group's blood pressure dropped an average of 3 to 4 points. Theblood pressure of the participants in the health education class remained the same.(The findings were reported in the American Journal of Hypertension, April 2004.)