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New York Times: Research: Vital Signs: Regimens: Meditation, for the Mind and the Heart

November 24, 2009

Research

Vital Signs

Regimens: Meditation, for the Mind and the Heart

By RONI CARYN RABIN

Published: November 23, 2009

Could the mental relaxation produced by transcendental meditation have physiological benefits? A study presented last week at the American Heart Association meeting in Orlando, Fla., suggests that it may, at least in the case of people with established coronary artery disease.

Researchers followed about 200 high-risk patients for an average of five years. Among the 100 who meditated, there were 20 heart attacks, strokes and deaths; in the comparison group, there were 32. The meditators tended to remain disease-free longer and also reduced their systolic blood pressure.

“We found reduced blood pressure that was significant — that was probably one important mediator,” said Dr. Robert Schneider, director of the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, a research institute based at the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, who presented the findings.

The study was conducted at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, in collaboration with the institute.

The participants found transcendental meditation easy to learn and practice, Dr. Schneider said. He suggested that the stress reduction produced by the meditation could cause changes in the brain that cut stress hormones like cortisol and dampen the inflammatory processes associated with atherosclerosis.

A version of this article appeared in print on November 24, 2009, on page D6 of the New York edition.

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The New York Times: Can Meditation Curb Heart Attacks?

November 20, 2009

HEALTH

November 20, 2009, 12:47 pm

Can Meditation Curb Heart Attacks?

By RONI CARYN RABIN

Richard Patterson for The New York Times
Recent research suggests transcendental meditation may be good for the heart.

When Julia Banks was almost 70, she took up transcendental meditation. She had clogged arteries, high blood pressure and too much weight around the middle, and she enrolled in a clinical trial testing the benefits of meditation.

Now Mrs. Banks, 79, of Milwaukee, meditates twice a day, every day, for 20 minutes each time, setting aside what she calls “a little time for myself.”

“You never think you’ve got that time to spare, but you take that time for yourself and you get the relaxation you need,” said Mrs. Banks, who survived a major heart attack and a lengthy hospitalization after coronary artery bypass surgery six years ago.

“You have things on your mind, but you just blot it out and do the meditation, and you find yourself being more graceful in your own life,” she said. “You find out problems you thought you had don’t exist — they were just things you focused on.”

Could the mental relaxation have real physiological benefits? For Mrs. Banks, the study suggests, it may have. She has gotten her blood pressure under control, though she still takes medication for it, and has lost about 75 pounds.

Findings from the study were presented this week at an American Heart Association meeting in Orlando, Fla. They suggest that transcendental meditation may have real therapeutic value for high-risk people, like Mrs. Banks, with established coronary artery disease.

After following about 200 patients for an average of five years, researchers said, the high-risk patients who meditated cut their risk of heart attacks, strokes and deaths from all causes roughly in half compared with a group of similar patients who were given more conventional education about healthy diet and lifestyle.

Among the roughly 100 patients who meditated, there were 20 heart attacks, strokes and deaths; in the comparison group, there were 32. The meditators tended to remain disease-free longer and also reduced their systolic blood pressure by five millimeters of mercury, on average.

“We found reduced blood pressure that was significant – that was probably one important mediator,” said Dr. Robert Schneider, director of the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, a research institute based at the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, who presented the findings. The study was conducted at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, in collaboration with the institute.

An earlier study of high-risk Milwaukee residents, many of them overweight or obese, also found transcendental meditation, along with conventional medications, could help reduce blood pressure. Most of those in the study had only high-school educations or less, about 40 percent smoked and roughly half had incomes of less than $10,000 a year.

The participants found transcendental meditation easy to learn and practice, Dr. Schneider said.

“Fortunately, it does not require any particular education and doesn’t conflict with lifestyle philosophy or beliefs; it’s a straightforward technique for getting deep rest to the mind and body,” he said, adding that he believes the technique “helps to reset the body’s own self-repair and homeostatic mechanism.”

Dr. Schneider said other benefits of meditation might follow from stress reduction, which could cause changes in the brain that cut stress hormones like cortisol and dampen the inflammatory processes associated with atherosclerosis.

“What is it about stress that causes cardiovascular disease?” said Dr. Theodore Kotchen, associate dean for clinical research at the Medical College of Wisconsin. “Hormones, neural hormones, cortisol, catecholamines — all tend to be elevated in stress. Could they in some way be contributing to cardiovascular disease? Could a reduction in these hormones with meditation be contributing to reduction in disease? We can only speculate.”

Another recent study focusing on transcendental meditation, published in The American Journal of Hypertension, focused on a young healthy population. It found that stressed-out college students improved their mood through T.M., and those at risk for hypertension were able to reduce their blood pressure. Dr. Schneider was also involved in that study, which was carried out at American University in Washington and included 298 students randomly assigned to either a meditation group or a waiting list.

Students who were at risk of hypertension and practiced meditation reduced systolic blood pressure by 6.3 millimeters of mercury and their diastolic pressure by 4 millimeters of mercury on average.

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Meditation May Lower BP and College Stressors

November 19, 2009

Meditation May Lower BP and College Stressors

By Joene Hendry
November 18, 2009

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – If the stresses of college have put you at risk for high blood pressure, try transcendental meditation.

Blood pressure fell among college students who spent about 20 minutes at least once a day to reach the “restful alertness” state of transcendental meditation, Dr. Sanford I. Nidich, at Maharishi University of Management Research Institute in Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, and colleagues report.

Their study, in the American Journal of Hypertension, found meditating students also had “reduced psychological distress, anxiety, and depression,” Nidich told Reuters Health in an email.

He and colleagues randomly assigned 298 healthy students with and without high blood pressure to transcendental meditation training or to a training wait list. The students, 40 percent men, were just under 26 years old on average and attended universities in and around Washington, D.C.

Among the 207 students still participating in the study 3 months later, those in the meditation group had slight reductions in blood pressure, while the wait-listed students had slight increases in average blood pressure from the start of the study.

The meditating students also showed greater reductions in overall mood disturbances, anxiety, depression, anger, and hostility, and better coping skills compared with baseline measures and wait-listed students.

Nidich’s team further assessed a subgroup of 48 meditating and 64 wait-listed students who initially had high blood pressure (above 130 over 85 millimeters of mercury) or were at risk for high blood pressure.

In this high-blood-pressure-risk group, the meditating students had blood pressures that were lower, on average, than at the start of the study, while the wait-listed students had increases in blood pressure.

Nidich and colleagues also found these “significant reductions” in blood pressure correlated with lower measures of psychological distress and greater coping measures.

The researchers suggest their findings warrant further investigations into the potential health benefits of longer-term transcendental meditation in college students.

SOURCE: American Journal of Hypertension, December 2009

Copyright 2009 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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AU College Students Reduce HBP, Anxiety, and Depression Through Transcendental Meditation

November 18, 2009

At-Risk College Students Reduce High Blood Pressure, Anxiety, And Depression Through Transcendental Meditation

The Transcendental Meditation® technique may be an effective method to reduce blood pressure, anxiety, depression, and anger among at-risk college students, according to a new study to be published in the American Journal of Hypertension, December 2009.

“The Transcendental Meditation Program, a widely-used standardized program to reduce stress, showed significant decreases in blood pressure and improved mental health in young adults at risk for hypertension,” said David Haaga, PhD, co-author of the study and professor of psychology at American University in Washington, D.C.

This study was conducted at American University with 298 university students randomly allocated to either the Transcendental Meditation technique or wait-list control over a three-month intervention period. A subgroup of 159 subjects at risk for hypertension was analyzed separately. At baseline and after three months, blood pressure, psychological distress, and coping ability were assessed.

For the students at risk for developing hypertension, significant improvements were observed in blood pressure, psychological distress and coping. Compared to the control group, students practicing the Transcendental Meditation program showed reductions of 6.3 mm Hg in systolic blood pressure and 4.0 mm Hg in diastolic blood pressure. These clinically significant reductions are associated with a 52% lower risk for development of hypertension in later years.

The findings are timely. Today, an estimated 18 million students are dealing with mental health issues on college campuses. Statistics from colleges nationwide indicate there has been a 50% increase in the diagnosis of depression, and more than twice as many students are on psychiatric medications as a decade ago. According to recent national surveys of campus therapists, more students than ever are seeking psychiatric help on college campuses all across the United States.

“This is the first randomized controlled study to show in young adults at risk for hypertension reductions in blood pressure that were associated with changes in psychological distress and coping,” said Sanford Nidich, EdD, lead author and senior researcher at the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management. “Previous research has shown that psychological distress such as anxiety, depression, and anger contribute to the development of hypertension in young adults,” said Dr. Nidich.

College students are particularly prone to psychological distress caused by interpersonal and social problems, pressures to succeed academically, financial strains, and uncertain futures. For the entire sample in this study, there was a significant improvement in students’ mental health.

“Hypertension is a common risk factor for cardiovascular disease in adulthood. Yet, decades of research show that high blood pressure begins in youth. This well-controlled clinical trial found that blood pressure can be effectively lowered in students with a stress-reducing intervention. This has major implications for the prevention of hypertension, heart attacks and strokes in adulthood,” said Robert Schneider MD, FACC, specialist in clinical hypertension, Director of the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention and study co-author.

This study was supported, in part, by a Specialized Center of Research Grant from the National Institutes of Health–National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and by the Abramson Family Foundation, David Lynch Foundation, and other private donors.

Facts on Stress and Young Adults

Hypertension affects approximately one-third (33%) of the US adult population.

College-age individuals with blood pressure (BP) elevated beyond the optimal range are three times more likely to develop hypertension than normotensives.

Psychological distresses such as anxiety, depression, and anger/hostility have been found to contribute to the development of hypertension in young adults.

In 2007, around 15% of students reported having been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lives — up from 10% in 2000.

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Meditation ‘eases heart disease’

November 17, 2009

Meditation ‘eases heart disease’

Heart disease patients who practise Transcendental Meditation have reduced death rates, US researchers have said.

At a meeting of the American Heart Association they said they randomly assigned 201 African Americans to meditate or to make lifestyle changes.

After nine years, the meditation group had a 47% reduction in deaths, heart attacks and strokes.

The research was carried out by the Medical College in Wisconsin with the Maharishi University in Iowa.

It was funded by a £2.3m grant from the National Institutes of Health and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

‘Significant benefits’

The African American men and women had an average age of 59 years and narrowing of the arteries in their hearts.

The meditation group practised for 20 minutes twice a day.

The lifestyle change group received education classes in traditional risk factors, including dietary modification and exercise.

As well as the reductions in death, heart attacks and strokes in the meditating group, there was a clinically significant drop (5mm Hg) in blood pressure.

And a significant reduction in psychological stress in some participants.

Robert Schneider, lead author and director of the Centre for Natural Medicine and Prevention at the Maharishi University in Iowa, said other studies had shown the benefits of Transcendental Meditation on blood pressure and stress, irrespective of ethnicity.

“This is the first controlled clinical trial to show that long-term practise of this particular stress reduction programme reduces the incidence of clinical cardiovascular events, that is heart attacks, strokes and mortality,” he said.

Dr Schneider said that the effect of Transcendental Meditation in the trial was like adding a class of newly discovered drugs for the prevention of heart disease.

He said: “In this case, the new medications are derived from the body’s own internal pharmacy stimulated by the Transcendental Meditation practice.”

Ingrid Collins, a consultant educational psychologist at the London Medical Centre, said: “I’m not at all surprised that a change of behaviour like this can have enormous benefits both emotionally and physically.

“Physical and emotional energy is on a continuum and whatever happens to us physically can effect our emotions and vice versa.”

TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION

  • Introduced in India in 1955 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
  • In the 60s the Beatles popularised it by travelling to India to learn the technique from the Maharishi
  • The Maharishi Foundation says TM is a programme for the development of consciousness
  • Courses are only available through the foundation
  • They cost from £190 for students to £590 for people with incomes over £40,000
    • Story from BBC NEWS:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/8363302.stm

    Published: 2009/11/17 00:18:43 GMT

    © BBC MMIX

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    Comment on John Hopkins Health Alert: Transcendental Meditation & Your Blood Pressure

    November 16, 2009

    JHHA

    Transcendental Meditation and Your Blood Pressure

    A reader with high blood pressure asks: Will relieving stress help control high blood pressure? Which stress reduction technique has the most evidence backing it up? Here’s the reply from Johns Hopkins.

    In stressful situations, your body releases hormones like epinephrine that cause your blood pressure to rise and your heart rate to accelerate. Whether chronic stress contributes to high blood pressure is less clear. Still, reducing stress may help you follow other lifestyle recommendations and maintain other healthy habits.

    Stress reduction techniques include exercising regularly; practicing relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, guided imagery, or meditation; lightening your work or personal schedule; and having a strong social network of friends and family. Some activities that people believe lower stress — drinking too much alcohol and smoking — actually increase blood pressure.

    The effects of stress on blood pressure are controversial. Likewise, it is unclear if stress-reduction techniques, such as biofeedback, yoga, and tai chi, help lower blood pressure.

    But one method of reducing stress called Transcendental Meditation (TM) has the most evidence. Developed more than 50 years ago, TM involves sitting quietly for 20-minute periods, twice a day, and repeating a one-syllable word called a mantra to relax the mind.

    The effects of TM on blood pressure were recently evaluated in a meta-analysis published in the American Journal of Hypertension. When the researchers considered three high-quality, randomized, controlled trials of TM in people with high blood pressure, they found that this form of meditation reduced systolic blood pressure by 6 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure by 3 mm Hg. TM likely lowers blood pressure because of its effects on the nervous system, slowing heart rate and reducing tension in the muscles.

    If you are interested in trying TM, you can learn how to do it through books, audiotapes, and DVDs. You may also find a certified instructor giving classes in your area. Keep in mind, however, that TM is not a substitute for the lifestyle measures or medications proven to lower blood pressure. But trying it will cause you no harm.

    Posted in Hypertension and Stroke on November 3, 2009. Reviewed January 2011.

    Comments Johns Hopkins Health Alert Transcendental Meditation and Your Blood Pressure

    Congratulations on this sound advice. However, contrary to what was stated at the end of this article, the Transcendental Meditation® technique as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of TM, cannot be learned “through books, audiotapes, and DVDs,” only through “a certified instructor giving classes in your area.” For a qualified TM instructor in your area, call: 1-888-LEARN TM (1-888-532-7686) http://www.tm.org.

    It is also wise advice to not “substitute for the lifestyle measures or medications proven to lower blood pressure.” Most medications tend to mask or modify symptoms, and even though they may appear to be reduced, once medications are stopped, symptoms may return.

    On the other hand, regular TM practice has been shown to have an accumulative effect—it seems to normalize the nervous system over time by dissolving deeply rooted stresses, the underlying cause of most disease conditions, thereby reducing the need for continued medication over time.

    However, just as it is important to not self-medicate, so is it important to not abruptly stop your medications. Continue to have your physician monitor your blood pressure levels, and reduce the need for drugs as appropriate. Indeed, TM “will cause you no harm.” It may even prevent future heart attacks and strokes. Previous, and on-going studies continue bear this out. See Ask The Doctors: Specialists answer your questions about the Transcendental Meditation® program and health. http://askthedoctors.com

    Posted by: kennyji | November 5, 2009

    Medical Disclaimer: This information is not intended to substitute for the advice of a physician. Click here for additional information: Johns Hopkins Health Alerts Disclaimer

    WebMD posted an article on health benefits of Transcendental Meditation

    For more information on the application of TM in people’s lives, see: Norman Rosenthal spoke in Chicago on Light and Transcendence—alternative modalities to reduce stress, optimize health

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    Can stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation help CHD patients prevent future heart attacks?

    November 6, 2009

    EurekAlert! Banner

    Public Release: 6-Nov-2009

    Can stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation help CHD patients prevent future heart attacks?

    The National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute will fund a $1 million collaborative study by the Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management Research Institute and Columbia University Medical Center to determine whether the stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation technique can help patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) prevent future heart attacks, strokes and death.

    The 12-week “Randomized Controlled Trial of Stress Reduction in the Secondary Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease in African Americans,” will be conducted at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. The trial will examine 56 patients who have had a heart attack or bypass surgery, angioplasty, or chronic angina.

    “For decades, stress has been implicated in the cause and progression of heart disease,” said Robert Schneider, M.D., F.A.C.C., lead author and director of the NIH-funded Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention. “And while standard cardiac rehabilitation usually includes supervised exercise and lifestyle education, it does not usually include a formal stress reduction program.

    “Now, for the first time, this study will evaluate whether adding stress reduction through the Transcendental Meditation technique to conventional cardiac rehabilitation will aid in the treatment of serious CHD compared to conventional cardiac rehabilitation alone,” Dr. Schneider said.

    Patients will be carefully evaluated before and after the study for changes in their coronary artery disease with the most advanced noninvasive methods for measuring cardiac function—PET or positron emission tomography. According to Sabahat Bokhari, MD, Director of Nuclear Cardiology at Columbia University Medical Center and study co-director, “PET is an innovative imaging technology that allows us to visually and non-invasively study blood flow to the heart. With this state-of-the-art technology, doctors can now measure the blood flow to the heart and thus quantify the full impact of stress reduction on CHD.”

    The NIH funding allocation is part of the Obama Administration’s American Reinvestment and Recovery Act—or economic stimulus bill. Competition for the funding was fierce with more than 20,000 applications for the Challenge Grants category and only 840 awarded. “In the current climate of health care reform, the purpose of this grant is to find more effective treatments for heart disease and thereby find more effective ways to reduce health care costs,” Dr. Schneider said.

    “The NHLBI’s Recovery Act funds will make it possible to evaluate Transcendental Meditation as a promising tool in helping to prevent heart attacks, strokes, and death related to coronary events. This is worthwhile research since we know that strong emotional stress can lead to conditions such as arrhythmia and hypertension,” said NHLBI Director Elizabeth Nabel, M.D.

    Results from several earlier trials on the Transcendental Meditation program found reductions in risk factors for heart disease, such as hypertension, psychological stress, insulin resistance, and build-up of atherosclerosis in the arteries, with indications of reduced mortality from heart disease. This newly funded study will directly evaluate coronary artery disease and continue to examine the potential of meditation for improvements in cardiovascular health.

    ###

    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 the American Heart Association
    • An American will suffer a heart attack every 34 seconds
    • Coronary heart disease is also the leading cause of soaring health care costs; more than $475 billion 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 development of CHD

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    Natural Solutions: Meditation for Minors

    November 5, 2009

    naturalsolutions

     

     

     

     

    Published:10/01/2009

    Meditation for Minors

    By Cara MacDonald

    Here’s a shocker: One of the film industry’s most brilliant minds once felt anything but brilliant. While working on his breakout film Eraserhead in the mid-’70s, David Lynch had “everything I could ever want to make the film—the best equipment, the best place to live … but I wasn’t happy; I felt a kind of hollowness.” He began practicing Transcendental Meditation (TM), which let him connect to a creativity within that has inspired him throughout his career. In 2005, he created the David Lynch Foundation, which offers scholarships to schools to fund instruction in TM with the hopes of reducing stress and increasing well-being and creativity in children. Natural Solutions talked to Lynch about how meditation changed his world—and why he wants to pass it on.

    On meditation and creativity:
    I like to say that ideas are like fish. The small fish swim on the surface but the big fish swim at the depths of the ocean. TM expands your conscious mind so you can catch the really big ideas.

    On how meditation affects his films:
    It allows me to effortlessly “dive within” and experience that ocean of creativity, intelligence, happiness, love, and dynamic peace. Mulholland Drive was first shot as a television pilot; the executive hated it and turned it down. I had the chance to make it a feature film, but I didn’t have all of the ideas. I went into meditation and after about 10 minutes, ssssst! The ideas came like a string of pearls.

    On what inspired him to bring TM to schools:
    I attended a high school play put on by meditating students at Maharishi School in Fairfield, Iowa, and I was totally amazed at how bright and shiny, how natural and powerful, how much “themselves” these students were. Then I heard about the terrors of modern education, how afraid children are to even go to school because of the violence, drugs, and stress. So I wanted to do what I could to offer meditation to any student anywhere in the world.

    On how TM helps kids succeed in school:
    It’s done for 10 to 15 minutes twice a day as part of the school’s “quiet time” program. Everyone in the school benefits. I hear all the time about a child getting Ds and Fs, close to being expelled, and then he or she learns to meditate and, within a few weeks or months, she is getting As and Bs. The schools are transformed from being literally hellholes of violence and fear to centers of learning and creativity. That’s the report we get from principals and parents.

    On why meditation is vital for a child:
    It’s important for everyone to meditate, not just children. But think about how great it is to start your life developing your full creative potential, and growing in enlightenment, brightness, happiness, inner strength, intelligence, creativity, and dynamic peace.
    —Cara McDonald

    How to introduce meditation to your kids:
    • Encourage downtime and regular exercise to trigger the relaxation response. • Educate yourself before considering meditation for your child. Check out tm.org for free workshops that explain the TM concept. • Visit davidlynchfoundation.org for school grant and scholarship information.

    © 1999-2009 Natural Solutions: Vibrant Health, Balanced Living/Alternative Medicine/InnoVision Health Media

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    Transcendental Meditation Helps Women with Breast Cancer

    October 26, 2009

    Irish Press Releases

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    Transcendental Meditation Helps Women with Breast Cancer

    Co. Dublin, Ireland — 21 Oct. 2009

    Women with breast cancer showed reduced stress and improved mental health and emotional well being after learning Transcendental Meditation, according to a new study published in the current issue of the peer-reviewed journal Integrative Cancer Therapies (Vol. 8, No. 3: September 2009).

    “A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effects of Transcendental Meditation on Quality of Life in Older Breast Cancer Patients” was a collaboration between Chicago’s Center for Healthy Aging at Saint Joseph Hospital, and Institute for Health Services, Research and Policy Studies at Northwestern University; the Department of Psychology at Indiana State University; and the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management, Iowa, USA. The study was supported by grants from the Retirement Research Foundation of Chicago and the National Institutes of Health National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

    “It is wonderful that physicians now have a range of interventions to use, including Transcendental Meditation, to benefit their patients with cancer,” says Rhoda Pomerantz, MD, study co-author and chief of gerontology, Saint Joseph Hospital, Chicago; “I believe this approach should be appreciated and utilised more widely.”

    In this randomised controlled trial, quality of life measures were administered every six months for two years to 130 women with breast cancer, aged 55 years and older. Significant benefits in quality of life and improved mental health were found as a result of practising Transcendental Meditation.

    Overall quality of life, the primary outcome measure of the study was measured using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B) one of the most widely used inventories to evaluate the quality of life of breast cancer patients. It measures such characteristics as having energy, being able to meet the needs of the family, being bothered by the side effects of treatment, having to spend time in bed, feeling satisfied with how one is coping with the illness, worrying about the condition and the effect that stress has on it, being able to work and find it fulfilling, enjoying life, and feeling attractive. Results showed improved long-term benefits compared to controls in each aspect of quality of life: emotional, social, functional, and physical.

    The study also found that patients practising Transcendental Meditation showed improved mental health, compared to controls, using the Short-Form (SF)-36 mental health scale. This inventory is one of the most widely used measures in the field of medical research, and has proved useful in differentiating the health benefits produced by a wide range of different treatments. Components of the mental health scale include self-reported positive affect, less psychological distress, fewer limitations in social activities due to emotional problems, and feeling in good health.

    The special contribution of Transcendental Meditation

    Quality of life is a major issue for women with breast cancer, and while alternative therapies are often employed to improve quality of life, few therapies if any are both as easy to use and as scientifically supported as Transcendental Meditation (see fact sheet and website below).

    Transcendental Meditation – as introduced to the world 50 years ago by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi – differs fundamentally from other forms of meditation and relaxation. A number of studies have observed that it has a higher compliance rate than other forms of relaxation and meditation, and the breast cancer patients in the above study reported that it was easy to practise twice daily at home.

    Stress contributes to the onset and progression of breast cancer

    Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in Ireland—it accounts for 28% of all cancers in women in Ireland, with an average of 1726 new diagnosis each year. It continues to be responsible for an average of 644 Irish female deaths each year. It is the leading cause of cancer related deaths in women in Ireland.

    “Emotional and psychosocial stress contribute to the onset and progression of breast cancer and cancer mortality,” said Dr Sanford Nidich, lead author of the study and senior researcher at the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management, Iowa, US. Co-author Robert Schneider, MD, FACC, states: “The data from this well-designed clinical trial – and related studies – suggest that effective stress reduction with Transcendental Meditation may be useful in the prevention and treatment of breast cancer and its deleterious consequences.”

    Helping manage pain as well as reducing stress

    Previous studies have also revealed how this simple mental technique may help not only with stress and anxiety but also with pain (see references 1 and 2 below), which is often experienced by women suffering from breast cancer. Functional magnetic resonance imaging has been used to measure of the response of the brain to thermally induced pain. This was applied outside the meditation period and showed that long-term practitioners of Transcendental Meditation showed 40–50% fewer neural units responding to pain in the thalamus and total brain than in healthy matched controls who were interested in the technique, but had not yet learned it. After the controls learned the technique and practised it for five months, their response also decreased by 40–50%. These results suggest that regular practice of Transcendental Meditation reduces the affective and motivational dimension of the brain’s response to pain.

    References:
    (1) Orme-Johnson, D.W., Schneider, R.H., Son, Y.D., Nidich, S., & Cho, Z.H. (2006). Neuroimaging of meditation’s effect on brain reactivity to pain. Neuroreport, 17, 1359–1363.
    (2) Eppley, K.R., Abrams, A.I., AND Shear, J. 1989. Differential effects of relaxation techniques on trait anxiety: A meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 45(6), 957-974.

    Key facts about Breast Cancer

    • Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women – and remains a leading cause of death.

    • On average, there are 1726 new diagnosis of breast cancer in Ireland each year.

    • Women above the age of 50 have nearly four times the incidence compared to women under 50.

    • Newly diagnosed and long-term survivors are affected by impairment in quality of life (QOL), in emotional, physical, functional, social, and spiritual domains.

    • Psychosocial stress contributes to the onset, progression, and mortality from this disease.

    • Clinical diagnosis of breast cancer increases psychological distress, with sustained distress occurring during cancer treatment, and continuing long-term.

    • There have been an increasing number of women using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for female-specific cancers. Seven studies in the UK between 1992 and 2003 found that up to 52% of cancer sufferers used alternative therapies and that the rate was highest among women. In the USA, recent studies indicate that CAM use among women with breast cancer may be as high as 90 percent.

    Key facts about Transcendental Meditation

    • Transcendental Meditation, as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, is an effortless technique practised for 20 minutes twice a day sitting comfortably with eyes closed.

    • Transcendental Meditation is not a religion or philosophy and does not involve any belief or change in lifestyle.

    • More than 300 independently published research studies and reviews of research on Transcendental Meditation confirm a range of benefits for mind, body, and behaviour. For a printable research review, and a bibliography of 340 papers from independent peer-reviewed journals and other edited scientific publications, see http://www.t-m.org.uk/research.shtml.

    • Several studies have compared the effects of different meditation practices and found that Transcendental Meditation provides deeper relaxation and is more effective at reducing anxiety, high blood pressure, smoking, alcohol consumption, and drug abuse, and improving cognitive performance and overall psychological health and well-being than other forms of meditation and relaxation. In addition, no other meditation practice shows the widespread coherence throughout all areas the brain that is seen with Transcendental Meditation.

    • More information on Transcendental Meditation can be obtained in Ireland by calling 012790426 or visiting www.tm-ireland.org

    Transcendental Meditation, founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, is available in Ireland only from Maharishi International University, registered educational charity number 36300 (in Northern Ireland charity number X0610/9, an affiliate of Maharishi Foundation).

    Transcendental Meditation

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    Breast Cancer Patients Reduce Stress With Transcendental Meditation

    October 18, 2009

    NewsBlazeBreaking News

    Published: October 18,2009

    Breast Cancer Patients Reduce Stress With Transcendental Meditation

    By Deborah Mitchell for the Phoenix Alternative Medicine Examiner

    A new study published in the September issue of Integrative Cancer Therapies reports that women who have breast cancer can reduce their stress and improve their emotional and mental well-being by practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique.

    According to the American Cancer Society, the National Institutes of Health National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine reports that regular meditation can reduce chronic pain, high blood pressure, anxiety, and blood levels of cortisol, one of the stress hormones.

    Transcendental Meditation study
    The Transcendental Meditation study involved 130 women aged 55 years or older who had breast cancer. The two-year study was a collaboration between the Center for Healthy Aging at Saint Joseph Hospital, Northwestern University, Indiana State University, and the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management.

    The women were randomly assigned to practice the Transcendental Meditation technique or to a group of usual care (control group). All the women were administered quality of life measures every six months for two years. The women who practiced Transcendental Meditation reported significant benefits in their overall quality of life and found that the meditation was easy to practice at home.

    Meditation, stress, and breast cancer
    Research shows that stress and anxiety are contributing factors in the onset and progression of breast cancer and mortality, according to Sanford Nidich, the study’s lead author and a senior researcher at the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management.

    A study recently completed by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston reported that meditation programs are effective at reducing cognitive impairment associated with cancer, as well as stress, fatigue, nausea, pain, and sleep problems. The authors proposed that meditation should be investigated as an adjuvant to cancer treatment.

    In the Phoenix area, the Maharishi Enlightenment Center of Phoenix offers introductory lectures on Transcendental Meditation every week. Reservations are required.

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