Archives of Internal Medicine
June 12, 2006
Maura Paul‐labrador, Donna M. Polk, James H. Dwyer et al.
282 citations
Transcendental meditation, practiced for 16 weeks, improved blood pressure and insulin resistance in patients with stable coronary heart disease compared with health education alone. Systolic blood pressure fell by 3.4 mm Hg in the meditation group while rising 2.8 mm Hg in controls; insulin resistance decreased by 0.75 units in the meditation group versus an increase of 0.52 units in controls. Heart rate variability, a measure of cardiac autonomic tone, also improved modestly. No effect was seen on endothelial function. The findings suggest that transcendental meditation may help manage coronary heart disease risk by modulating the body's response to stress.
Psychosomatic Medicine
January 1, 1998
Robert H Schneider, Sanford Nidich, John Salerno et al.
95 citations
Oxidative stress, which may contribute to aging and chronic diseases like atherosclerosis, was lower in older adults who practiced the Transcendental Meditation technique compared to those who did not. Long-term practitioners (average 16.5 years) had serum lipid peroxide levels 15% lower than controls, as measured by the TBARS assay. The two groups did not differ in smoking, fat intake, or vitamin supplementation, and the lower red meat consumption among meditators did not account for the difference. These preliminary results suggest that stress reduction through Transcendental Meditation may be associated with reduced oxidative stress, though prospective trials are needed to confirm a causal effect.
Journal of Clinical Psychology
February 24, 2009
Melissa Tanner, Fred Travis, Carolyn Gaylord-King et al.
58 citations
A 3-month randomized waitlist-controlled trial with 295 university students examined whether practicing the Transcendental Meditation program increases mindfulness, measured by the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills. Participants who learned TM showed greater increases in overall mindfulness scores over time compared to those on the waitlist. All mindfulness subscales were positively correlated at the start, and these correlations did not change over time or differ between groups. This suggests that previously reported positive correlations between observing and accepting-without-judgment skills only among meditators may stem from self-selection rather than a direct effect of meditation practice.
Heart Mind
September 18, 2023
Robert H Schneider, Fred Travis, Tony Nader
9 citations
More than 50% of US physicians report at least one symptom of burnout, and 28% of cardiologists report mental health conditions. Burnout is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) through mechanisms like sympathetic nervous system activation and inflammation. The Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique has been studied in four recent trials among healthcare providers, showing reductions in burnout, stress, anxiety, and depression, and improvements in resilience. TM is also associated with reduced blood pressure and CVD risk. The authors propose a systems medicine model called the Square of Health, integrating spiritual, mental, physical, and environmental domains, with a unified field of consciousness as the foundation, to address burnout and CVD.
Frontiers in Public Health
January 1, 2024
Robert H Schneider, Michael C. Dillbeck, Gunvant Yeola et al.
3 citations
During global armed conflicts like the Israel-Hamas and Ukraine-Russia wars, innovative public health strategies are needed for peacebuilding. Evidence-based meditation from Ayurveda and Yoga, particularly the Transcendental Meditation program, may reduce collective stress and prevent collective violence and war. Empirical studies with cross-cultural replications indicate these practices can lower collective stress and war activity while improving quality of life. The mechanisms involve public health models, cognitive neuroscience, population neuroscience, quantum physics, and systems medicine, addressing brain-based factors underlying collective stress and violence. This perspective suggests Transcendental Meditation and the advanced TM-Sidhi program, as components of Traditional Medicine, could enhance societal well-being and peace.
Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN
July 18, 2025
Marino A Bruce, Roland J Thorpe, Robert H Schneider et al.
1 citation
Stress from daily living can trigger protective responses in the body, but excessive or prolonged stress can overwhelm these responses and contribute to chronic kidney disease (CKD) and its risk factors. Contemplative practices such as yoga, meditation, and mindfulness are low-cost lifestyle interventions that help manage stress by calming the mind and restoring awareness of interconnectedness. Emerging evidence suggests these practices reduce the clinical complications of stress by attenuating its psychological and biological impacts. This review illustrates how contemplative practices can help prevent the development, progression, and complications of CKD and its risk factors.
The lancet. Psychiatry
December 1, 2018
Sanford Nidich, Paul J Mills, Maxwell Rainforth et al.
Transcendental Meditation (TM) is at least as effective as prolonged exposure therapy (PE) for reducing PTSD symptoms in military veterans, and both therapies outperform PTSD health education alone. In a randomized trial of 203 veterans with PTSD from active service, TM was non-inferior to PE on the primary outcome of symptom severity change over three months. Both TM and PE produced significantly greater reductions in PTSD symptoms than health education. 61% of veterans receiving TM showed clinically significant improvement, compared with 42% receiving PE and 32% receiving health education. TM may offer an effective alternative for veterans who prefer not to undergo trauma-focused treatment.
Contemporary Clinical Trials
September 1, 2014
Thomas Rutledge, Sanford Nidich, Robert H Schneider et al.
A randomized controlled trial is underway comparing Transcendental Meditation (TM) to Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy and a health education control for posttraumatic stress disorder in 210 Veterans meeting DSM-IV criteria. The study will measure PTSD symptoms, depression, mood, quality of life, behavioral factors, and physiological/biochemical and gene expression mechanisms at 0 and 3 months. The hypothesis is that TM will be noninferior to PE and superior to the control on changes in PTSD symptoms as assessed by the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale. This protocol aims to establish TM's efficacy for PTSD in Veterans and identify underlying mechanisms.
Circulation. Cardiovascular quality and outcomes
November 1, 2012
Robert H Schneider, Clarence E Grim, Maxwell V Rainforth et al.
A randomized controlled trial of 201 Black men and women with coronary heart disease compared the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program with health education. Over an average follow-up of 5.4 years, the TM group showed a 48% reduction in the combined risk of all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, or stroke. Systolic blood pressure dropped by 4.9 mmHg, and anger expression scores improved. The authors argue that TM may be useful for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease in this population.
Cardiology research and practice
March 21, 2011
David A F Haaga, Sarina Grosswald, Carolyn Gaylord-King et al.
A randomized trial with 295 university students found that Transcendental Meditation instruction reduced alcohol use among male students but not female students, compared to a wait-list control group. No significant differences were observed for smoking or illicit drug use. The authors suggest TM instruction could help reduce alcohol consumption in male university students.
Cognitive processing
February 1, 2010
Fred Travis, David A F Haaga, John Hagelin et al.
A 10-week random assignment study of 38 college students (average age 23.7 years) compared EEG brainwave patterns during eyes-closed rest and Transcendental Meditation (TM) practice. During TM, compared to rest, there was higher alpha1 frontal log-power and lower beta1 and gamma frontal and parietal log-power; higher frontal and parietal alpha1 interhemispheric coherence and higher frontal and frontal-central beta2 intrahemispheric coherence. Sources of alpha1 activity were found in midline cortical regions overlapping the default mode network (DMN). Greater activation in DMN areas during TM suggests meditation may produce a foundational or 'ground' state of cerebral functioning that underlies both rest and focused cognition.
International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology
February 1, 2009
Fred Travis, David A F Haaga, John Hagelin et al.
College students who learned Transcendental Meditation (TM) showed improved brain integration scores and reduced sleepiness over ten weeks, while those who had not yet learned showed declines or no change. The study also found differences in how quickly students adapted to repeated loud tones. These results suggest that practicing TM may benefit college students' cognitive and physiological functioning.
Neuroreport
August 21, 2006
David W. Orme-Johnson, Robert H Schneider, Young D Son et al.
Long-term practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation technique showed 40-50% fewer brain voxels responding to pain in the thalamus and total brain compared to matched controls. After controls learned the technique and practiced for 5 months, their pain response decreased by 40-50% in the thalamus, prefrontal cortex, total brain, and marginally in the anterior cingulate cortex. The findings suggest that Transcendental Meditation longitudinally reduces the affective/motivational dimension of the brain's response to pain.