Blood Pressure Response to Meditation and Yoga: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Seong-Hi Park, Kuem Sun Han
The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine September 2017 DOI: 10.1089/acm.2016.0234 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Meta-analysis Randomized Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Patients with hypertension, across studies with varying baseline blood pressure ranges and ages |
| Interventions | Meditation Yoga |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Hypertension Meta-analysis Relaxation therapy Yoga |
| Key findings | Meditation and yoga appeared to significantly reduce both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in hypertensive patients, though some results showed little difference. The authors report that baseline blood pressure range and patient age affected results: meditation seemed to lower blood pressure notably in subjects older than 60, while yoga seemed to help those younger than 60. They conclude these practices are effective alternatives to pharmacotherapy in some cases. |
Abstract
To introduce research that presents scientific evidence regarding the effects of mantra and mindfulness meditation techniques and yoga on decreasing blood pressure (BP) in patients who have hypertension. A literature search was performed to identify all studies published between 1946 and 2014 from periodicals indexed in Ovid Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, KoreaMed, and NDSL by using the following keywords: "hypertension," "blood pressure," "psychotherapy," "relaxation therapy," "meditation," "yoga," and "mind-body therapy." The Cochrane's Risk of Bias was applied to assess the internal validity of the randomized controlled trial studies. Thirteen studies were analyzed in this meta-analysis by using Review Manager 5.3. Among 510 possible studies, 13 met the selection criteria. Seven examined meditation, and six examined yoga. The meta-analysis indicated that meditation and yoga appeared to decrease both systolic and diastolic BP, which were within similar baseline ranges, and the reduction was statistically significant; however, some results showed little difference. After an in-depth analysis of those results, BP range and patient age were revealed as the factors that affected the different results in some reports. In particular, meditation played a noticeable role in decreasing the BP of subjects older than 60 years of age, whereas yoga seemed to contribute to the decrease of subjects aged less than 60 years. While acknowledging the limitations of this research due to the differences in BP and the participants' ages, meditation and yoga are demonstrated to be effective alternatives to pharmacotherapy. Given that BP decreased with the use of meditation and yoga, and this effect varied in different age groups, scientifically measured outcomes indicate that these practices are safe alternatives in some cases.
Comparable studies
Other systematic reviews and meta-analyses on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being Diverse adult clinical populations | 2014 | Meta-analysis | n = 3,515 |
| Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Stress Management in Healthy People: A Review and Meta-Analysis Healthy subjects | 2009 | Systematic review and meta-analysis | |
| The psychological effects of meditation: A meta-analysis. Nonclinical groups of adult meditators | 2012 | Meta-analysis | n = 163 |
| Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Prevention of Depressive Relapse Adults with recurrent depression in full or partial remission | 2016 | Meta-analysis of individual patient data from randomized controlled trials | n = 1,258 |
| Mindfulness‐Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness‐Based Cognitive Therapy – a systematic review of randomized controlled trials | 2011 | Systematic review |
Citations in the library
Cited by 20
- Yoga Practice Is Beneficial for Maintaining Healthy Lifestyle and Endurance Under Restrictions and Stress Imposed by Lockdown During COVID-19 Pandemic. Frontiers in Psychiatry 2021
- Applying the S-ART Framework to Yoga: Exploring the Self-Regulatory Action of Yoga Practice in Two Culturally Diverse Samples. Frontiers in Psychology 2021
- Cognitive-aesthetic effects of sacred vs. secular architecture on believers: A neurophenomenological exploratory study Brain and Environment June 23, 2026
- Contemplative Practices as a Form of Stress Management for Patients with Kidney Disease. Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN July 18, 2025
- PCC-hippocampal functional connectivity associated with stress biomarker changes after meditation training for healthy adults. Neuroscience Letters May 23, 2025
and 15 more in the library
Cites 10
- Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being JAMA Internal Medicine January 6, 2014
- Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders American Journal of Psychiatry July 1, 1992
- Transcendental Meditation, mindfulness, and longevity: An experimental study with the elderly. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1989
- Blood Pressure Response to Transcendental Meditation: A Meta-analysis American Journal of Hypertension February 29, 2008
- Insufficient evidence to conclude whether or not Transcendental Meditation decreases blood pressure Journal of Hypertension October 12, 2004
and 5 more in the library