Meditation as primary intervention strategy in prevention of cardiovascular diseases
Yadneshwar Khobragade, Adinegara Lutfi Abas, Ankur Barua, Sujata Khobragade
International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences 2016 DOI: 10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20160003 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Systematic review Randomized Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Adults above 18 years, both sexes, any setting |
| Intervention | Meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Citations | 3 |
| Key findings | The authors propose that meditation reduces sympathetic activity and increases parasympathetic dominance, which may normalize blood pressure and pulse, reduce vascular spasm, and improve myocardial perfusion, thereby helping prevent hypertension, coronary artery disease, and post-myocardial infarction complications. They suggest meditation could be introduced as a primary prevention strategy for cardiovascular disease, though the abstract reports no pooled results. |
Abstract
Heart diseases especially Hypertension, Coronary Artery Diseases (CAD) and stroke are the leading causes of death all over the world. Hostility, anxiety, depression and increased reactivity to mental stress have been strongly associated with hypertension and CAD. Mental stress or anxiety causes increased sympathetic activation and poor vagus nerve control over heart. Imbalance between sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system leads to vasospasm and has been associated with Hypertension, Coronary Artery Disease and Myocardial Infarction. Psychosocial stress has also been found to be responsible for imbalance in autonomic nervous system, causing sympathetic dominance over parasympathetic leading to acute coronary events. Meditation is a process of self-contemplation and purification of mind. Practitioner of meditation brings about desirable changes in their behaviour and lifestyle. During Meditation sympathetic activity is reduced and there is parasympathetic dominance over sympathetic. During meditation and after meditation person feels calm, quiet and relaxed. Meditation causes decrease in metabolic rate. The blood pressure may come to normal or falls, pulse rate comes to normal or low, vascular spasm if any, is reduced and myocardial perfusion increase. Thus meditation helps in preventing hypertension, coronary artery disease and other cardiac events. This may be beneficial before a person gets coronary event and post-myocardial infarction. In view of the beneficial effects of meditation, it may be introduced as primary intervention strategy in preventing Cardio-vascular Diseases. We did this review study to find out: (1) Can meditation bring about desirable changes in human mind and body in post-intervention group compared to control group? (2) Its effectiveness in prevention of heart diseases like hypertension, coronary events and post-MI complications. This review included all randomised controlled trials on patients above 18 years, both sexes, any setting with medication & meditation or meditation, Controlled group was on medication alone. Clustered and crossover studies were excluded.
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
Cites 3
- Stress reduction in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease: randomized, controlled trial of transcendental meditation and health education in Blacks. Circulation. Cardiovascular quality and outcomes November 1, 2012
- Variation Analysis of Sphygmogram to Assess Cardiovascular System under Meditation. Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine March 1, 2009
- Three case reports of the metabolic and electroencephalographic changes during advanced Buddhist meditation techniques. Behavioral Medicine 1990