Subject: Meditation And Heart Disease

Can Meditation Improve Coronary Heart Disease?

Health disease is the main health problem in the USA, being the leading cause of death. Heart disease
affects equally women and men, though there is the misconception that cardiovascular disease affects
more men than women. Furthermore, chest pain derived from coronary heart disease is the cause of
over 8 million visits to emergency departments in the United States.

Evidence has demonstrated that stress and anxiety, among other negative emotions, are linked to heart
disease. Anxiety may be a risk factor in the appearance of coronary heart disease. Therefore, the need
for methods to prevent or improve heart disease is mandatory.
And at this point, meditation and mindfulness seem to be efficacious tools to lower stress and anxiety,
thus improving cardiovascular conditions.

What Are Meditation and Mindfulness?

By meditation, we understand a state of concentration, contemplation and reflection. This practice

originated thousands of years ago, to improve spiritual and emotional well-being. It teaches to examine
the practitioner to examine the thoughts, feelings, and sensations in a nonjudgmental way, aiming to
achieve a state of inner peace, physical relaxation, and psychological balance. There are varied types of
meditation such as Yoga (which includes incorporating postures and breathing techniques), Tai Chi, Qi-
Gong, and many more meditation methods. In most cases, meditation involves repeating a Mantra,
which are words with phonetic significance. Mindfulness is another form of meditation that stimulates
the non-judging observation of thoughts, perceptions and emotions, providing a way to self-monitoring
and regulation arousal with awareness, focusing on paying attention to the present.

Do Meditation and Mindfulness Help to Reduce Heart Disease?

The interest in meditation has grown since 1960. Not only the number of practitioners has been
augmenting, but also the interest of health care experts and health care providers; all of them seeking an
alternative or complementary means to promote health. For instance, the Mindfulness-Based Stress
Reduction program (MBSR), which was originated back in 1979 at the School of Medicine at the
University of Massachusetts, incorporates the basics of mindfulness meditation to reduce anxiety and
consequently help to reduce heart disease.

A pilot study on the MBSR programs results showed a significant difference in the scores of anxiety,
emotional self-control, and reactive coping in women with heart disease who followed the program. It
confirmed that the MBSR program promises to be an effective complementary therapy for patients with
heart disease.
Moreover, several studies have demonstrated that besides reducing CV mortality, meditation improves
other health conditions such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes, and high levels of cortisol.

Of course, further studies on the health benefits of meditation on health are needed, but so far, evidence
and studies suggest that meditation on its different types is beneficial to reduce stress and anxiety,
lowering the incidence of heart disease. Beyond what scientific studies have demonstrated, or will
demonstrate, it seems to be a good advice to start practicing some form of meditation for overall
emotional, psychological and physical health.
References:
Mindfulness Meditation, Anxiety Reduction, and Heart DiseaseA Pilot Study.pdf
Meditation and Coronary Heart Disease: A Review of the Current Clinical Evidence