Meditation for Reducing CVD Risk

SUMMARY POINTS * Meditation is an inexpensive and accessible practice that has been studied for long-term health benefits for cardiovascular risk factors.* For patients interested in a lifestyle change approach to cardiovascular disease risk reduction, meditation may be considered as an adjunctive t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Integrative medicine alert 2018-05, Vol.21 (5)
Main Author: Baker, Jeffrey H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anatomy & physiology
Brain research
Cardiovascular disease
Emotions
Health risk assessment
Heart
Hypertension
Integrative medicine
Meditation
Physiology
Smoking cessation
Studies
Yoga
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Summary:SUMMARY POINTS * Meditation is an inexpensive and accessible practice that has been studied for long-term health benefits for cardiovascular risk factors.* For patients interested in a lifestyle change approach to cardiovascular disease risk reduction, meditation may be considered as an adjunctive therapy to standard strategies, with the understanding that the overall quality and quantity of data need to be better established. Despite the numerous advances made during the past decades, heart disease remains the number one cause of death in the United States, and the number of deaths has stabilized only recently in the years 2011-2015 (23.4% of deaths in 2015).1,2 Heart disease statistics include the diagnoses of coronary heart disease, hypertension, and stroke.2 With a life expectancy in the United States of 78.8 years,1 continuing to look for means to reduce risk or ameliorate risk factors for cardiac diseases remains a high priority for the medical community. The AHA commissioned this study, recognizing that previous studies and surveys revealed that a significant number of patients with CVD already participated in mind-body therapies or meditation or were interested in trials using alternative therapies.4-7 The authors used search terms covering topics associated with CVD risk reduction to search PubMed for studies on meditation and CVD risk reduction. [...]mind-body practices such as yoga, Qigong, and tai chi were excluded from this study.
ISSN:2325-2812
2325-2820
DOI:10.1161/JAHA.117.002218