..续本文上一页anagement in Fairfield, Iowa, who presented the findings. The study was conducted at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, in collaboration with the institute.

　　An earlier study of high-risk Milwaukee residents, many of them overweight or obese, also found transcendental meditation, along with conventional medications, could help reduce blood pressure. Most of those in the study had only high-school educations or less, about 40 percent smoked and roughly half had incomes of less than $10,000 a year.

　　The participants found transcendental meditation easy to learn and practice, Dr. Schneider said.

　　“Fortunately, it does not require any particular education and doesn”t conflict with lifestyle philosophy or beliefs; it”s a straightforward technique for getting deep rest to the mind and body,” he said, adding that he believes the technique “helps to reset the body”s own self-repair and homeostatic mechanism.”

　　Dr. Schneider said other benefits of meditation might follow from stress reduction, which could cause changes in the brain that cut stress hormones like cortisol and dampen the inflammatory processes associated with atherosclerosis.

　　“What is it about stress that causes cardiovascular disease

　　” said Dr. Theodore Kotchen, associate dean for clinical research at the Medical College of Wisconsin. “Hormones, neural hormones, cortisol, catecholamines — all tend to be elevated in stress. Could they in some way be contributing to cardiovascular disease

　　 Could a reduction in these hormones with meditation be contributing to reduction in disease

　　 We can only speculate.”

　　Another recent study focusing on transcendental meditation, published in The American Journal of Hypertension, focused on a young healthy population. It found that stressed-out college students improved their mood through T.M., and those at risk for hypertension were able to reduce their blood pressure. Dr. Schneider was also involved in that study, which was carried out at American University in Washington and included 298 students randomly assigned to either a meditation group or a waiting list.

　　Students who were at risk of hypertension and practiced meditation reduced systolic blood pressure by 6.3 millimeters of mercury and their diastolic pressure by 4 millimeters of mercury on average.

《禅定能治心脏病吗？Can Meditation Curb Heart Attacks？》全文阅读结束。