Simple daily meditation may bring your blood pressure down. Scientists at the Medical College of Georgia say that when you meditate it helps keep your blood vessels from constricting, or tightening up and restricting the blood flow, which raises blood pressure.
Researchers say they studied 18 adults who meditate daily and 14 very healthy ThirdAgers who did not meditate. The results are in the current issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.
During a 20-minute resting session those in the meditating group saw their blood pressure drop and their blood vessel constriction go down by 6.5 percent. In contrast, those who did not meditate had higher blood pressure and a 1.6 percent increase in blood vessel constriction.
Researchers say more study is needed on people who are just beginning to meditate because study participants had been doing it for a long time and had lower blood pressure at the start. They say the results also may be more dramatic if the meditating group had been allowed to sit in a cross-legged position as they were accustomed to at home.
