Searching for the secret to a long and healthy life? Step off the scale, get comfy, and close your eyes: Meditation just might be the magic medicine you’ve been looking for. So finds a new study in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. Researchers recruited 201 African-American participants who weren’t in the best shape: The participants, an average age of 59, all suffered from coronary heart disease and the majority also took cholesterol-lowering drugs. More from Prevention: Meditate Your Way To A Healthier Heart Half the participants were assigned to a Transcendental Meditation (TM) program, which involved 20-minute meditation sessions twice a day. The rest partook in a health education class, where they learned about diet and exercise. Both groups experienced beneficial changes—participants drank less and exercised more—but those who meditated experienced additional changes: They lowered their blood pressure by an average of 5 mm Hg. That drop is associated with a 15% reduction in cardiovascular events, says study leader Robert Schneider, MD, director of the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention in Iowa. And that’s significant: “Some first line [blood pressure] drugs have this magnitude of effect,” Dr. Schneider says. Even five years later, members of the TM group were 48% less likely to have died, or experienced a heart attack or stroke, than the other study participants. If you need even more proof that Transcendental Meditation works wonders, consider these three surprising TM benefits: It can boost work performance Candy Crowley, CNN’s chief political correspondent and recent presidential debate moderator, has been practicing TM for four years. She credits the practice with becoming a better journalist. “When your stress level is lower, you make better decisions and you have a better thought process,” says Crowley. (Read the rest of her tips in our interview.) It’ll cheer up your kids In our always-on society, adults aren’t the only ones dealing with anxiety. Studies show that TM lowers kids’ blood pressure, brightens their outlook, and can even help them overcome ADHD symptoms. It might fix a broken heart Earlier research on a stressed-out population revealed that practicing TM decreased the thickness of participants’ artery walls, which slashed their risk of heart attack and stroke. More from Prevention: Find Meditation To Match Your Personality
