Heroes Not Zombies

There’s a pretty substantial number of references to research showing health benefits from the practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM), but a new piece of research is especially interesting. The Medical College of Wisconsin carried out a study of 201 African American men and women who had heart disease (average age, 59). They were randomised in two groups. One group were given lifestyle education (diet, exercise etc), and the other group was taught how to practice TM. After 9 years the TM group had a 47% reduction in deaths, heart attacks and strokes (20 “events” in the TM group, and 31 in the education group). The average blood pressure was also significantly lower in the TM group 9 years on.

It’s good to see studies of non-drug methods of improving health outcomes. It was interesting, however, to see how the BBC headed up the report “Meditation ‘eases heart disease’ ” – funny how drugs get reported almost as miracle cures but meditation reducing deaths, heart attacks and strokes by 47% gets described as “easing” heart disease!