If you’ve ever meditated, or tried to, you know that the main effect of this practice is calming and focusing the mind. But meditation is known to have a number of other health benefits, including decreased stress and anxiety, greater mindfulness, and improved mental health.
Some research also suggests that meditation may help lower blood pressure, improve cholesterol levels, and help people quit smoking — all things that can lower your risk of cardiovascular disease.
However, the number and quality of these studies have been limited. In addition, these studies haven’t looked directly at the link between meditation and the risk of having a heart attack or another major cardiovascular event.
But a new study adds to the evidence showing that meditation is not only good for the mind, but may also be beneficial for the heart.
Meditators more ‘heart healthy’
In the study, researchers used data on more than 61,000 American adults who responded to the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) in 2012 and 2017, which included almost 5,900 people who participated in some form of meditation. Meditators accounted for nearly 10 percent of people surveyed.
Researchers found that people who meditated were less likely to have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, coronary artery disease, or a previous stroke than people who didn’t meditate.
The greatest difference was for coronary heart disease — people who meditated were 49 percent less likely to have this condition.
This was true even when researchers took into account other factors tha can increase a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease such as age, sex, body mass index (BMI), cigarette smoking, sleeping, and depression.
The study was published June 30 in The American Journal of Cardiology.
Meditation ‘probably’ lowers cardiovascular risk
There are several limitations to the new study.
First, it was an observational study, so it can’t show for certain that meditation reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease. It could be that people who have better cardiovascular health are more likely to meditate.
Meditation could also indirectly affect a person’s alcohol consumption by reducing their anxiety and stress, which might decrease how much they want to drink.
In addition, there are many types of meditation that might have different effects on a person’s cardiovascular risk. These include calming and focusing meditation, insight meditation, mindfulness meditation, mantra-based meditation, and loving-kindness meditation. However, the NHIS didn’t ask about which type of meditation a person did.
Also, the survey didn’t ask how often people meditate or how long they’ve been practicing meditation. It could be that the cardiovascular benefits increase as you meditate more frequently and for more years.
More research is needed, but study author Dr. Chayakrit Krittanawong, a cardiology fellow at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said in a news release that meditation is “probably” associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. And the best part is that meditation is simple, cost-effective, and carries few risks.
