Mindfulness Training May Lower Blood Pressure

The main cause of death all around the world is heart disease. Particularly in the United States hypertension and abnormal blood pressure claim many lives every year. Mindfulness training can be the solution for this problem.

This hypertension and high blood pressure can be prevented through medication or lifestyle changes such as healthier eating, weight control and regular workouts involving running, swimming. Mainly there are some changes you should follow to decrease the risk.

Mindfulness-Based Blood Pressure Reduction (MB-BP)

Eric Loucks, an associate professor of epidemiology, behavioral and social sciences, and medicine at Brown University say that “We know enough about hypertension that we can theoretically control it in everybody— yet in about half of all people diagnosed, it is still out of control.”

“Mindfulness may represent another approach to helping these people bring their blood pressure down, by allowing them to understand what’s happening in their minds and bodies.”

The professor and his colleagues arranged a session for 43 participants with high blood pressure for a year. The program is aimed at using mindfulness techniques for emotion regulation, attention control, self-awareness of both healthy and unhealthy habits and the program seems to have been successful.

After the mindfulness training, participants showed significant improvements and reduced blood pressure reading. The participants who benefited most from the session were those with stage 2uncontrolled hypertension (systolic blood pressure equal to or greater than 140 mmHg). They experienced a reduction of 15.1 mmHg in blood pressure.

After the program, Loucks said, “The hope is that if we can start mindfulness training early in life, we can promote a trajectory of healthy aging across the rest of people’s lives.” He added that this process will “reduce their chances of getting high blood pressure in the first place.”