Meditation may help reduce the risk of heart disease when it’s added to proven approaches like lifestyle changes or drugs to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, U.S. doctors say.
In its first guidelines dedicated to meditation, the American Heart Association (AHA) stresses that the benefits haven’t been clearly established because studies have generally been too small, brief or poorly designed to draw broad conclusions. But the AHA research review concludes that meditation may have some benefits beyond just reducing stress, said Dr. Glenn Levine, chair of the AHA task force on clinical practice guidelines.
“Meditation can be considered as an adjunctive lifestyle intervention in those interested in this practice,” Levine, a researcher at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said by email. “We do not believe meditation should be undertaken as a substitute for well-established and recommended lifestyle and medicinal interventions.”
