Meditation lowers kids’ blood pressure
Twenty minutes of daily meditation helps reduce middle-schoolers’ blood pressure, perhaps putting them at lower risk of cardiovascular problems later in life, new research indicates.
In contrast, similar 12-year-olds who received instruction about how to prevent high blood pressure through diet and exercise instead of meditation actually experienced an increase in blood pressure over three months.
Research shows that people who have practiced meditation for a long time typically have lower blood pressure than those who don’t meditate.
Experts have become increasingly interested in kids’ blood pressure, since high blood pressure has its roots in childhood, and is linked to a high risk of future cardiovascular health problems.
To investigate whether meditation helps reduce kids’ blood pressure, the researchers, led by Dr. Frank A. Treiber of the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, asked 73 seventh-graders — all with healthy blood pressure — to try either 20 minutes of mediation daily or weekly health classes for three months. The researchers measured the participants’ blood pressure before and after the study.
During the meditation, students practiced a beginner technique, in which they focused on their breathing, sitting upright with their eyes closed. They were told that if their attention wavered, they should acknowledge the distraction and focus again on their breathing. They practiced one 10-minute meditation session at school and one at home after school.
After three months of meditation, students’ systolic blood pressure - the top number in a blood pressure reading - decreased by 2 or 3 points.
If maintained over time, this small decrease in systolic pressure could reduce the risk of dying from stroke or heart problems in adulthood by nearly 13 percent.
Among non-meditators, systolic blood pressure actually appeared to increase by 1 to 4 points.
Previous research has shown that meditation programs can also decrease absences and behavior problems among teenagers, Treiber and his colleagues note.
-Psychosomatic Medicine
Dr. Keith & Laurie Comments on Meditation
These studies were very interesting for a number of reasons.
First, it showed what meditation or stilling the mind can do for not only adults but also children—help heal their body and maintain the health of their bodies. Whether it be blood pressure, or balanced immune system or decreased pain and inflammation, when one stills their mind, they are going to become healthier.
The other point that is of note in the children’s study is the fact that teaching them to do a physical activity of stilling their mind and focusing on their breathing had a positive impact on their health. On the other hand, when they tried to just fill their mind with knowledge of healthy living by having them go to weekly health classes, their blood pressure actually went up. Why would this be? The answer is simple, if you fill the mind with just facts it does nothing (actually can harm) but when you physically show a person a practical physical step they can physically do everyday of their life, their health will improve.
Let this be a lesson to all of us.
“Let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth.”
If we want to change the world’s health, we must change our own health first. Once we know how to be in total health of body, mind and spirit, we can give it away to others by showing them the action steps they can take.
Remember, it is for more powerful to teach someone to sow and reap than to just give them a meal.