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Diet
& Lifestyle Meditation
Meditation for a
healthy heart
Meditation is normally recommended as a stress management technique used
to bring about a calm and relaxed state of mind. However, researchers have
recently discovered that meditation offers other significant health
benefits through its ability to alter deeper and more dynamic processes in
the body, even so far as being able to strengthen the heart.
Researchers at the Margaret and H.A. Rey
Laboratory, Boston, USA discovered that meditation influences prominent
heart rate oscillations traditionally associated with practising slow
breathing during specific traditional forms of Chinese Chi and Kundalini
Yoga meditation techniques.
The amplitude of these oscillations during
meditation was significantly greater than when compared to those not
practising any meditation in healthy young adults and even elite athletes
during sleep.
These results reveal that meditation can have a
deep and very profound influence on the heart and its activity. The
researchers observed that the variability of beat-to-beat heart rate was
directly affected by meditation.
The report concluded that meditation should not
be seen as just a method of relaxation and stress management, but also as
an aid to strengthen the heart and create a more active state in the body.
Source: Int J Cardiol 1999 Jul 31;70(2):101-7
Exaggerated heart rate oscillations during two meditation techniques.
Peng CK, Mietus JE, et al.
©
The Internet Health Library 2000
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This page was last updated on 28 March 2001 11:23:07
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