Meditation helps middle schoolers
AUGUSTA, Ga., Dec 06, 2004 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- A
Georgia study funded by the National Institutes of Health found 20 minutes
of daily meditation lowered blood pressure and heart rates in middle schoolers.
The Medical College of Georgia team, in a study published in the latest
edition of the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, discovered students who
used a simple concentration-based breathing mediation technique had lower
resting and "active" blood pressure readings.
The amount of reduction in blood pressure, if maintained over time, "would
translate into an approximate 12.5 percent lower predicted risk of stroke
or coronary mortality in adulthood," study author Frank A. Treiber says.
Treiber and colleagues say the incidence of high blood pressure "has risen
dramatically in recent years among youth," including
a nearly sevenfold increase in high blood pressure among some minority
youth.
The study included 73 Augusta middle school students randomly assigned
to either meditation or a regular health education class. All students
in the study had normal blood pressure and all wore monitors during the
study to gauge their blood pressure and heart rate throughout the day.
Students in the meditation group participated in two 10-minute meditation
sessions each day, once in class and once after school, for three months.
Copyright
2004 by United Press International.
