Usefulness of the transcendental meditation program in the treatment of patients with coronary artery disease*,**

The 2017 American Heart Association Scientific Statement on meditation and cardiovascular risk suggested that meditation may be considered as an adjunct to guideline-directed cardiovascular risk-reduction interventions. Meditation could potentially increase physical and mental relaxation, leading to improved outcomes after a major cardiovascular event. We hypothesized that meditation is associated with lower cardiovascular risk in the US general population. Using data from the 2012 and 2017 National Health Interview Survey, we identified all patients with hypercholesterolemia, systemic hypertension (SH), diabetes mellitus (DM), stroke, and coronary artery disease (CAD), as well as those who reported that they meditate. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate the association between meditation and risk of hypercholesterolemia, SH, DM, stroke, and CAD, adjusting for potential confounders. Of 61,267 the National Health Interview Survey participants, 5,851 (9.6%) participated in some form of meditation. After adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, race, marital status, cigarette smoking, sleeping duration, and depression, meditation was independently associated with a lower prevalence of hypercholesterolemia (odds ratio [OR] 0.65; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.54 to 0.79; p = 0.001), SH (OR 0.86; 95% CI 0.75 to 0.99; p = 0.04), diabetes (OR 0.70; 95% CI 0.59 to 0.84; p = 0.0001), stroke (OR 0.76; 95% CI 0.58 to 0.99; p = 0.04), or CAD (OR 0.51; 95% CI 0.39 to 0.66; p <0.001), compared with those who did not meditate. In conclusion, using a large national database, we found that meditation is associated with a lower prevalence of cardiovascular risks factors and disease.

Relaxation training can be an important adjunct in reducing symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). Autogenic Training (AT) is a simple, easily administered and inexpensive technique for retraining the mind and the body to be able to relax. AT uses visual imagery and body awareness to promote a state of deep relaxation.

To investigate whether AT when used as an adjunct to Physiotherapy (PT) improves motor performances in PD in comparison with a control group receiving PT alone.

Randomized, controlled, single blinded trial.

Movement Disorder Clinic and Department of Physiotherapy, Sree Chithira Thirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology in Trivandrum, Kerala, India.

Patients with PD of grade 2 or 3 of Hoehn & Yahr (H&Y) scale (N = 66).

AT group or control group. The techniques were administered by Physiotherapists trained in AT and consisted of 40 sessions per patient over 8 weeks.

Motor score subscale of Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) was used to measure the motor performances.

The primary outcome measure was the difference in Motor score subscale of UPDRS scores between Week 1 (pretest score), Week 8 (posttest score), and follow-up at Week 12 after randomization.

The simple main effects analysis showed that the AT group performed better than the control group in weeks 8 and 12 (P < .005). Patients in the AT and control groups reported a 51.78% and 35.24% improvement, respectively, in their motor performances in Week 8 compared with that in Week 1, which persisted, in the follow-up (Week 12) as 30.82% in the AT group and 21.42% in the control group.

This study provides evidence that AT when used as an adjunct to PT is more effective than PT alone in improving motor performances in PD patients.

Despite advances in modern medicine, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in Australia and globally. In a recently published scientific statement on alternative methods to lower blood pressure (BP), the American Heart Association (AHA) reported that the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique may be considered in clinical practice to lower BP. The AHA statement also reported research that TM may reduce heart attack, stroke and death in CVD patients. This article reviews the background and associated evidence for these effects.

Meta-analyses, systematic reviews and controlled clinical studies on the effects of TM technique on cardiovascular disease and its risk factors were reviewed and the outcomes synthesised.

Clinical trials indicate that the TM technique has a positive impact on pathophysiological mechanisms of CVD; risk factors for CVD including hypertension, psychosocial stress and smoking; surrogate markers for CVD; and CVD clinical events.

The wide range of effects of TM practice on cardiovascular health suggests that the TM technique may be considered in clinical applications for both the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.