The Transcendental Meditation Program
Gary P. Kaplan, M.D., Ph.D., is a neurologist and Associate Professor of Clinical Neurology at Hofstra University School of Medicine. He is also a recipient of the Albert H. Douglas Award from the Medical Society of the State of New York for outstanding achievements as a clinical teacher interested in promoting and improving the medical education of physicians.
César Molina, M.D., F.A.C.C., is Medical Director of the South Asian Heart Center at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA. He is a graduate of Yale University School of Medicine and a fellow of the American College of Cardiology. Dr. Molina has recently appeared in the international edition of CNN discussing the benefits of diet and exercise in the treatment and prevention of coronary heart disease.
Robert Schneider, M.D., F.A.C.C., F.A.B.M.R., has been awarded more than $20 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his pioneering research on natural approaches to heart disease. Dr. Schneider is the author of Total Heart Health and 100 medical research articles, and he has been featured in more than 1,000 media reports, including CNN Headline News, The New York Times, and Time magazine.
Here Drs. Kaplan, Molina and Schneider
answer questions on high cholesterol.
Dr. Kaplan: There is evidence now from a well-controlled scientific study published in Archives of Internal Medicine in 2006 that the TM technique can reduce the components of “metabolic syndrome,” a major cause of poor health and premature death. Patients with metabolic syndrome are characteristically overweight, with high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar and triglycerides, and low HDL (good) cholesterol.
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Dr. Molina: In a study published in the Journal of the Israeli Medical Association, researchers reported a significant drop in total cholesterol in people who practice the Transcendental Meditation technique. So yes, the Transcendental Meditation technique is an effective way to lower total cholesterol.
Most of the emphasis today is on lowering cholesterol, and thus you hear many advertisements for cholesterol medications on TV. Yet we need to remember that high blood pressure is, in fact, the most important risk factor for both stroke and coronary heart disease. Research studies have consistently demonstrated a drop in the blood pressure of people who practice the Transcendental Meditation technique. So we should not underestimate the power of lowering the blood pressure of anyone, whether or not they have high cholesterol.
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Dr. Schneider: It’s possible. A couple of studies have reported reduced serum cholesterol as a result of the practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique. As with all medical conditions, it is recommended to follow the advice of your physician or health care provider before changing any prescribed medications or other treatment methods.
Dr. Molina: It could. The Transcendental Meditation program has been associated with a drop in total cholesterol in research studies, but there has never been a large, formal study comparing it against statins. And therefore, for people who require statins, someone who has had a heart attack, for example, I would not use the Transcendental Meditation program in place of statins. In those cases I would recommend the Transcendental Meditation technique to be used in addition to statin drugs and not in lieu of them. The Transcendental Meditation technique is a very powerful addition, and in fact may be more powerful than statin drugs in improving outcome, but we don’t have that data.
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