When stray thoughts interfere (as they will), let them come and go and return to your word, phrase, or sound.įor more on getting your blood pressure under control, buy Controlling Your Blood Pressure, a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School.Relax your muscles and silently repeat a word, phrase, sound, or short prayer of your choosing over and over.Sit in a quiet place with your eyes closed.Benson recommends practicing the relaxation response twice a day, for 10 to 20 minutes, similar to what other meditation experts recommend. This benefit appears to be mediated by nitric oxide, a molecule made in the body that (among other things) helps relax and widen blood vessels, keeping blood pressure under control.Īnother small study found that people who practiced the relaxation response for eight weeks had higher levels of nitric oxide in their breath, while a control group showed no such change.ĭr. The study participants were more likely to be able to control their blood pressure to the point whereby some could reduce and even eliminate their blood pressure medications.įurther research revealed that when blood pressure falls during the relaxation response, inflammation and blood vessel constriction become less active and blood vessels widen. Benson's studies, elderly people with hard-to-treat isolated systolic hypertension underwent relaxation response training. This self-induced quieting of brain activity has aspects of both transcendental meditation and mindfulness meditation. For instance, we may choose to use a chant, a prayer or even another person’s voice as the object of our meditation. Calming Meditation Techniques Certain body calm meditation techniques can be used to keep the mind focused and the body relaxed. The Daily Calm is a unique mix of meditation and. Calm-down meditation helps us rekindle our awareness and stay in touch with our feelings. Herbert Benson, director emeritus of the Harvard-affiliated Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine, is the opposite of the stress-induced fight-or-flight response. 817K subscribers Subscribe 6.2M views 6 years ago Tamara Levitt guides this 10 minute Daily Calm mindfulness meditation on letting go. A number of well-designed studies show that meditation can modestly lower blood pressure, according to an American Heart Association scientific statement published in the journal Hypertension.īlood pressure benefits of quieting the brainĪ related technique, designed to evoke the so-called relaxation response, has been found to be helpful with high blood pressure and other disorders caused or made worse by stress. Researchers are now beginning to better understand how these mental changes affect the cardiovascular system. All are types of meditation, which use different methods to reach a state sometimes described as "thoughtful awareness" or "restful alertness." Several practices that help calm the mind can also lower blood pressure.
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