Cardiovascular health

• Transcending Heart Disease: Transcendental Meditation Improves Heart Health.
        Video by Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, Director of Women's Heart Health at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City (6 min)
   
• See also numerous articles by Robert Schneider
   
• Numerous articles on blood pressure, e.g. Z Bai, J Chang, C Chen, P Li, K Yang and I Chi. Investigating the effect of transcendental meditation on blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Human Hypertension (12 February 2015) (abstract)
   
• Meditation and Cardiovascular Risk Reduction. A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association, Glenn N. Levine, Chair, Richard A. Lange, Vice Chair, et al., and the American Heart Association Council on Clinical Cardiology; Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing; and Council on Hypertension. J Am Heart Assoc. 2017 Oct; 6(10)
   
• Beyond Medications and Diet: Alternative Approaches to Lowering Blood Pressure. A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. Robert D. Brook, et al., and on behalf of the American Heart Association Professional Education Committee of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research, Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing, Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, and Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism. Hypertension. 22 April 2013;61:1360-1383 (and supplementary materials):
  Summary and Clinical Recommendations:
  “The overall evidence supports that TM modestly lowers BP. It is not certain whether it is truly superior to other meditation techniques in terms of BP lowering because there are few head-to-head studies. As a result of the paucity of data, we are unable to recommend a specific method of practice when TM is used for the treatment of high BP. However, TM (or meditation techniques in general) does not appear to pose significant health risks.
  
  “Additional and higher-quality studies are required to provide conclusions on the BP-lowering efficacy of meditation forms other than TM. The writing group conferred to TM a Class IIB, Level of Evidence B recommendation in regard to BP-lowering efficacy. TM may be considered in clinical practice to lower BP.
  
  “Because of many negative studies or mixed results and a paucity of available trials, all other meditation techniques (including MBSR) received a Class III, no benefit, Level of Evidence C recommendation Thus, other meditation techniques are not recommended in clinical practice to lower BP at this time.”
   
• Transcendental meditation for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Cochrane review, 1 Dec 2014 (link)
  Authors' conclusions:
  "Currently, there are few trials with limited outcomes examining the effectiveness of TM for the primary prevention of CVD. Due to the limited evidence to date, we could draw no conclusions as to the effectiveness of TM for the primary prevention of CVD. There was considerable heterogeneity between trials and the included studies were small, short term and at overall serious risk of bias. More and larger long-term, high-quality trials are needed."