This month on the blog, we’ll be looking at the results of a very recent RCT (randomized controlled trial) published in the Journal of Human Hypertension, looking at the impacts of mindfulness meditation training on adults with hypertension.  In sum, the results of the study suggest that mindfulness meditation may offer adults with hypertension a host of benefits, including not only lowering blood pressure and related health risks, but psychological benefits as well.

A bit more about this particular study….

For future reference, an RCT is considered to be the “gold standard” of research design.  While no study is perfect, RCTs aim to minimize bias by randomly assigning participants to one of two conditions:  treatment as usual (control group), or the treatment being studied, while holding all other factors constant.

Considering the prevalence of high blood pressure (AKA hypertension) in adults in America, there is high interest in cost effective, non-invasive strategies to help people lower their blood pressure safely and effectively.  High blood pressure (hypertension) is a risk factor for several serious health complications, including heart attack and stroke.

In this study, 42 adults with normal-high blood pressure or stage 1 hypertension were randomly assigned to one of two conditions:  health education intervention (control group), or a mindfulness meditation condition.  Both conditions were administered in eight two-hour sessions.  The mindfulness meditation condition was very similar to a standard MBSR course, with a few modifications specific to treating hypertension.

Following the completion of the interventions, participants in the mindfulness meditation condition had significantly lower systolic blood pressure (that’s the top number- also thought to possibly be the more important measure of health risk) than the health education condition.  At 20 weeks post-intervention, the mindfulness meditation completers’ systolic blood pressure dropped 13 mmHg from baseline, while those in the control condition dropped 1 mmHg.  Additionally,  at 8 weeks mindfulness meditation completers also reported lower levels of anxiety, stress and depression.  At 20 weeks, mindfulness meditation completers reported lower perceived stress scores.

The citation for the article we discussed today is:

Márquez, P. H., Feliu-Soler, A., Solé-Villa, M. J.,…Arroyo-Díaz, J. A. (2018). Benefits of mindfulness meditation in reducing blood pressure and stress in patients with arterial hypertension. J Human Hypertension.

Let us know if you have questions about the study!  We hope to see you soon.  We’ll be back next month to discuss another recent research study related to mindfulness-based interventions.