Benefits of mindfulness meditation in reducing blood pressure and stress in patients with arterial hypertension.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to evaluate the benefits of mindfulness meditation on controlling ambulatory blood pressure and its impact on anxiety, stress, and depression levels in a Mediterranean population with high-normal BP or grade I hypertension.
Results Summary
The mindfulness group showed statistically significant lower ambulatory and clinically measured blood pressure values by week 8, along with improvements in being less judgmental, more accepting, and less depressed. At week 20 follow-up, means were lower in the intervention group, though not statistically significant.
Population
Mediterranean adults (mean age 56.5 years) with high-normal BP or grade I hypertension, including similar proportions of men and women.
Effective Dosage
2 hours per week for 8 weeks
Duration
8 weeks (with follow-up at week 20)
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
mindfulness meditation | decrease | ambulatory blood pressure (BP) | Mediterranean population with high-normal BP or grade I hypertension | - | lower | #1 |
mindfulness meditation | neutral | anxiety, stress and depression levels | Mediterranean population with high-normal BP or grade I hypertension | - | impact on | #2 |
mindfulness training | decrease | ABPM scores | intervention group | 124/77 mmHg vs 126/80 mmHg (p < 0.05) for 24-h systolic BP | statistically significant lower | #3 |
mindfulness training | decrease | ABPM scores | intervention group | 108/65 mmHg vs 114/69 mmHg (p < 0.05) for night-time systolic BP | statistically significant lower | #4 |
mindfulness training | decrease | clinically measured SBP values | intervention group | 130 mmHg vs 133 mmHg; p = 0.02 | lower | #5 |
mindfulness training | decrease | - | intervention group | although not statistically significant | means were lower | #6 |
mindfulness training | increase | being less judgemental, more accepting and less depressed | intervention group | - | Improvements were observed | #7 |
The objective of this randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the benefits of mindfulness meditation in controlling ambulatory blood pressure (BP) and the impact of the intervention on anxiety, stress and depression levels in a Mediterranean population. Twenty-four and 18 patients [n = 42; mean age 56.5 (7.7) years; similar men and women proportions] with high-normal BP or grade I hypertension were enrolled to an intervention and a control group, respectively. For 2 h/week over 8 weeks, the intervention group received mindfulness training and the control group attended health education talks. The patients attended pre-intervention, week 4, week 8 and week 20 follow-up visits. 61.9% of the patients had anxiety, 21.4% depression, 19.0% were smokers and 14.2% were diabetic (no significant differences between the 2 groups). At baseline, the intervention group had non-significant higher clinically measured BP values, whereas both groups had similar ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) values. At week 8, the intervention group had statistically significant lower ABPM scores than the control group (124/77 mmHg vs 126/80 mmHg (p < 0.05) and 108/65 mmHg vs 114/69 mmHg (p < 0.05) for 24-h and night-time systolic BP (SBP), respectively) and also had lower clinically measured SBP values (130 mmHg vs 133 mmHg; p = 0.02). At week 20 (follow-up), means were lower in the intervention group (although not statistically significant). Improvements were observed in the intervention group in terms of being less judgemental, more accepting and less depressed. In conclusion, by week 8 the mindfulness group had lower clinically measured SBP, 24-h SBP, at-rest SBP and diastolic BP values.