Cardiovascular diseases (CVD), particularly heart disease and stroke, are major causes of mortality, worldwide. Despite diet, exercise and many other heart healthy habits, mental health is just as important. Research has emerged showing that meditation can be a pretty powerful way to improve cardiovascular health, and decrease your risk of heart disease.

A meditation practice, centuries old, is being used now for its scientifically proven benefits: stress relief, improved heart rate variability and lower blood pressure among other things. In this article, we’ll explore the connection between meditation and cardiovascular health and how this practice can help mitigate the risks of heart disease.

Stress and Cardiovascular Health: Link Between the Two

Heart disease is a major risk factor due to stress. Hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline are released when you are in chronic stress, which stimulate the heart to beat faster and send the blood pressure through the roof and also cause inflammation in the blood vessels. These effects eventually can have an effect on the heart such as cardiovascular conditions including hypertension, atherosclerosis, etc.

Meditation’s Role in Stress Management:

• Meditation awakens the parasympathetic nervous system and brings relaxation, finding out in this way that stress hormone levels decrease.
• Chronic stress takes its physical toll, but regular practice reduces heart rate and blood pressure.
• In particular, mindfulness meditation teaches you to become aware of thoughts and emotions, and helps you to better cope with stress.

Reducing Blood Pressure Naturally

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke. Meditation is a simple, drug free way to lower blood pressure.

How Meditation Helps:

• Relaxation Response: Meditation is a deep relaxation which stimulates dilated blood vessels and increased blood flow.
• Improved Heart Rate Variability (HRV): Meditation enhanced HRV shows improved autonomic nervous system regulation, making healthy blood pressure vital.
• Focus on Breathing: Deep breathing meditation, for example, can oxygenate you and calm your nervous system, which lowers your blood pressure.

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Improvements

Heart Rate Variability is the time between heartbeats, a marker of your cardiovascular health. A higher HRV means that the heart adapts to stress and environmental changes well, while a lower HRV is associated with a higher chance of getting heart disease.

Meditation and HRV:

Much like mindfulness practices, HRV can be balanced by balancing the sympathetic (fight or flight) and the parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous systems.

Meditation practice teaches the body how to react less intensely to stressors, keeping the heart from working harder.

Reducing Inflammation

Atherosclerosis is one of many cardiovascular conditions that are driven by inflammation. Inflammation can be caused by stress, poor diet, an unhealthy lifestyle, etc..

Meditation’s Anti-Inflammatory Benefits:

It’s also been found to be linked with lower levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a measure of inflammation in our blood.

Meditation prevents a downward spiral of inflammatory responses resultant from chronic cortisol release.

Healthy Lifestyle Choice promotion

Meditation’s indirect (but profound) benefit is its contribution to healthier lifestyle habits that are important for heart health.

Lifestyle Changes Facilitated by Meditation:

Weight Management: When stress and emotional eating are reduced, weight control becomes easier, and easier prevention of heart disease.

Improved Sleep: When you meditate you sleep better and the body is able to repair and maintain healthy heart function.

Increased Physical Activity: One reason that many meditating folks claim to feel more energized and motivated to exercise regularly is that they enjoy it quite a bit.

Supporting Scientific Studies of Meditation for Heart Health

Several studies underline the cardiovascular benefits of meditation:

• A 2012 study published in Circulation: The journal Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes reported in an article published in January this year that transcendental meditation significantly lowered systolic and diastolic blood pressure among people with hypertension.
• Scientific research from the American Heart Association shows meditation serves as a valuable extra over traditional heart health fare like diet and exercise.
• In 2019, a study in JAMA Internal Medicine found that mindfulness meditation lowered the risk of heart attack for those who already had underlying heart issues.

Cardiovascular Health Meditation Techniques

The benefits of different meditation techniques for heart health are different. Here are some effective methods:

Mindfulness Meditation:

Pay attention to things and understand thoughts and emotions in absence of being judgmental. Reduces stress and improves HRV this is a great technique

Loving-Kindness Meditation:

The key is to develop positive feelings of compassion which in turn reduces the stress and facilitates well being.

Guided Meditation:

Use audio or video guides to visualize calming scenarios that help to lower blood pressure and calm the heart.

Deep Breathing Exercises:

Breathing slowly, deeply includes three benefits: improvement in oxygenation, lowering of blood pressure and calming of the nervous system.

Body Scan Meditation:

Throughout, progressively focus on different body parts to release tension, and improve circulation.

Meditation in Daily Life.

Adopting a consistent meditation practice is easier than you might think:

Start Small: Begin with 5 – 10 minutes a day and grow it from there.

Create a Routine: Just like any habit, experiment with meditating the same amount of time, daily, in the morning, or before bed.

Use Technology: There are apps like Calm or Headspace who have created guided sessions dedicated for heart health.

Find a Quiet Space: Set up a meditation place for you in a quiet area of your room.

Conclusion

And a powerful yet underused tool to improve cardiovascular health — meditation. All this is a kind of holistic approach to prevention of the disease, reducing stress, lower blood pressure and promote various healthy habits. Meditation is gaining more and more credibility as scientific research continues to validate its benefits, and more and more see it as one important part of heart healthy living.

Planning to meditate daily to manage hypertension or improve heart rate variability or to remove stress from your life can help positively influence your overall well-being. Let’s start today and begin to lead to a healthier heart … and a more peaceful mind.