PROVIDENCE, R.I. \u2014\u00a0<\/strong>High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a major contributor to the nearly 18 million lives lost each year to heart disease. While certain lifestyle changes like a healthy diet, consistent exercise, and weight loss have been proven to help lower blood pressure, maintaining those changes is often easier said than done. That\u2019s why researchers from Brown University say mindfulness training, the technique of clearing one\u2019s mind and\u00a0focusing on the present\u00a0moment, can be beneficial for blood pressure patients by improving attention control, emotion regulation, and self-awareness of daily habits.<\/p>\n\u201cWe know enough about hypertension that we can theoretically control it in everybody \u2014 yet in about half of all people diagnosed, it is still out of control,\u201d says lead author Eric Loucks, an associate professor of epidemiology, behavioral and social sciences, and medicine, in a\u00a0release.\u00a0\u201cMindfulness may represent another approach to helping these people bring their blood pressure down, by allowing them to understand what\u2019s happening in their minds and bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loucks and his team developed a custom nine-week Mindfulness-Based Blood Pressure Reduction (MB-BP) program for 43 people\u00a0dealing with\u00a0high blood pressure. After the end of the program, the research team followed up with each participant one year later. The program was intended to help the participants pay better attention to their daily thoughts, actions, emotions, and habits, with the idea being they would be better equipped to cut down on blood pressure risk factors. All in all, the study\u2019s authors say their results indicate the program was a success.<\/p>\n
After the mindfulness training, participants showed significantly improved self-regulation tendencies, and as a consequence,\u00a0significantly lower\u00a0blood pressure readings. Study subjects who had previously been struggling to control their alcohol and salt consumption, and maintain\u00a0a regular exercise schedule,\u00a0showed improvements in those areas as well. Even a full year later, the benefits of the program were still apparent, especially for participants who were originally dealing with stage 2 uncontrolled hypertension (blood pressure equal to or greater than 140 mmHg). Among that group, subjects saw a mean 15.1-mmHg drop in blood pressure.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important to note, however, that this type of training is intended to be combined with other blood pressure control methods, such as prescribed anti-hypertensive medications, and more traditional education intended to inform patients on what lifestyle changes they must make.<\/p>\n
\u201cFuture trials could involve a dismantling study, where we would take out some of the health education, for example, and see if mindfulness training still had significant effects,\u201d Loucks explains. \u201cThat\u2019s certainly something we\u2019re looking at doing in the long term. But mindfulness training is usually designed to be integrated with standard medical care.\u201d<\/p>\n
A followup study involving over 200 people is already happening right now. Additionally, the research team believe their MB-BP training program can also work as an effective preventative tool against high blood pressure before it even presents itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that these projects will lead to a paradigm shift in terms of the treatment options for people with high blood pressure,\u201d Loucks concludes.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0study\u00a0is published in the scientific journal\u00a0PLOS One.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[140,298,521,222],"class_list":["post-3284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heart-care","tag-healthy","tag-high-blood-pressure","tag-hypertension","tag-researchers"],"yoast_head":"\nStudy: Can\u2019t Shake High Blood Pressure? Mindfulness Training May Be The Answer - MyMedicPlus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Study: Can\u2019t Shake High Blood Pressure? Mindfulness Training May Be The Answer - MyMedicPlus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MyMedicPlus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-06T06:45:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-30T19:09:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/7-4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"281\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"179\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mymedicplus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mymedicplus\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"mymedicplus\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/064cee11e5bd38b19d197d3f9491488f\"},\"headline\":\"Study: Can\u2019t Shake High Blood Pressure? Mindfulness Training May Be The Answer\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-06T06:45:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-30T19:09:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/\"},\"wordCount\":533,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/7-4.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"healthy\",\"high blood pressure\",\"hypertension\",\"Researchers\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Heart Care\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/\",\"name\":\"Study: Can\u2019t Shake High Blood Pressure? Mindfulness Training May Be The Answer - MyMedicPlus\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/7-4.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-06T06:45:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-30T19:09:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/064cee11e5bd38b19d197d3f9491488f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/7-4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/7-4.jpg\",\"width\":281,\"height\":179},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Study: Can\u2019t Shake High Blood Pressure? Mindfulness Training May Be The Answer\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"MyMedicPlus\",\"description\":\"One Blog Daily For Health And Fitness\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/064cee11e5bd38b19d197d3f9491488f\",\"name\":\"mymedicplus\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47c4b479693017661bd50b83eee2fef50fdbfdcf398ed4b8f69e9f841bd98fc2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47c4b479693017661bd50b83eee2fef50fdbfdcf398ed4b8f69e9f841bd98fc2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"mymedicplus\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/author\/mymedicplus\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Study: Can\u2019t Shake High Blood Pressure? Mindfulness Training May Be The Answer - MyMedicPlus","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Study: Can\u2019t Shake High Blood Pressure? Mindfulness Training May Be The Answer - MyMedicPlus","og_url":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/","og_site_name":"MyMedicPlus","article_published_time":"2019-12-06T06:45:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-03-30T19:09:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":281,"height":179,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/7-4.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"mymedicplus","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"mymedicplus","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/"},"author":{"name":"mymedicplus","@id":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/064cee11e5bd38b19d197d3f9491488f"},"headline":"Study: Can\u2019t Shake High Blood Pressure? Mindfulness Training May Be The Answer","datePublished":"2019-12-06T06:45:52+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-30T19:09:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/"},"wordCount":533,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/7-4.jpg","keywords":["healthy","high blood pressure","hypertension","Researchers"],"articleSection":["Heart Care"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/","name":"Study: Can\u2019t Shake High Blood Pressure? Mindfulness Training May Be The Answer - MyMedicPlus","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/7-4.jpg","datePublished":"2019-12-06T06:45:52+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-30T19:09:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/064cee11e5bd38b19d197d3f9491488f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/7-4.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/7-4.jpg","width":281,"height":179},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/study-cant-shake-high-blood-pressure-mindfulness-training-may-be-the-answer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Study: Can\u2019t Shake High Blood Pressure? Mindfulness Training May Be The Answer"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/","name":"MyMedicPlus","description":"One Blog Daily For Health And Fitness","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/064cee11e5bd38b19d197d3f9491488f","name":"mymedicplus","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47c4b479693017661bd50b83eee2fef50fdbfdcf398ed4b8f69e9f841bd98fc2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47c4b479693017661bd50b83eee2fef50fdbfdcf398ed4b8f69e9f841bd98fc2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"mymedicplus"},"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/author\/mymedicplus\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3286,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3284\/revisions\/3286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedicplus.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}