Why Meditation Is One Of The Most Important Things You Can Do For Heart Health: A Doctor Explains

Despite medical advances, heart disease remains the number one cause of death for both men and women in the United States.

This is a startling reality, especially given how preventable the condition is for those of us who are not genetically predisposed to it. Stress, along with smoking, sedentary habits, and a poor diet are some of the main lifestyle-related risk factors that increase one’s chance of developing the condition.

February is National Heart Disease Awareness Month. So what better time than now to take a hard look at your lifestyle choices?

Whether it’s related to work, health, money, relationships, or some other life situation, stress eventually finds its way into all our lives.

Thankfully, our bodies are well-equipped to handle stressful situations thanks to the autonomic nervous system, which is dedicated to regulating the often subconscious processes, such as increased heart rate and shallow breathing, that kick in when stress or anxiety is present.

The stress-reaction process is truly an amazing and efficient one: when the body is under stress, the amygdala in the brain fires up and sends an alert that there's a stressor. Then the sympathetic nervous system is activated and prepares the body to “fight or take flight.” The adrenals go to work, supplying the body with cortisol and adrenaline, completing the trifecta of the stress-response process.

When the stressor is gone, cortisol and adrenaline levels typically subside, and stability is restored to the body. However, when the stress-reaction process is repeated multiple times over a relatively short period, stress becomes chronic and the system breaks down.

In recent years, meditation for stress relief has become more widely accepted as a complementary treatment to conventional medicine.

As research continues to affirm its positive psychological and physiological effects on the body, the attitude of “it can’t hurt” has slowly shifted to “it can help.” According to a 2012 National Institutes of Health survey, meditation is the third most used mind-body therapy (next to yoga and osteopathic manipulation), with more than 18 million people in the U.S. engaging in some type of practice.

Inflammation plays a major role in heart disease. Chronic inflammation is involved in all stages of atherosclerosis, the process that leads to cholesterol-clogged arteries. Research shows that practicing a mind-body therapy such as meditation, along with dietary and exercise programs, can help reduce underlying inflammatory processes.

The bottom line: Meditation is a practice that can be done anywhere at any time, alone in the privacy of your own home, or in the company of others.

As with many things in life, getting started is the hardest step. Private consultations with a trained practitioner can be a wonderful way to take that first step or to enhance an existing practice.

In the battle against stress and even heart disease, there is a lot you can do! By being proactive now, you can bring about changes that can make a significant difference in how you feel, both physically and emotionally, in the very near future.