A recent American study, conducted on college students from universities in and around Washington, has revealed that Transcendental meditation helps in cutting stress levels and also lowers the risk of high blood pressure. In young adults, psychological distress is the major reason for hypertension, and the study's findings have given scientists and experts a drug free and easy way of combating this problem.

For the sake of research, 298 healthy college students, with or without high blood pressure, were studied and analyzed. 40% of the students were males, and just under the age of 26. The subjects were divided into two groups - one assigned to transcendental meditation training and another to a training wait list.

Three months down the line, 207 students were still participating in the study, and researchers found that those in the meditation group had slightly reduced blood pressure levels. The other group, in contrast, had a slight hike in the average BP levels. Overall mood swings, anxiety, depression and anger were also better controlled in the meditating group. The noted reduction in blood pressure levels led to greatly reduced psychological distress and better coping skills.

The results of the study were recently presented at the American Heart Association's annual meeting in Orlando.

(Via TopNews United Kingdom. Contributed by Rasik Sharma)