Hannah Jung
Elphinstone Secondary, Gibsons, BC, Canada
June, 2016
Supervisor: Glen MacPherson, PhD.
Abstract
The effects of meditation on blood pressure and heart rate were studied. The participants were 17 students (four females and 13 males) selected from a Psychology class at a mid-sized high school in the Lower Mainland of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Heart rate and blood pressure were measured and a questionnaire was filled out before and after various types of meditation (guided audio tape, mantra repetition, and observation of breath and thoughts) and an anti-meditation (a control group where participants actively concentrated on thoughts and worries). It was found that meditation had a beneficial effect on reported levels of stress, anger, nervousness, happiness, calmness, anxiety, headache, and tiredness, and also decreased heart rate. The anti-meditation control group increased the heart rate and blood pressure in half of the participants.
Background
The term “meditation” is a general reference to the ancient mind and body practice that originated from the Eastern religions thousands of years ago. The exact history and origin is unclear because all religions appear to have some sort of form of meditation (including Christianity and Judaism) and it seems to have evolved differently in every culture. There are many different methods of meditation, but they all seem to have four things in common: a quiet setting with few distractions, a comfortable posture (sitting, lying down, walking, standing), a focus of attention (a word or mantra, an object, or the sensations of the breath), and an open mindset (observing thoughts without judging or clinging to them). Meditation has been found to have positive impacts on stress and anxiety because the person becomes more mindful and finds the root of their worried thoughts so they are able to let these thoughts go and think clearer and relax. Numerous studies show that meditation can decrease heart rate, slow respiration rate, lower blood pressure, and decrease the level of stress hormones in the body. This study aims to conduct a study on the impact of meditation on the body with the help of participants at a mid-sized high school in the Lower Mainland of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Review of Related Research
Sumter, Monk-Turner, and Turner (2001) studied the benefits of meditation practice in the correctional setting. The mediation program was conducted for two and a half hours per week for seven weeks with female detainees who volunteered to participate at Tidewater Detention Center in Virginia. The detainees were split into two groups. Seventeen participants were in the experimental group which was led by two facilitators who were knowledgeable and experienced in meditation. The main focus of the meditation was proper posture, focusing on the breath, and the ability to let go of thoughts and simply observe to understand them. Additionally, other meditation practices such as mantra repetition, walking meditation, and moving meditation (simple yoga) were offered as well. Sixteen other participants were put into a control group where they went about their regular activities at the same time the experimental group meditated. Their activities typically involved exercise, reading, or being outside in the yard. Their results were very positive. They also found that 54.5% of all of the participants (10 in the experimental group and 8 in the controlled group) did not like the silence of the detention centre before the experiment. Afterwards, 60.6% of all the participants (13 in the experimental and 7 in the control group) indicated that they liked the silence. There was a decrease in their negative physical symptoms. The participants in the experimental group had a significant decrease in sleeping difficulties, wanting to throw things or hit people, nail and cuticle biting, and feelings of guilt or hopelessness. Symptoms for those in the control group appeared to worsen over the time period. It could well be that this says more about prison life than it does about refraining from meditating.
Ditto, Eclache, and Goldman (2006) examined the short-term autonomic and cardiovascular effects of mindfulness meditation training. They conducted two studies; in the first, 32 young adult were separated into groups that either practiced meditation (a guided body scan meditation using audio tape), had progressive muscle relaxation (audio tape guide of tensing and relaxing of different muscles), or a wait-list control group (just sitting quietly during the sessions). In the second study, 30 young adults either practiced a guided meditation , or listened to an audio tape of a novel. This was done twice, four weeks apart. The participants had been divided into two groups (fifteen in each) and the two groups did each practice in opposite order of each other. The heart rate, cardiac RSA (Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia – the variation of heart rate while breathing), and blood pressure were measured in both studies. They found that in both studies participants had much greater increases in RSA while meditating than in the other activities. Women in the second study had a greater decrease in diastolic blood pressure (arterial pressure during relaxation ventricles of the heart) during meditation, while men had a greater increase in cardiac output (volume of blood pumped by heart) during meditation. Their results concluded that there were both similarities and differences in response to meditation and other relaxation methods.
Boswell and Murray (1979) conducted a study on the effects of meditation on psychological and physiological measures of anxiety. They separated 80 undergraduate students into four treatment groups: mantra meditation (subjects sat quietly, avoided anxious thoughts, and repeated the hindu mantra “shantih”- meaning peace in sanskrit), an anti-meditation control (subjects actively walked around and concentrated on their anxious thoughts), a progressive relaxation control, or a no treatment control. After having some basic training of their assigned meditations, the participants practiced for two weeks at home. The participants then returned for an outcome session of state-trait anxiety self reports of their experiences while practicing at home; galvanic skin response; and measures of heart rate of autonomic responding at rest, after practicing meditation (in the laboratory), and after a stress situation. Their results came out negative and overall failed to support the hypothesis that meditation is an effective method to treat anxiety.
Overall, these three studies had a spectrum of results but nevertheless suggest that meditation does have a positive impact on the body. Meditation can reduce negative physical symptoms such as sleeping problems or cuticle/nail biting, and negative emotional problems such as feelings of guilt, hopelessness, or anger. The practice of meditation can also increase RSA, decrease diastolic pressure, and increase cardiac output. However, there is no evidence that it can be used effectively to treat anxiety.
Methods
The participants were students at the high school and were selected from a teacher’s Psychology class. Seventeen participants were divided into two groups. The first group was experimental and contained nine participants, which was divided into three sub-groups (each containing three participants), each practicing a different method of meditation in a comfortable seated position for 15 minutes with their eyes closed in an empty classroom. One group listened to an audio clip of a guided meditation (https://youtu.be/X7iBnp8T6nY), the second repeated a mantra (“so hum” – a yoga mantra meaning “I am that” in sanskrit), and the third simply concentrated on the breath and observed their thoughts. The non-meditation control group contained eight participants who were allowed to move as they pleased and concentrated on their thoughts and worries in an empty classroom (separate from the classroom the experimental group was in). I measured all of the participants’ heart rates and blood pressures (using a unit made for personal use) before the experiment began and directly after. I also created two Google forms (exactly the same) that participants completed right before and after the study. Participants reported any negative physical symptoms they had from a list (headache, back pain, body pain/ache, anxiety, tiredness), and ranked their emotions from 1 to 5 (5 being the highest) on nervousness, stress, anger, sadness, happiness/contentedness, and calmness. The form shown below was filled out directly before, and an identical one was filled out after as well.
Data
Before meditation:
After meditation:
Heart Rate and Blood Pressure Before and After:
Discussion
There was no significant change in the control group of reported physical or emotional symptoms, except for a few reports of anxiety, tiredness, and headache afterwards. In the guided meditation group, there were no significant changes in physical measures, except for one participant who reported feeling anxiety afterwards. There were, however, positive changes noted on reported measures of stress, anger, happiness, and calmness afterwards. Before the meditation, the mantra meditation group had one report of headache and tiredness, and two reports of anxiety. After the meditation, the mantra group reported no negative physical symptoms, and either had no change in emotional symptoms or improved levels of nervousness, stress, and happiness. The observational meditation group had reduction in headache and anxiety physically, and in nervousness and stress levels afterwards. Four males and one female in the control group had increases in blood pressure and heart rate after the experiment. All participants in the guided meditation group had slight increases in blood pressure, but all had decreased heart rate. The participants in the mantra meditation were all males and two had an increase in blood pressure and heart rate. There were two males and one female in the observation meditation and they all had a decrease in blood pressure, but one male and female had an increase in heart rate and the other male had no change. If I had the chance to make some changes, I would have more people to help with measuring blood pressure and heart rate so I could measure each participant immediately after their meditation. A further experiment to expand on my study would be to determine the effects of long term meditation with people suffering from anxiety.
Conclusion
I aimed to study whether meditation had an effect on blood pressure, heart rate, and reported levels of stress, anger, nervousness, sadness, happiness, and calmness. The results were mixed, but there appeared to be an overall beneficial effect. It was found that guided meditation lowered reported levels of stress and anger, increased reported levels of happiness and calmness, and decreased heart rate. Blood pressure increased, however, in those three participants. Mantra meditation reduced reported levels of anxiety, headache, and tiredness, but increased heart rate and blood pressure. Observational meditation reduced headache, anxiety, reported levels of nervousness and stress, and blood pressure. The anti-meditation control group increased the of heart rate and blood pressure in half of the participants.
References
Boswell, P. C., & Murray, E. J. (1979). Effects of meditation on psychological and physiological measures of anxiety. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47(3), 606-607.
Ditto, B., Eclache, M., & Goldman, N. (2006). Short-term autonomic and cardiovascular effects of mindfulness body scan meditation. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 32(3), 227-234.
Sumter, M. T., Monk-Turner, E., & Turner, C. (2001). The benefits of meditation practice in the correctional setting. Journal of Correctional Health Care, 15(1), 47-57.