In the last 20 years or so, a large amount of scientific data has been gathered to demonstrate the beneficial effects of alternative therapies like yoga, breathing exercises, music therapy, meditation, etc.

With the advent of science and scientific technologies, several chronic disease conditions can now be monitored at subclinical level, giving new insight into the progression or regression of the disease.

The world’s premier centre of biomedical research, National Institutes of Health, USA, has established the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), which is leading research in this field. In India too, increased collaboration between modern medicine practitioners and our traditional wisdom in this field has enabled quality research in scientific journals.

In several clinical studies, MBSR has shown its utility in treating chronic conditions like lower back pain. Music therapy too has shown positive effects on attentiveness, sleep, adolescence-related issues, etc.

In this background, the recent article by American Heart Association entitled “Meditation and Cardiovascular Risk Reduction” is of special significance.

For the first time, this premier platform of physicians and scientists has recognised meditation as a potential tool in adjunct therapy for various cardiovascular disorders.

It also sheds light on some interesting data.

Meditation and Your Health

This article from the American Heart Association is confined to meditation only (and not other complementary therapies like yoga, music therapy, etc). It has reviewed several clinical studies reporting the use of eight types of meditation practices from Hindu-Buddhist traditions. It recognises Rajyoga – an ancient Hindu practice propagated in the West, initially by Swami Vivekananda, and then by Paramhans Yogananda. It also takes into account Zen meditation and Vipassana, giving a comprehensive picture of the impact of these practices.

The article is a compilation of studies to show the effect of meditation on diverse conditions like high blood pressure, blockade in blood circulation (ischemia), metabolic diseases like insulin resistance (a stage in diabetes where the body becomes less responsive to insulin), psychological stress, smoking habits, etc.

Neurophysiological and neuroanatomical studies demonstrated that meditation could have long‐term effects on the brain, which provides some biological plausibility for beneficial consequences for the physiological basal state and for cardiovascular risk.

The article further elaborated the positive effect meditation can have on various diseases and conditions.

• Electroencephalography (EEG) studies show that a mindfulness meditation program resulted in increased left‐sided anterior brain electrical activation, a pattern associated with positive affect and emotion.
• Further MRI imaging show that those who meditate a significant amount have more grey matter in their brain as compared to controls, particularly in regions associated with learning and memory.
• Studies have also reported that meditation is associated with improved psychological and psychosocial indices.
• Similarly, several studies have shown the lowering of blood pressure after meditation.
• In long-term studies, meditation has been shown to result in a regression in the thickening of arteries.
• A combination of diet and meditation has been shown to improve exercise tolerance in patients with ischemic heart disease.

So How Reliable are These Studies?

By and large, all these studies indicate that one or the other form of meditation does have a positive impact on a number of conditions. While these findings will bring cheer to proponents of these techniques (and rightly so), the authors of this article have been careful in interpreting the results. They conclude that there are "possible but not definitively established" benefits.

This cautious approach is for several reasons:

First and foremost, the sample size in most of these studies is relatively small, making it difficult to reach any firm conclusions.

Second, many of these studies are not “blinded”, which means the people who document these studies know who is employing these techniques (in this case, meditation) and who is not, leaving room for biases to creep in.

Sensitive technologies like MRI and PET scans have not been utilised in interpreting actual effect.

This is not putting a question mark on the positive effects of meditation. It only says that more studies/clinical trials are required in accordance with strict scientific criteria and using modern diagnostic technologies to further substantiate these findings. The authors have even suggested what kind of clinical trials should be conducted to support this data.

Here Lies the Dilemma

While modern science demands the same methodology be deployed on a large sample size in a blinded manner to prove the beneficial or the adverse effect of any tool, the proponents of yoga, meditation, etc argue that these are highly “personalised” techniques and need customisation for every case, and therefore, deploying the same tool en masse may not be the best idea.

For example, two years back, using a genetic tool of “Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP)”, a collaborative effort by molecular biologists and Ayurvedic practitioners in India have shown that there is direct correlation between minute-level variation in a gene with “pitta” prakriti as per Charak Samhita.

What's the Larger Message?

We should be happy and proud that our conventional wisdom is now being recognised globally, and that too using rigorous scientific criteria. There are several indicators pointing towards the same overall message – meditation is beneficial in chronic diseases associated with the heart. There is a need to further substantiate these indicators using modern diagnostic tools, by designing appropriate clinical trials with large sample sizes, and evaluating results in an unbiased manner so as to strengthen these findings.

Also, we should avoid the tendency to exaggerate the benefits of these techniques. For example, there is no need to claim that yoga or meditation can cure cancer. At the same time, it’s equally true that these techniques can give significant benefits to cancer patients, in terms of pain relief, reduction in side effects of treatment (such as chemotherapy), and also enhancing their willpower to fight the disease. These benefits themselves can be of great help to cancer patients.

Last, and most importantly, the point is that rather than working in silos, Indian scientists, practitioners of modern medicines, and experts of our traditional knowledge need to address the issue of disease prevention and cure in an integrated and collaborative manner to improve outcomes of disease treatment in efficient and cost-effective manner.

(Dr Vijay Chauthaiwale is the former Vice President, R&D, of Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Ahmedabad and currently IN-Charge of Foreign Affairs Dept, Bharatiya Janata Party)