Mindfulness training can effectively reduce high BP

A new study published in Journal of the American Heart Association suggests that a mindfulness-based programme tailored for people with high blood pressure (BP) resulted in clinically significant reductions in systolic pressure when compared to improved standard care.

A major risk factor for cardiovascular disease is hypertension. Despite the availability of efficient pharmacological and lifestyle interventions, blood pressure regulation in the United States remains subpar. Training in mindfulness could be a fresh way to enhance blood pressure regulation. In order to compare the benefits of improved usual care control and mindfulness-based blood pressure reduction (MBBP) on unattended office systolic blood pressure, Eric Loucks and colleagues carried out this study.

A parallel-group phase 2 randomized clinical study that lasted from June 2017 to November 2020 was one of the methods used. Follow-up lasted for six months. Data analysts and outcome assessors were unaware of the groupings. Participants' unsupervised office blood pressure was high (120/80 mm Hg). We divided our 201 participants into two groups: improved usual care control (n=100) and MBBP (n=101). A mindfulness-based programme for high blood pressure is called MBBP. 17.4% of follow-ups were lost. The main result was a change in unattended office systolic blood pressure after six months.

The key findings of this study were:

There were 201 participants in all (58.7% of whom were women, 81.1% of whom were non-Hispanic White, and whose mean age was 59.5 years).

Results revealed that MBBP outperformed the control group by 4.5 mm Hg at 6 months (95% CI, 9.0 to 0.1 mm Hg) and was related with a 5.9 mm Hg decrease (95% CI, 9.1 to 2.8 mm Hg) in systolic BP from baseline.

Sedentary behavior (350.8 sitting minutes per week [95% CI, 636.5 to 65.1] sitting minutes per week), the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet (0.32 score [95% CI, 0.04 to 0.67]), and mindfulness (7.3 score [95% CI, 3.0-11.6]) were plausible pathways with evidence to be altered by MBBP vs control.

Reference: 

Loucks, E. B., Schuman‐Olivier, Z., Saadeh, F. B., Scarpaci, M. M., Nardi, W. R., Proulx, J. A., Gutman, R., King, J., Britton, W. B., & Kronish, I. M. (2023). Effect of Adapted Mindfulness Training in Participants With Elevated Office Blood Pressure: The MB‐BP Study: A Randomized Clinical Trial. In Journal of the American Heart Association. Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health). https://doi.org/10.1161/jaha.122.028712