Skip to main content
NCBI home page
The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners logoLink to The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
. 1977 Jul;27(180):401–405.

Coronary risk factor reduction through biofeedback-aided relaxation and meditation

Chandra Patel, M Carruthers
PMCID: PMC2158147  PMID: 330850

Abstract

The effects of behaviour modification through education and biofeedback-aided relaxation and meditation on the levels of blood pressure, pulse rate, smoking habits as well as serum cholesterol, triglycerides, and free fatty acids were studied in 18 normotensive, 18 smoking, and 22 hypertensive patients with 18 normotensive controls.

The results showed significant reduction in blood pressure, in all the treated groups; highly significant reduction in the number of cigarettes smoked by smokers; and reduction in some of the lipids in all the treated groups, but particularly in the hypertensive group. The therapy appears to be feasible and suitable for wider application. This approach is economical, acceptable to patients, and should be explored further.

Full text

PDF
401

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Armstrong A., Duncan B., Oliver M. F., Julian D. G., Donald K. W., Fulton M., Lutz W., Morrison S. L. Natural history of acute coronary heart attacks. A community study. Br Heart J. 1972 Jan;34(1):67–80. doi: 10.1136/hrt.34.1.67. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Carruthers M., Young D. A. Free fatty acid estimation by a semi-automated fluorimetric method. Clin Chim Acta. 1973 Dec 27;49(3):341–348. doi: 10.1016/0009-8981(73)90231-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. DREYFUSS F., CZACZKES J. W. Blood cholesterol and uric acid of healthy medical students under the stress of an examination. AMA Arch Intern Med. 1959 May;103(5):708–711. doi: 10.1001/archinte.1959.00270050030006. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. FRIDEMAN M., ROSENMAN R. H., CARROLL V. Changes in the serum cholesterol and blood clotting time in men subjected to cyclic variation of occupational stress. Circulation. 1958 May;17(5):852–861. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.17.5.852. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Patel C. H. Yoga and bio-feedback in the management of hypertension. Lancet. 1973 Nov 10;2(7837):1053–1055. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(73)92660-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Patel C. 12-month follow-up of yoga and bio-feedback in the management of hypertension. Lancet. 1975 Jan 11;1(7898):62–64. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(75)91070-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Patel C., North W. R. Randomised controlled trial of yoga and bio-feedback in management of hypertension. Lancet. 1975 Jul 19;2(7925):93–95. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(75)90002-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Patel C. Reduction of serum cholesterol and blood pressure in hypertensive patients by behaviour modification. J R Coll Gen Pract. 1976 Mar;26(164):211–215. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Russek H. I. Role of emotional stress in the etiology of clinical coronary heart disease. Dis Chest. 1967 Jul;52(1):1–9. doi: 10.1378/chest.52.1.1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Schwartz J. L. A critical review and evaluation of smoking control methods. Public Health Rep. 1969 Jun;84(6):483–506. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. THOMAS C. B., MURPHY E. A. The circulatory response to smoking; the variation in ballistocardiographic smoking tests in healthy young men. J Chronic Dis. 1958 Aug;8(2):202–229. doi: 10.1016/0021-9681(58)90192-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Taggart P., Carruthers M. Endogenous hyperlipidaemia induced by emotional stress of racing driving. Lancet. 1971 Feb 20;1(7695):363–366. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(71)92207-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Taggart P., Carruthers M., Somerville W. Electrocardiogram, plasma catecholamines and lipids, and their modification by oxyprenolol when speaking before an audience. Lancet. 1973 Aug 18;2(7825):341–346. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(73)93190-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. WOLF S., PFEIFFER J. B. Hypertension as a reaction pattern to stress; summary of experimental data on variations in blood pressure and renal blood flow. Ann Intern Med. 1948 Dec;29(6):1056–1076. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-29-6-1056. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Wright B. M., Dore C. F. A random-zero sphygmomanometer. Lancet. 1970 Feb 14;1(7642):337–338. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(70)90709-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners are provided here courtesy of Royal College of General Practitioners

RESOURCES