冥想降低心血管疾病风险的作用

Effects of meditation on reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease

过去几十年,心血管疾病的防治取得了巨大进步,但其仍是全球致死以及致残的首要原因,对全球健康带来巨大负担。药物治疗一般都有副作用,且费用昂贵,因此寻找新型、廉价且有效的心血管疾病干预手段尤为重要。不健康的生活方式是罹患心血管疾病的危险因素,如不健康饮食、久坐、吸烟、酒精、高血压、糖尿病、血脂异常和心理压力等。迄今为止,诸多研究报到了冥想对身心健康的益处,提示其对心血管疾病潜在的积极作用。本研究从压力、高血压、吸烟、饮酒、动脉粥样硬化几大心血管疾病风险因子以及衰老信号端粒酶出发,综述了冥想对降低心血管疾病风险的作用。本研究局限于坐姿冥想训练,把瑜伽、气功和太极拳等身心练习排除在外,以减少物理疗法的联合效应对研究带来的混杂影响。纵观目前的冥想研究,尽管在样本数量、质量、方法学上还有所欠缺(如样本量较少,缺少随机对照,冥想周期短等),但仍提示冥想对缓解压力,降低血压,减少吸烟、饮酒,改善动脉粥样硬化,提高端粒酶活性方面有潜在益处。由于冥想易开展、成本低、风险小,冥想有可能作为心血管疾病辅助治疗的理想手段,但其在心血管疾病风险中的作用及其机制仍需进一步研究,以确立和证实其益处。

Despite the numerous advances in cardiovasular diseasec(CVD)prevention and control during the past decades,it remains the leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide,which is a huge burden for global health care.Because of the high cost and side effects of the drugs,it is necessary to find novel,cost-effective and efficient inventions for CVD prevention.Unhealthy lifestyles contribute as a risk factor,such as unhealthy diet,sedentary lifestyle,tobacco,alcohol,hypertension,diabetes,dyslipidemia and psychosocial stress.To date,numerous studies have reported the benefit of meditation on health.This review discussed the effect of meditation on cardiovascular risks,including stress,blood pressure,smoking,alcohol drinking and atherosclerosis,as well as the effect on telomere.This review limited to sitting meditation alone(yoga,Qigong,and tai chi were excluded)to reduce the confounding influence of the effects of physical therapies.Overall,meditation showed possible benefits on reduction of cardiovascular risks and improved telomerase activity,although limitations on sample size,quality and methodology are included in current studies.Given its accessibility,low-cost and low-risk,meditation might serve as an adjunct to treatment and prevention of CVD.Since the limitations of current studies,further researches are needed to be established to confirm the benefit of meditation on cardiovascular disease.