Meditation, Longer Life Linked in Study

Elderly people who learned Transcendental Meditation were more likely than their peers to still be living three years later, according to what experts call the first study to directly link meditation to longer life.

Transcendental Meditation proved more effective than two other techniques for longevity, lowering blood pressure and improving on several measures of mental functioning, researchers said.

The study results are “rather dramatic. . . . I think it’s very impressive,” said psychologist Arthur Aron of UC Santa Cruz.

Two other psychologists who study meditation said they suspect the outcome was related to factors other than Transcendental Meditation itself. They also suggested that other techniques might do as well or better.

The Harvard University study was presented in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology published by the American Psychological Assn.

The study included 73 volunteers, with an average age of 81, from eight homes for the elderly. They were assigned randomly to learn Transcendental Meditation, another technique called mindfulness training, a simple relaxation program, or no training at all.

Three years later, the 20 taught Transcendental Meditation were still alive. Survival rates in the other groups were 88%, 65% and 77%, respectively.

Transcendental Meditation, or TM, induces a “a distinctively deep state of rest” while the mind is alert but “in a very settled, quiet state,” said co-author Charles Alexander, now an associate professor of psychology at Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa.

Students there practice TM as part of the curriculum, Alexander said.

The “mindfulness training” in the study was not the Buddhist technique of the same name. Instead, it was designed to stimulate creation of ideas or new perspectives through a verbal exercise and a challenge to think about topics in new and creative ways.

Each technique was practiced during the 12-week experiment for 20 minutes twice daily with the eyes closed.

Alexander attributed the findings to TM’s combination of high wakefulness, which he said combats atrophy of the mind and the body, and deep restfulness, which he said releases stress from the nervous system and leads to reduced “wear and tear” on mind and body.

He said the study suggests TM should be combined with standard Western medicine, not replace it.

Some other meditation researchers suggested different explanations for the outcome.

For example, Michael Maliszewski, director of behavioral medicine at the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago, said TM instructors may have differed from the instructors of the other techniques in terms of motivation or other factors that could have given their teachings more impact. The TM group had fewer dropouts than the other groups, he noted.

He also said he suspected that Chinese Taoist meditative techniques, which he said were designed to increase longevity, might do better than TM did. Taoism has not been studied experimentally so far, he said.

Alexander replied that a survey covering most dropouts found their decision had nothing to do with the quality of the instructors. He also said other studies have found TM superior to alternative techniques in improving aspects of physical and mental health, even though the commitment of the instructors of other techniques was presumably as high as that of the TM instructors.