Heart Failure Health Center

Meditation May Benefit Heart Patients

Stress Reduction Is Key

Although the researchers evaluated only TM, Jayadevappa says other types of meditation may also benefit heart patients, as long as the practice helps lower stress.

Florida cardiologist Gerald Fletcher, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, tells WebMD that other interventions designed to relieve stress may also help prevent and treat heart disease.

He points to a recent study from Greece suggesting that taking a daily nap can reduce the risk of death from heart disease.

"It is not easy to study the impact of stress reduction on the heart, so we don’t have the hard data to prove unequivocally that meditating or taking naps to relieve stress is beneficial," he says. "But it is certainly something that deserves a more thorough look."