Key result
Transcendental Meditation reduced diastolic BP (-1.18 mmHg; 95% CI -2.35 to -0.01; p=0.036) vs well-being resources, with no effect on other cardiometabolic outcomes.
Why the study?
Chronic stress contributes to cardiometabolic risk, but evidence remains inconsistent on whether stress-reduction interventions such as Transcendental Meditation improve stress-sensitive physiology and cardiometabolic health.
RCT (n=129)
Open-label
Two-arm randomized
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Randomized trial shows minimal diastolic blood pressure reduction with transcendental meditation in university staff, suggesting limited broad cardiometabolic benefit.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Chronic stress contributes to cardiometabolic risk, and stress-reduction interventions have been proposed to improve stress-sensitive physiology and cardiometabolic health, though evidence remains inconsistent. This study examined the effects of a Transcendental Meditation (TM) intervention on cardiometabolic health and upstream physiological outcomes. METHODS: This two-arm, open-label RCT compared TM (n = 65) with control (access to university well-being resource, n = 64) among Australian university staff. Secondary outcomes included blood pressure (BP), fasting glucose, HOMA insulin resistance (IR), lipids, C-reactive protein, salivary cortisol, heart rate variability (HRV), sympathetic arousal, and a post hoc composite cardiometabolic risk (CMR) score. Post hoc exploratory analyses tested whether burnout, sex and baseline metabolic risk moderated TM effects on HRV, total cholesterol, cortisol slope and IR. Primary analyses were intention-to-treat. RESULTS: TM was associated with a small diastolic BP reduction (-1.18 mmHg [95% CI: -2.35, -0.01], interaction p = 0.036), with a non-significant trend in the endpoint-only analysis (p = 0.064); no other outcomes differed between groups. Burnout moderated the HRV response (p = 0.02), favouring higher-burnout participants and sex moderated the cholesterol response (p = 0.011), with TM attenuating the control-group rise in females, with uncertainty on LDL and HDL. Interactions for cortisol slope (by sex) and HOMA-IR (by metabolic risk) were non-significant; stratified comparisons suggested numerically greater improvement in TM males and higher-risk participants, respectively. Given no multiplicity correction, all findings are hypothesis-generating only. CONCLUSION: TM was associated with small, non-robust diastolic BP reduction with no effect on other outcomes. Burnout may modify HRV response, but this finding requires confirmation in adequately powered trials. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTRN12625000134426.
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Khanal et al. (2026) conducted an RCT in Chronic stress and cardiometabolic risk (n=129). Transcendental Meditation vs. Access to university well-being resource was evaluated on Diastolic blood pressure (MD -1.18 mmHg, 95% CI -2.35 to -0.01, p=0.036). Transcendental Meditation reduced diastolic BP (-1.18 mmHg; 95% CI -2.35 to -0.01; p=0.036) vs well-being resources, with no effect on other cardiometabolic outcomes.
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