A relaxation technique beloved by 1960s hippies can have a beneficial effect on heart disease and stress, a study has shown.
Transcendental meditation techniques that were all the rage during the Summer of Love can halve the rate of heart attacks and strokes in patients with cardiovascular disease.
A new study shows that meditating can reduce the risk of having a heart attack
The relaxation therapy - whose advocates include former Beatles as well as film directors Clint Eastwood and David Lynch - also dramatically cut premature deaths in a nine-year study.
The study involved 201 African-American men and women with an average age of 59 who suffered from narrowing of arteries in their hearts.
They were randomly assigned to either practise transcendental meditation or take health education classes providing dietary and exercise advice.
Those in the first group were asked to spend at least 20 minutes twice a day meditating while sitting with their eyes closed.
Heart attacks, strokes,and deaths fell by 47 per cent in the meditation group.
Dr Robert Schneider, of the Maharishi University of Management in Iowa, said: 'This is the first controlled clinical trial to show that long-term practice of this particular stress reduction programme reduces the incidence of clinical cardiovascular events, that is heart attacks, strokes and mortality.'
