Mindfulness boosts heart health | MEDICUS 2023 Issue 4

Mindfulness boosts heart health

By Nicole Lim, Senior editor

Credit: iStock.com / FatCamera

Despite an abundance of heart health advice, rates of high blood pressure continue to climb around the world. This prompted the International Society of Hypertension to publish clear and actionable advice based on existing and emerging evidence. While existing lifestyle advice still stands, the panel of experts added meditation and stress-relieving activities as effective strategies for reducing blood pressure.

“We now have clear evidence of the biological pathways through which stress and anxiety contribute to elevated blood pressure. And we don’t only know this. We also have the evidence that interventions such as meditation, yoga and other stress-relieving activities lower blood pressure,” said Professor Tazeen H Jafar, a professor with the Duke-NUS Health Services and Systems Research Programme and the lead for the Society’s College of Experts which developed the recommendations.

“We want everyone to do to follow this advice. And if you can’t follow all the recommendations, just do what you can. It is not about doing every single thing. Do the most that you can.”
Prof Tazeen H Jafar

This update, which took two years to complete, could not be timelier, believes Jafar: “With the high levels of anxiety triggered by the pandemic, we have to remind people of the importance of meditation, of stress-relieving activities.”

Globally, four in ten people live with high blood pressure, while in Singapore the rates are even higher, hitting more than one in three people, according to the 2022 National Population Health Survey.

Spurred on by this, the expert group was keen to deliver a position statement that could help to educate and empower people from the individual to government level to actively make healthier choices.

“We needed to provide people a clear and understandable message,” said Jafar, who also chairs Global Health Partnerships at the Society. “So we synthesised all the evidence and turned it into specific and actionable guidance for anyone.”

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While their review confirmed that established advice—to quit smoking, avoid or limit alcohol, reduce salt and sugar intake, maintain a healthy weight and regular exercise—continues to hold, they further distilled it into specific, actionable steps. For exercise, these include recommended levels of aerobic exercise as well as weight training and muscle-tightening activities.

For stress relief, the expert group recommends at least 45 minutes of meditation or yoga practice per day, good sleep and listening to music. They also added limiting exposure to pollution to the list of steps people can take. This could include actions such as exercising away from busy roads and reducing the time spent outdoors during highly polluted periods.

But rather than treating these guidelines as an all-or-nothing, Jafar wants the Society’s advice to give “people hope”: “We want everyone to do to follow this advice. And if you can’t follow all the recommendations, just do what you can. It is not about doing every single thing. Do the most that you can.”

Mindfullness boosts heart health (pic 3)

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If five portions of fruit and vegetables are beyond a family’s means, or not part of the cultural diets, increasing their intake of these foods by one or two portions is still a win for Jafar.

“It is all about building habits, changing palates progressively so that making these choices will become easier,” she said. “And the earlier in life we can change these habits the better.”