EDMONTON, Alberta, July 2 (UPI) -- The therapeutic value of meditation is inconclusive because many existing studies are of poor methodological quality, says a Canadian study.
"There is an enormous amount of interest in using meditation as a form of therapy to cope with a variety of modern-day health problems, especially hypertension, stress and chronic pain, but the majority of evidence that seems to support this notion is anecdotal, or it comes from poor quality studies," Maria Ospina and Kenneth Bond, of the University of Alberta/Capital Health Evidence-based Practice Center in Edmonton, said in a statement.
Ospina, Bond and their fellow researchers analyzed 813 studies on the impact of meditation on conditions such as hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and substance abuse.
The review found some evidence that certain types of meditation reduce blood pressure and stress in clinical populations and healthy individuals; yoga seemed to increase verbal creativity and reduce heart rate, blood pressure and cholesterol. However, no firm conclusions on the effects of meditation practices in healthcare can be drawn based on the available evidence, the researchers concluded.
