The overall goal of this 2 year proposal is to gather preliminary data evaluating the effectiveness of Vipassana Meditation Training on reducing blood pressure in mild hypertensives. If successful, this data will then be used for submission of an R01 further examining these effects. Essential hypertension affects approximately 50 million Americans and puts them at increased risk for morbidity and mortality. Behavioral treatments aimed at reducing the physiological and psychological response to stress have been studied for their potential benefits in the management of hypertension. Current evidence suggests that one form of meditation, transcendental meditation, is more effective than some other formal relaxation techniques in reducing blood pressure in mild hypertensives, with the magnitude of blood pressure reductions similar to medical treatment. However, there has been no empirical examination of the effect of another form of meditiation, vipassana meditation, on reducing blood pressure in hypertensives. Vipassana meditation is commonly practiced in the US and may be a meditation skill that is more generalizable to daily life by Americans than transcendental meditation. The current proposal is aimed at collecting pilot data comparing blood pressure reductions in mild hypertensives who are taught vipassana meditation compared to those in an attention control group via a randomized controlled trial with 104 participants. It will also examine the effect of vipassana meditation on medical and psychological symptom reporting compared to the attention control group in hypertensives. Participants will be recruited from a primary care practice to increase the generalizability of study results to other medical settings.
