Mindfulness and Hypertension - new findings

I get pretty excited by any new research demonstrating the positive effects of mindfulness. I fully admit that I'm biased, so maybe it's a good thing that I'm not a researcher!

The fact that mindfulness programs, and in particular Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) as well as an adaptation for blood pressure patients (MB-BP), can lower blood pressure has been well established (cf. e.g. here). A new research paper published in the American Journal of Cardiology demonstrates that these positive effects persist even after two years. That's pretty amazing!

Once you consider that stress reactions typically increase blood pressure, and that chronic stress can lead to chronically high BP, I guess it's not so surprising that a stress-reduction program can help lower it. Yet most of the time patients are told to make other life-style changes such as diet and exercise, while mindfulness remains somewhat underutilized in my opinion. So, keep up the practice - without getting too attached to a particular outcome.