Meditation techniques 'can reduce stroke risk'

Learning the techniques of meditation can help people to reduce their risk of having a stroke, it is claimed.

Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin followed more than 200 patients at risk of stroke due to a narrowing of the arteries, with half being taught transcendental meditation.

The results showed that those who meditated regularly reduced their risk of having a stroke by 47 per cent, compared to the control group.

Professor of medicine Theodore Kotchen said that the results were very promising, but he was quick to point out that meditation should complement, not replace, traditional care.

He explained: "The effect is as large or larger than major categories of drug treatment for cardiovascular disease.

"However, subjects were already taking standard medications and this effect was on top of that."

This news comes after separate research, reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, revealed that "motivational interviews" can improve the mood of people who are recovering from a stroke.

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