With high blood pressure estimated to reach nearly one in every three adults, and considered responsible for 13% of deaths worldwide, efforts to find effective treatments have intensified. In recent years, relaxation techniques have received attention as a way to lower blood pressure naturally; however, in light of recent analysis it appears that the scientific research to defend these methods as a long term treatment is marginal at best.

In the first online issue of 2009, The Cochrane Library published a review titled “Relaxation therapies for the management of primary hypertension in adults”. A team of 7 specialists meticulously reviewed related studies and discovered 25, which included close to 1,200 participants, met their inclusion criteria. The studies covered a range of relaxation techniques, such as breathing exercises, biofeedback and yoga.

The analysis revealed a small, though statistically significant, drop in blood pressure of around 5/3 mmHg; however, the analysts expressed concerns that the poor quality trials and comparisons with non-intervention controls artificially inflated the reduction in blood pressure. Interestingly, when you compared the deductions from relaxation therapies to sham therapies, the difference between the two is insignificant. More importantly, the trials were not long enough to determine if relaxation helped ward off death, heart attack or stroke.

The researchers concluded that, “In view of the poor methodological quality of studies included in the meta-analysis, it is difficult to draw any definitive conclusions about the efficacy or lack of efficacy of relaxation techniques for primary hypertension” and also, “Since there is no good evidence that relaxation therapies result in meaningful reductions in blood pressure, patients with mild to-moderate hypertension who prefer non-pharmacological interventions may wish to consider alternative strategies – such as diet, exercise, and restriction of intake of alcohol and salt – which result, on average, in small reductions in blood pressure”

Sources:
Dickinson HO, Beyer FR, Ford GA,Nicolson D, Campbell F, Cook JV,Mason J. Relaxation therapies
for the management of primary hypertension in adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD004935. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004935.pub2. Retrieved 3/24/09 fromhttp://mrw.interscience.wiley.com/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD004935/pdf_standard_fs.html.