Psychosocial stress is now recognized as a major and modifiable driver of hypertension and cardiovascular disease, yet it remains under-addressed in routine clinical prevention. Our commentary in Nature Reviews Cardiology explores how chronic stress influences autonomic balance, vascular ageing, inflammation, cardiometabolic function, and downstream clinical events — and why these pathways matter for modern guideline-based care.
We wrote this piece to elaborate on the 2025 AHA/ACC high blood pressure guidelines, which include Transcendental Meditation as an evidence-based option for lowering blood pressure. This inclusion reflects more than three decades of research. At the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, our team has conducted NIH-funded mechanistic and clinical trials demonstrating that the Transcendental Meditation technique reduces sympathetic activation, improves metabolic and inflammatory biomarkers, slows vascular ageing, and in several randomized trials lowers the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events.
In this commentary, we connect these guideline recommendations with the broader scientific evidence linking psychosocial stress to hypertension, cardiometabolic disease, and cardiovascular disparities. We also highlight practical pathways for integrating validated stress-reduction into cardiovascular prevention — from screening and referral to implementation in primary care, workplaces, and community settings.
I was pleased to coauthor this piece with Dr. Keith Norris (UCLA) and Dr. Robert Brook (Wayne State), both leaders in hypertension, prevention, and health equity. We hope this commentary encourages wider inclusion of mind–body approaches in cardiovascular medicine and stimulates further research on mechanisms, implementation, and precision public health.
Read the full Comment: https://rdcu.be/eQX7O
Schneider, R.H., Norris, K.C. & Brook, R.D. Transcendental Meditation to combat psychosocial stress, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Nat Rev Cardiol (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-025-01235-x