Studying the Healing Power of Meditation

Does meditation improve heart health? How is wireless technology helping Scripps Health and researchers at its affiliated Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI) explore new ways to care for patients?

Steven Steinhubl, MD, and director of digital medicine at Scripps, addressed these questions during an interview on KPBS radio’s “Midday Edition” news program.

STSI researchers recently attached three wireless health sensors to 40 people while they attended a meditation retreat at the Chopra Center for Wellbeing in Carlsbad, Calif. The clinical trial is aimed at determining whether meditation has an immediate effect on blood pressure and markers of stress.

“There is no direct proof of what happens when we relax to our cardiovascular system,” Steinhubl told “Midday Edition” host Maureen Cavanaugh. “There is this mind-body connection that we’ve never really understood, we’ve just known was there.”

Listen to the KPBS interview: Can Meditation Make Your Heart Healthier?