How Transcendental Meditation Complements a Balanced Lifestyle for Diabetics
Did you know that every seventh Indian is at a risk of Diabetes? As per a report by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 136 million Indians are at a risk of developing the lifestyle disease at some point in their life.
While the disease itself is debilitating and causes widespread damage to our organ systems, the very fact that it is a lifestyle disease means that it can be largely kept in control, even if not fully cured, by – yes, lifestyle interventions.
There are many diabetics, many being seniors, who are able to live a perfectly healthy life by following a good diet, staying active, avoiding simple, refined sugars; reducing their stress and staying updated about the latest information on best practices for diabetics.
Let’s delve more in detail into how Transcendental Meditation (TM) helps diabetes patients manage stress and live healthier lives.
TM is a scientifically verified technique that has demonstrated its effectiveness in alleviating the progression of diabetes from metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors that hasten the development of cardiac disease , kidney disease and diabetes, among many others.
But first, let’s know a bit more about what metabolic syndrome is, though you already know how it looks like in daily life.
A brief introduction to Metabolic Syndrome
Metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors, five in number, of which the presence of at least three predisposes us to developing several diseases down the line. Most of you do get your blood tested at least once a year, so you must be knowing these.
These five factors are –
Fasting blood sugar: A level of 100 mg/dL or higher
Triglycerides: A level of 150 milligrams per decilitre (mg/dL) or higher in the blood
HDL cholesterol: A level of less than 40 mg/dL in men or less than 50 mg/dL in women
Blood pressure: A systolic pressure of 130 mm Hg or higher or a diastolic pressure of 85 mm Hg or higher
Waist circumference: A waist measurement of more than 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women
While these are all biochemical quantities, what is important to note is what they mean when they are present.
They basically mean that we are largely following a sedentary lifestyle, eating highly processed, refined sugar, saturated/transfat and refined oil laden food items, not maintaining healthy daily habits and are mentally stressed for some or the other reason(s).
A completely healthy and happy person is automatically in tune with their bodily requirements.
They enjoy sound sleep, stay active, enthusiastic, full of energy, are emotionally balanced, have a good appetite (with the ideal dietary choices) and their immune systems don’t easily get bogged down with every change in wind current, moisture level or temperature.
Though this should have been the norm; unfortunately, most of us don’t fall fully in this category.
Addressing the root of the problem
The root cause behind most lifestyle diseases is stress. We think stress only occurs in the body when we are actually anxious, angry, fearful, jittery or pensive.
Stress can be brought about by any imbalance in the body.
Excess is to be disregarded universally, said our ancient seers. Excess of even happiness is not good for health.
Imagine partying for three days straight, without a wink of sleep, or eating too much of your favourite dish! On the flip side, a lack is not good too.
There has to be a balance in everything. Balance remedies stress. It is when we do not have a balanced way of thinking that gives importance to both routine and enjoyment, when we overdo or underdo anything, be it eating, moving, sleeping and what not, when stress is introduced into the mind and body.
Stress in mental function causes the release of stress hormones like cortisol, which prime the body for ‘fight or flight’.
They switch off the energy saving mechanisms of the parasympathetic nervous system, which direct the body to act in a way that will allow it to run away from a problem.
In our case, this response is chronically switched on, since modern society is very out of sync with the circadian (biological tuning with nature) rhythms that govern health.
So we keep getting sicker with time, like an engine that is being maxed out to the highest revolutions per minute, all the time - of course it will give out soon.
The result is a reduced capacity of the body and mind to bounce back from stress.
It is this worn-down situation that becomes visible in the form of the five factors that have been mentioned above. Soon, the problem becomes irreversible and the organs themselves start giving up.
All that is needed to be done, therefore, is to reduce our stress levels, so our habits can become healthy, with us becoming a bit more conscious of what is good for us.
The rest can be managed easily with some help from our friendly family doctor and allied medical/lifestyle professionals.
Transcendental Meditation and healthy living for Diabetics
Transcendental Meditation is one of the earliest meditation techniques for which serious scientific investigation was begun.
Starting from the very first study way back in 1970, till date more than 700 researches have been conducted to provide proof for its benefits to mind, body and behaviour.
As we have discussed earlier in this post, stress is the major culprit behind most of the lifestyle disorders we see today. TM works on this very problem right at the root.
Various brain imaging studies have revealed that TM practice leads to a state where the mind is completely rested, yet wide awake – a state of restful awareness.
Researchers have found that when the mind and body are in deep rest, the body starts to remove accumulated stresses from within. Transcendental Meditation facilitates the process of stress removal in an easy, effortless, natural manner by giving us deep rest.
TM causes a cascade of a number of processes that accelerate healing and homeostasis (the maintenance of an ideally balanced physiological state within) are brought about by the production of certain beneficial neurotransmitters and hormones including dopamine, serotonin, Gamma Amino Butyric Acid (GABA), melatonin and Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA).
Together, these chemicals signal the body to accelerate healing, bring back organs to normal functioning order and set right any disbalanced physiological functions that may be causing disease.
Doing TM also reduces the production of the stress hormones cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine, which are all produced during states of anger, anxiety and fear.
They compound the damage being done to various organs over time, often acting much faster and stronger in chronic cases of anxiety.
When the mind is free of stress and thinking straight, we usually are conscious of and choose healthier habits.
We exercise more, eat healthy and stay active the whole day, owing to higher levels of energy and enthusiasm.
We sleep better, so we don’t accumulate more secondary metabolites as toxins, and our elimination is improved as well. This is an essential part of managing diabetes, with meditation and of course, medication.
That being said, there is evidence that TM directly affects health and wellbeing in patients with metabolic syndrome too, as we will cover next.
Role of Transcendental Meditation in alleviating Diabetes – the evidence
Some of the factors contributing to the progression of diabetes, for which there is evidence that TM directly contributes, are insulin resistance and hypertension (high blood pressure), and overall the precursor of diabetes, metabolic syndrome.
A randomized controlled trial from 2006, which observed the effect of TM in mitigating metabolic syndrome found a reduction in systolic blood pressure by 3 mm of mercury, and reduction in HOMA levels by 0.79 points (HOMA or Homeostatic Model Assessment is a mathematical model that assesses insulin resistance and β-cell function from pre-prandial or fasting blood levels of glucose and insulin).
A well-known meta-analysis conducted in 2008 (a review of multiple studies on the same topic of research), featuring in the American Journal of Hypertension found that TM was better than stress management, bio-feedback and muscle relaxation, in bringing down systolic blood pressure levels by up to 4.7 mm of mercury.
TM research has featured in leading journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association and been funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Conclusion
TM has been learnt by more than 10 million people across the world, many of whom have naturally been able to reduce the severity of symptoms of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease.
It reduces the effect of stress on the mind and body, increases the production of feel-good neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin while also reducing the negative effects of stress hormones such as cortisol and epinephrine.
It is a scientifically verified, easy, natural and effortless technique, fully compatible with a fast-paced modern lifestyle, that makes it easy to release stress, improve organ health and maintain overall wellbeing.
To attend a free online/in-person introductory session on TM near you, click here.
