Dr. Robert Schneider, M.D., F.A.C.C., F.A.B.M.R., is an NIH-funded medical researcher and author of Total Heart Health: How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease with the Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health (Basic Health Publications, 2006). Here he answers questions on cardiovascular disease and its risk factors.

Q: One of the major risk factors for heart disease is smoking. What can the Transcendental Meditation technique do to help people stop smoking?

Dr. Schneider: Smoking is, indeed, a major risk factor for heart disease, for lung cancer and for many other conditions that produce mortality, disease and disability. As a matter of fact, it’s considered by the surgeon general to be the leading cause of death today.

It’s actually difficult for doctors to get their patients to stop smoking. However, the Transcendental Meditation program has shown to be quite effective in helping people to stop smoking. This is shown in a meta-analysis, or study, of all available studies, shown in the chart below.

The top bar shows the success rate of smoking cessation in people participating in programs of the Transcendental Meditation technique. The lower bars show other conventional and unconventional treatments. As you can see, the Transcendental Meditation technique was about twice as effective in helping people to stop smoking. This is very significant for the 25-30% of the population who smoke today.”

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