Transcendental Meditation and Lifestyle Modification Increase Telomerase, New Study Finds

Newswise — A new study published in PLOS ONE found that the Transcendental Meditation technique and lifestyle changes both appear to stimulate genes that produce telomerase, an enzyme that's associated with reduced blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and mortality.
Specifically, these approaches were found to activate two genes that code for telomerase, which adds molecules to the ends of chromosomes, or telomeres, protecting them from deteriorating. This may explain mechanism the mechanism for known health benefits

The newswise article is based on the following research:

Duraimani S, Schneider RH, Randall OS, Nidich SI, Xu S, Ketete M, et al. (2015) Effects of Lifestyle Modification on Telomerase Gene Expression in Hypertensive Patients: A Pilot Trial of Stress Reduction and Health Education Programs in African Americans. PLOS ONE 10(11): e0142689. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0142689