Mindfulness meditation lowers blood pressure and sympathetic activity in hypertensive patients with chronic kidney disease

Abstract

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is characterized by chronic sympathetic nervous system (SNS) overactivation that contributes to hypertension and mortality. Previous reports suggest that mindfulness meditation may have beneficial effects on blood pressure (BP), but the mechanisms are unknown. We hypothesized that mindfulness meditation lowers BP in hypertensive CKD patients by lowering central SNS output. We measured continuous arterial BP and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) in 16 male, hypertensive patients with Stage III CKD at baseline, and during 14 minutes of either: a) mindfulness‐based meditation (N=10); or b) health education on hypertension (control intervention, N=6). The meditation group compared to controls had a significantly greater reduction in systolic BP (− 13.2±1.8 vs. −2.3±1.3 mm Hg, p<0.001), diastolic BP (−5.5±1.3 vs. −1.5±0.9, p=0.046), mean arterial pressure (−1.7±0.8 vs. −8.1±1.2 mm Hg, p=0.002), and a trend towards greater reduction in heart rate (−3.3±1.3 vs. +0.2±1.0 beats/min, p=0.071). Concomitantly, there was a significantly greater reduction in MSNA during mindfulness meditation compared to the control intervention (− 6.1±1.3 vs. +1.5±1.3 bursts/min, p=0.002). These findings suggest that mindfulness meditation may lower arterial BP and heart rate by decreasing SNS output in hypertensive patients with CKD. Supported by K grant HL098744.