EFFECTS OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL-MEDITATION PROGRAM ON ADAPTIVE-MECHANISMS - CHANGES IN HORMONE LEVELS AND RESPONSES TO STRESS AFTER 4 MONTHS OF PRACTICE

Stress has been implicated in both somatic and mental disorders. The m echanisms by which stress leads to poor health are largely unknown. Ho wever, studies in animals suggest that chronic stress causes high basa l cortisol and low cortisol response to acute stressors and that such changes may contribute to disease. Previous studies of the Transcenden tal Meditation(R) (TM) technique as a possible means of countering eff ects of stress have reported altered levels of several hormones both d uring the practice and longitudinally after regular pratice of this te chnique. In this prospective, random assignment study, changes in base line levels and acute responses to laboratory stressors were examined for four hormones-cortisol, growth hormone, thyroid-stimulating hormon e and testosterone-before and after 4 months of either the TM techniqu e or a stress education control condition. At pre- and post-test, bloo d was withdrawn continuously through an indwelling catheter, and plasm a or serum samples were frozen for later analysis by radioimmunoassay. The results showed significantly different changes for the two groups , or trends toward significance, for each hormone over the 4 months. I n the TM group, but not in the controls, basal cortisol level and aver age cortisol across the stress session decreased from pre- to post-tes t. Cortisol responsiveness to stressors, however, increased in the TM group compared to controls. The baselines and/or stress responsiveness for TSH and GH changed in opposite directions for the groups, as did the testosterone baseline. Overall, the cortisol and testosterone resu lts appear to support previous data suggesting that repeated practice of the TM technique reverses effects of chronic stress significant for health. The observed group difference in the change of GH regulation may derive from the cortisol differences, while the TSH results are no t related easily to earlier findings on the effects of chronic stress. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.