The latest issue of Harvard Health Letter, published monthly by Harvard Medical School, recommends the practice of Transcendental Meditation as a means to prevent heart attack and stroke.
The article “Meditation offers significant heart benefits” refers to latest research in confirmation that “people who practice meditation are significantly less likely to have a heart attack or stroke or die within five years.”
Dr Deepak Bhatt, cardiologist and professor at Harvard Medical School, is then quoted saying: “Meditation can be a useful part of cardiovascular risk reduction. I do recommend it, along with diet and exercise. It can also help decrease the sense of stress and anxiety.” 
Dr Bhatt explains that meditation affects one physiologically by causing changes in brain activity. “It also can lower your heart rate, blood pressure, hormone released in response to stress,” says Dr Bhatt.
Academic reference:
“Meditation offers significant heart benefits”,
Harvard Health Letter, Vol 38 / No 10, August 2013. Page 3
