Vulnerable heart patients can significantly boost their chances of living for longer and avoiding life-threatening events through meditation, a new study suggests.

Researchers in the US found that patients who regularly participate in 20 minute sessions of transcendental meditation (TM) can halve their risk of death in some cases.

People in occupational therapy jobs will be able to draw valuable insight from the findings, which appeared in an online edition of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

The study focused on African American people - who have disproportionately high rates of heart disease. It found that the effects of frequent TM sessions could be as great, or stronger, than those of widely prescribed drugs. A total of 201 people with narrowing of the arteries and an average age of 59 participated in the research.

Half of those taking part learned TM while the others were given conventional health education classes. The study, which was carried out over nine years, found that those who meditated for 20 minutes twice a day managed to cut their overall risk of death, non-fatal heart attack, or stroke by 47%. Those who kept up with the programme particularly well by not missing any sessions had a 66% risk reduction.

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