Dr. Grosswald: Well, there is no “stressometer,” or standard measure of stress. What someone considers stressful is stressful for that person, whether it is stressful for someone else or not, and your susceptibility to stress depends a lot on your physiology. With regular practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique, your tolerance to stress increases, allowing you to become less susceptible to it, almost like a stress vaccine.

Dr. Grosswald: Research shows that the Transcendental Meditation program is effective in reducing stress, anxiety, and depression, and even symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. You could think of stress as a continuum—from the lowest level of stress to post-traumatic stress disorder at the high end. The Transcendental Meditation technique has been shown to be effective across the spectrum

Dr. Grosswald: It’s interesting that you should ask, because research shows that Americans are the most sleep deprived people in the world. The stress of not sleeping accumulates over time.

And even if you are getting normal sleep once in a while, sleep does not dissolve the accumulated stress of day-in-and-day-out pressures of daily life; it can only dissolve the fatigue of today. So fatigue and stress keep building. Even when you go on vacation, the relaxation doesn’t last very long once you get back to your usual lifestyle. That’s why everyone needs a way to dissolve the accumulated fatigue and stress of daily living, which is made worse by sleep deprivation.

Practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique on a regular basis allows you to throw off that accumulated stress. Research indicates that the regular practice of Transcendental Meditation improves health, including psychological well-being. Researchers estimate that 70 to 90% of disease is stress related, so if you have a mechanism for reducing stress, it improves your overall health and all aspects of your life.

Dr. Grosswald: Sometimes a deadline can increase motivation to get things done, but it really is a total misconception that people perform better under stress. In fact, the people who perform better in pressured situations are the very people who do not find those situations stressful. In other words, the pressure is merely stimulating to those people; if it were stressful to them, their performance would be affected.

If you think about it, when are you most likely to make mistakes? When you’re tired, when you’re stressed, and when you’re doing things too quickly. Creativity comes from being clear-minded, calm and rested.

There’s nothing wrong with occasional stress, but chronic stress is debilitating; and when you’re really stressed, it is unlikely that creativity and performance are going to be at their peak. The reason is that nature has provided us with a survival mechanism that shuts down the prefrontal cortex—the reasoning and analytical part of the brain—when under extreme stress. And what “shutting down the brain” means is that all the energy goes to the muscles; that is called the “fight-or-flight” response. That works fine if you’re being chased by a bear, but for day-to-day life, operating within that circumstance is really counterproductive. Basically, in some circumstances one rises to the occasion when there’s pressure. But you don’t want to live your daily life like that.

Rather, you want the pre-frontal cortex, the total brain operating. Then you can plan, organize, strategize, and be as productive, effective and creative as possible. What the TM technique does is increase the communication between the pre-frontal cortex and the other parts of the brain. The Transcendental Meditation technique expands brain functioning. Stress does the exact opposite.

Dr. Grosswald: The vacation helps make stress go away for a short period of time, but it really doesn’t get rid of the accumulated stress; it’s just a temporary fix. What we need is something that allows us to be less susceptible to stress on a daily basis, so that stress doesn’t interfere with enjoyment of life. Research shows that the Transcendental Meditation program not only allows the mind and body to release accumulated stress, over time it helps one to become more resistant to stress.

Dr. Rector:It is understood, for instance, that hormones modulate the immune system. The immune system is your defense not only against infectious diseases, but also against cancer. Malfunctioning of the immune system may also contribute to heart disease, through mechanisms such as chronic low-level inflammatory hyperactivity, which may contribute to coronary artery plaque formation. You could think of this as corrosion in the arteries from excessive heat, so to speak.

When the immune system is constantly under demand and threat, and stress prevails, it gradually becomes deranged and confused, as if estranged from the systems it is intended to protect. Like a good cop gone bad, it loses the ability to be perfectly vigilant in protecting the body from real threats and gradually it can become aggressive against its own body—at first to a lesser degree, but eventually it is possible for this to happen to a flagrant degree. Autoimmune disease can occur as a result.

Dr. Rector:Yes, when the body is less stressed as a result of the practice of Transcendental Meditation, hormone levels also change in the direction of less stress. As a powerful antidote to stress, the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique results in restoration of harmony, integration and balance. These healing mechanisms function at every level of the complex human physiology. Without having to think about it, the entire organism becomes holistically reintegrated and balanced.

This happens at the silent source of the physiology. Therefore, the TM technique can result in healing and reintegration of the entire physiology in a way not otherwise available or expected through any other stress management technique. This is an extraordinary claim, yet it is well justified on the basis of the overwhelming support of over forty years of scientific research from around the world.

 Dr. Molina: The Transcendental Meditation has been shown to DECREASE CAROTID ARTERY ATHEROSCLEROSIS, the thickening of the carotid artery. Carotid artery atherosclerosis, after hypertension, is one of the top three risk factors for stroke. (The three top risk factors are high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation and carotid atherosclerosis.) The Transcendental Meditation program has also been shown to DECREASE HYPERTENSION.

Dr. Molina: Actually, I recommend the Transcendental Meditation technique to anyone, because you don’t have to be sick to meditate.

There have been studies showing that Transcendental Meditation technique increases longevity and decreases cardiovascular death, as compared to control groups that did nothing, received regular medical care and practiced other relaxation techniques. Also, the TM technique does reduce the risk factors for heart disease and stroke.

The Transcendental Meditation technique is a very simple mental technique, and when practiced regularly, it is associated with a decrease in blood pressure and improved neuro-physiological integration and endocrine integration; therefore, it is a process in which you can decrease high blood pressure, decrease atherosclerosis, and at the same time become more awake, alert, bright and happy.

Dr. Molina: Having a stroke is an important risk factor for having subsequent strokes. Practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique, along with the recommendations of your physician (such as anti-platelet medications, statins and anti-hypertensives), may reduce the chances of having another stroke.

Dr. Schneider: Research shows that practicing the >TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION PROGRAM REDUCES RISK FACTORS for recurrent stroke, such as high blood pressure. TM practice might aid stroke recovery due to its effects on enhancing brain integration and mental functioning. For example, Professor Lubimov, a member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, found that the Transcendental Meditation technique enlivens brain reserve capacity, resulting in improved speed and efficiency of brain-body coordination.

Dr. Schneider: The Transcendental Meditation technique reduces the risk of stroke by reducing atherosclerosis and cardiovascular risk factors. The risk factors for stroke are basically the same as the risk factors for coronary artery disease, including atherosclerosis, high cholesterol and metabolic syndrome.

 Dr. Sandeep Chaudhary: Many people have problems controlling hunger and appetite, and science explains that there are hormonal reasons for this. The secretion of many of these hormones is directly effected by stress. Under stress one loses the natural intuition of knowing what the body does need and does not need. The Transcendental Meditation technique allows people to develop a state of mental and physical balance, where one naturally begins craving the foods that the body needs. When the body is getting what it craves, one tends to have a more balanced appetite.

Dr. Sandeep Chaudhary: Stress plays an important role in causing obesity. The hormone cortisone, for instance, is released as a response to stress. Cortisol increases insulin resistance, and insulin is a hormone that makes you gain and hold onto weight. When your body has increased insulin resistance, it has to secrete more insulin to metabolize the food you’re consuming. So if you have higher cortisone levels, then you have more insulin resistance, which in turn causes weight gain. Several studies have shown that the Transcendental Meditation technique, by decreasing stress, causes baseline cortisone levels to drop.

Dr. Sandeep Chaudhary: Yes, of course, what you eat and the quality of foods that you eat are very, very important to your health. However, when people experience lower stress levels, they are better able to select the foods and the quantity of foods that will meet their natural metabolic needs. Research has shown that the TM program is the most effective stress management technique available.

Dr. Sandeep Chaudhary: I don’t think it is a matter of resisting hunger, because in general when people start resisting something, their attention goes to it and they tend to desire it even more. A common problem people with weight problems notice is when they start restricting what they eat by dieting, they start craving the very foods they are trying to avoid. I would say that the TM technique reduces one’s need to resist hunger by bringing more balance to one’s appetite and awareness of one’s true needs. This results in a natural reduction of the amount of food taken in. The TM technique reduces stress and brings more balance to one’s body and mind so one spontaneously starts eating the foods that are good, at the right times of day, in the right quantities without having to resist hunger.

Dr. Sandeep Chaudhary: Yes, absolutely. Research shows that with other harmful habits such as smoking, many people who start the Transcendental Meditation technique quit smoking spontaneously rather than having to go on nicotine patches. In a similar way, a person may spontaneously and naturally stop behaviors such as over- eating and binge eating, which aren’t in accordance with what one’s body needs or requires.

Dr. Schneider: Smoking is, indeed, a major risk factor for heart disease, for lung cancer and for many other conditions that produce mortality, disease and disability. As a matter of fact, it’s considered to be the leading cause of death today by the Surgeon General of the United States.

It’s actually difficult for doctors to get their patients to stop smoking. However, the Transcendental Meditation program has been shown to be quite effective in helping people to quit.

In a meta-analysis, or study, of all available research on cessation of smoking published in the Alcohol Treatment Quarterly and the Journal of Health Promotion, the Transcendental Meditation technique was shown to be twice as effective in helping people to stop smoking as the other treatments, including pharmacological therapy, individual counseling and self-help kits. This result is very significant for the 25-30% of the population who smoke today

Dr. Krag: I would not expect your TM instructors to ever give you instructions on quitting smoking. They teach Transcendental Meditation. However, by regularly practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique, I do expect that you will simply not be as interested in smoking. Just meditate regularly and see what happens. I predict you will be pleasantly surprised.

Dr. Krag: No but I recommend that you wait until after meditating to drink the coffee. Over time you may find you “need” or want less, not only in the morning but during the day as well.