Hormonal andbiochemical responses totranscendental meditation

Summary:This study wasdesigned toassess whether transcendental meditation (TM)could influence various endocrine responses in10experienced malemeditators. Nine matched subjects, uninformed ofthe TM procedure, acted ascontrols. Meditators successfully practised their technique for40mininthe morning while controls relaxed forthis period. Nosignificant differences emerged between these 2groups withrespect tocarbohydrate metabolism (plasma glucose, insulin andpancreatic glucagon concentrations), pituitary hormones (growth hormone andprolactin) orthe'stress' hormones, cortisol andtotal catecholamines- although meditators tended tohave higher meancatecholamine levels. Plasma free fatty acids weresignificantly elevated inmeditators 40minafter completing theperiod ofTM.Noclear evidence wasthus obtained that anyofthestress, orstress-related, hormones weresuppressed during or after meditation intheparticular setting examined.