Isn’t that what they call television reruns now–encore performances? Sort of a nicer way of saying that they cut back on filming for the season, so you’re stuck with reruns. Encore performance makes it sound like this is something that the audience demanded.

But it seems that in medicine, doctors are running out of things to research. Why else would there be a grand announcement that “Transcendental meditation (TM) may help blood vessels relax as it relaxes the mind, reducing heart disease risks along the way.”

I remember reading about that 20 years ago. And meditation started becoming popular in the 1960s, outside of India that is. But the news that meditation, and in particular TM, can lower blood pressure is so old. I bet even my great-granny knew about it, and her great-granny before her.

So why is there yet another study on this, ie, like someone getting a fat grant to prove a point already proven and established? And why is this already well known fact blaring in the news like it’s a major discovery?

That’s the main finding of an eight-month study involving 111 black teens on the threshold of becoming hypertensive adults.

Researchers report that just two 15-minute TM sessions per day were enough to trigger an average 21 percent increase in the ability of the teens’ blood vessels to dilate.

Well I’ll be darned. Isn’t that earth shattering news. If TM has been working for decades in the population at large, then why is it a surprise that it works in black teens?

Now here is my favorite part of the article. The lead investigator of this study is quoted as saying that if these results can be replicated (again, like this is something brand new, never before seen, and hot off the grill), then this may have great implications for treating cardiac patients.

“…this could have important implications for inclusion of meditation programs to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases and its clinical consequences,” Barnes said. “We know this type of change is achievable with lipid-lowering drugs, but it’s remarkable that a meditation program can produce such as change.”

Now, has this guy ever heard of Dr. Dean Ornish? Anyone who’s anyone that deals with heart disease has got to know who Dean Ornish is, the wunderkind who set the wheels of the medical establishment spinning when he declared that lifestyle can both halt and reverse heart disease.

Ornish is the author of five books, including best seller Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease. Ornish’s program is the first to offer documented proof that heart disease can be halted, or even reversed, simply by changing your lifestyle. His program includes eating a low fat vegetarian diet and meditating on a regular basis, and his first study was published at least 20 years ago! I think his first book came out around 1989 or 1990, which spoke of the healing effects of meditation on the heart.

Being the curious skeptic that I am, I just took a quick look to see what popped up if I googled “TM and hypertension.” Well, of course, the great news flash of this breakthrough study appeared. But to prove my point, and just to make sure that my imagination has not gone wild, here is an American Heart Association press release, “People with high blood pressure may want to medicate and meditate,” dated August 5, 1996.

The Portland Press Herald, “A powerful case for TM,” by Meredith Goad, dated November 27, 1995, reports that “A new study shows transcendental meditation is about as effective as many medications in reducing high blood pressure.”

There are plenty of other studies and media reports, but the first study goes back to 1976, and was reported in the Lancet. The report, just a small study, did find that of 7 people with high blood pressure, 6 of them had significant reductions after doing TM for 12 weeks.

So that was almost 30 years ago, and I think we have now come to the conclusion that meditation does have a positive effect on hypertension. We reached that conclusion beyond a shadow of a doubt, I would say, with the press release of the American Heart Association in 1996.

Is there any further point to conducting more studies to prove a proven point? This is really sad, when you think about it, that these so-called scientists have completely run out of ideas, and can’t come up with any original research projects. Sort of like television programming. When in doubt, do an encore performance.

Image courtesy of Free Images

I’d like to give the finger to whoever came up with yet another brilliant look into the human mind.

How long a man’s second finger is relative to his fourth finger appears to predict whether he is prone to be physically aggressive toward others, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

So where does the middle finger come in, as in that silent motion for saying “up yours?”

Now it’s not finger length that causes aggression, but has to do with that nasty male hormone testosterone. When in doubt, blame that T word.

Fetuses are exposed to various levels of this hormone in the womb, and research shows that men who were exposed to higher levels tend to have shorter second fingers, relative to their fourth fingers.

So the more T juice the fetus gets bathed in, the longer the ring finger.

Here’s a link if you want to read all about fingers and aggression. And keep an eye out for strange men with funny fingers.

So now, how do we keep fetuses from getting an overdose of testosterone in the womb? Keep Mom away from high protein drinks, anabolic steroids, or what?

I had two deadlines today, hence, the lack of exciting and thrilling entries on my illustrious blog. I was writing about the perils of methicillin resistant S. aureus infections, and new treatment combos for esophogeal varices. It’s enough to make you start checking yourself over for lumps, bumps, bleeding…

Anyway, now I need to get some sun, and sooner rather than later, our regularly scheduled program will commence again. That’ll teach me about the evils of procrastination.