While millions suffer from high blood pressure, the condition is most prevalent among blacks, four in 10 of whom suffer from hypertension. Obesity and an aging population are cited as factors, but stress, especially among minorities, is also noted by experts.

The study of 150 black men and women in the San Francisco area compared the effects of twice daily meditation, muscle relaxation and health education classes. Women who meditated showed the greatest benefit.

The transcendental meditation study is the latest in a number conducted by researchers affiliated with the Maharishi University of Management, founded by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Indian cleric best known for teaching the Beatles about eastern religion in the 1960s. Numerous studies of other meditation techniques by researchers at other schools have also found benefits for those suffering from conditions ranging from arthritis to cancer.

Dr. Frank Staggers, a study co-author, said the idea for the study stemmed from successful results achieved after he asked patients with high blood pressure to use relaxation techniques. Staggers, who is black, said many of the patients at the Oakland clinic are black and suffer from high blood pressure.

"It just makes sense. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you just relax, your whole body would say `OK, thanks' and settle down. It's a simple concept but something that we had to prove," Staggers said.

Women who meditated had both blood pressure readings drop about seven points while the other two groups registered drops of about one point one and three points. The findings were less supportive for meditating men.

Blood pressure readings are composed of two numbers, one indicating pressure during beats, known as systolic, and one indicating pressure between beats, known as diastolic. The systolic reading is usually written above the diastolic reading.

Readings below 120 over 80 are considered normal. Readings between 120/80 and 140/90 are classified as "prehypertension," and higher readings are classified as hypertension, or high blood pressure, according to the Bethesda-based National Institutes of Health, which funded the meditation study.

Men who meditated had a .2 point increase in their systolic reading and a 4.7 point drop in their diastolic reading while those who practiced muscle relaxation registered drops of 2 points and 3.1 points. Men in the health education group recorded drops of about .9 and 2 points.

The use of blood pressure medication, meanwhile, went down slightly in the transcendental meditation group while increasing for the other two groups, the authors reported.

Trish Magyari, director of the mindfulness-based stress reduction program at the University of Maryland's Center for Integrative Medicine, who was not involved in the study, said the results were most significant for women and consistent with previous studies that have shown benefits of meditation for stress-related conditions. Magyari said she has seen similar reductions in blood pressure among patients who practice meditation at her center, which studies complementary and alternative medicine.

Dr. Amparo Castillon-Richmond, a co-author of the study, said meditation may help balance opposing nervous system functions responsible for slowing and speeding the heart and other involuntary functions. Meditation may activate the half responsible for lowering blood pressure, she said.

Castillon-Richmond, of the Midwest Latino Health Research Training and Policy Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said participants were given a mantra, a simple word or sound, by a teacher, closed their eyes and repeated the word in their mind, settling what she called the "thought process" and allowing them to reach a "level of restful alertness."

"The technique in meditation is very simple, you take 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon to close your eyes and repeat the mantra, that's all it takes," she said.

Boston University interim president Aram Chobanian, former dean of the university's medical school and chairman of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure, said the longer term value of stress reduction has been the subject of debate.

While he described the reductions as modest, such a reduction could be of value for those with mild hypertension or prehypertension, Chobanian said.

"I think the real issue with these forms of blood pressure control depends on adherence to treatment," Chobanian said. "One has to continue the stress reduction in order to get the continued blood pressure effect. That means having a target population who would want to do this on a long-term basis."

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On the Net:

NIH hypertension information page:

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Hbp/HBP_WhatIs.html