Tai Chi Can Lower Cholesterol
By Lee Wedlake
I was reading The Great Cholesterol Myth by Jonny Bowden, PhD and Stephen Sinatra, MD. Interesting book but what they wrote in the last chapters about lowering cholesterol without statin drugs included mention of tai chi.
They refer to another book entitled The Relaxation Response by cardiologist Herbert Benson, MD that I’d been encouraged to read by a student of mine, Marc Rowe, also an MD. (Marc also gave me a copy of Fat Chance by Robert Lustig and it’s mentioned in the book, too.) Benson is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and founder of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Bowden and Sinatra say that stress is one of the major contributors to heart disease. Sugar is another and their work dovetails with Lustig’s. Stress can be reduced by deep breathing and calming the mind, using tai chi, yoga, meditation or mindfulness (p.191). Blood pressure is greatly reduced, according to numerous studies. Benson recommends it. In fact, they have classes at his Mind Body Institute.
On page 165 Sinatra tells a story about having a fasting serum cholesterol test at 7:30 in the morning and the lab said his was 180 mg/dl. After performing three cardiac catheter procedures, the last of which was successful but very tough and not eating, he went to the lab again and had his blood drawn and tested. His cholesterol was now 240 mg/dl. He writes that a 20 hour fast precluded any dietary variable and that stress caused a 33% jump in his level. One which would have most doctors prescribing a statin drug.
Stress contributes to heart disease and possibly high cholesterol. Tai chi reduces stress. Do tai chi.