The effect of praying on blood pressure of women in Isfahan in 2005

Abstract

Introduction: Hypertension is one of the most important, non-contagious diseases worldwide. Every year many people either die or suffer from this chronic disease. Therefore, the first step is to screen pre-hypertensive people and change their life styles. Nowadays, praying in complementary alternative medicine is known as an important factor in changing people's lives. This study was done with the goal of defining the effects of praying on blood pressure of women in Isfahan.

Methods: This study was a random controlled clinical trial. Sixty pre-­hypertensive women aged 25-45 years were randomly selected. They were divided into 2 groups of intervention and non-intervention. In intervention group, they were given tapes of selected praying but in non-intervention group they were not. The data were collected by questionnaires, checklists and interviews.

Results: Two groups were not identical regarding age, occupation, marital status, and educational level. The findings showed that in intervention group, mean systolic blood pressure before intervention was 132.93 mm/Hg and after that was 128.70mm.Hg (with a decrease of 4.23 mm/Hg). Diastolic mean blood pressure before intervention in intervention group was 84.82 mm/Hg and after intervention was 83.48 mm/Hg with a nearly 1 mm/Hg decrease. The differences between the mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures before intervention with the corresponding ones after intervention were significant (p<0.05).

Conclusion: This research suggested the effectiveness of praying as part of complementary medicine in a non-medication way with no side effects in pre-hypertensive people