Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Buddhist Activities related to Sedentary behavior and Hypertension in Tibetan monks

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 33, pages 756–762 (2019)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Previous studies suggest sedentary behavior (SB) is a risk factor for hypertension. However, buddhist activities related to SB in Tibetan monks is quite different from common SB. Meditation, chanting, and buddhist teaching are the main features during sitting. There is no study to examine the association between buddhist activities related to sitting and hypertension. There were 594 Tibetan monks included for analysis. Buddhist activities related to SB involve hours of meditation, chanting, and buddhist teaching for a typical weekday and weekend day. After controlling potential risk factors, compared with Tibetan monks who has the sedentary time < 8 h/d, those with 10 h/d ≤ sedentary time < 11 h/d was associated with about 80% decrease in the risk of hypertension (OR = 0.22;95% CI = 0.07–0.71), and about 90% decrease (OR = 0.11; 95% CI = 0.03–0.40) in those with sedentary time ≥ 11 h/d. In hypertension subgroup, buddhist activities related to SB is associated with a decrease in BP during linear regression analysis (standard β = -0.355; P = 0.004 for SBP; standard β = −0.345; P = 0.013 for DBP). We conclude that sitting might not simply represent the extremely low energy expenditure of the physical activity continuum. Psychosocial activities may play an important role in SB.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Chomistek AK, Manson JE, Stefanick ML, Lu B, Sands-Lincoln M, Going SB, et al. Relationship of sedentary behavior and physical activity to incident cardiovascular disease: results from the Women’s Health Initiative. J Am CollCardiol. 2013;61:2346–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Wirth K, Klenk J, Brefka S, Dallmeier D, Faehling K, Roqué I, Figuls M, et al. Biomarkers associated with sedentary behaviour in older adults: a systematic review. Ageing Res Rev. 2017;35:87–111.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Dunstan DW, Barr EL, Healy GN, Salmon J, Shaw JE, Balkau B, et al. Television viewing time and mortality: The Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study (AusDiab). Circulation. 2010;121:384–91.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Bankoski A, Harris TB, McClain JJ, Brychta RJ, Caserotti P, Chen KY, et al. Sedentary activity associated with metabolic syndrome independent of physical activity. Diabetes Care. 2011;34:497–503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Ahmad S, Shanmugasegaram S, Walker KL, Prince SA. Examining sedentary time as a risk factor for cardiometabolic diseases and their markers in South Asian adults: a systematic review. Int J Public Health. 2017;62:503–15.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Beunza JJ, Martínez-González MA, Ebrahim S, Bes-Rastrollo M, Núñez J, Martínez JA, et al. Sedentary behaviors and the risk of incident hypertension: the SUN Cohort. Am J Hypertens. 2007;20:1156–62.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Sohn MW, Manheim LM, Chang RW, Greenland P, Hochberg MC, Nevitt MC, et al. Sedentary behavior and blood pressure control among osteoarthritis initiative participants. Osteoarthr Cartil. 2014;22:1234–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Ford ES, Li C, Zhao G, Pearson WS, Tsai J, Churilla JR. Sedentary behavior, physical activity, and concentrations of insulin among US adults. Metabolism. 2010;59:1268–75.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Meles E, Giannattasio C, Failla M, Gentile G, Capra A, Mancia G. Nonpharmacologic treatment of hypertension by respiratory exercise in the home setting. Am J Hypertens. 2004;17:370–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Ferraro KF, Kim S. Health benefits of religion among Black and White older adults? Race, religiosity, and C-reactive protein. SocSci Med. 2014;120:92–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Kretchy I, Owusu-Daaku F, Danquah S. Spiritual and religious beliefs: do they matter in the medication adherence behaviour of hypertensive patients? Biopsychosoc Med. 2013;7:15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Buck AC, Williams DR, Musick MA, Sternthal MJ. An examination of the relationship between multiple dimensions of religiosity, blood pressure, and hypertension. Soc Sci Med. 2009;68:314–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Bell CN, Bowie JV, Thorpe RJ Jr. The interrelationship between hypertension and blood pressure, attendance at religious services, and race/ethnicity. J Relig Health. 2012;51:310–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Liu J, Hong Y, D’Agostino RB Sr, Wu Z, Wang W, Sun J, et al. Predictive value for the Chinese population of the Framingham CHD risk assessment tool compared with the Chinese Multi-Provincial Cohort Study. JAMA. 2004;291:2591–9.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Ren J, Grundy SM, Liu J, Wang W, Wang M, Sun J, et al. Long-term coronary heart disease risk associated with very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in Chinese: the results of a 15-Year Chinese Multi-Provincial Cohort Study (CMCS). Atherosclerosis. 2010;211:327–32.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Liu K, Wang Y, He J, He S, Liao H, Si D, et al. Is pulse pressure a predictor of diabetes in Chinese Han nationality population? 15-year prospective study in Chengdu community. Int J Cardiol. 2014;176:529–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. He S, Shu Y, He J, Chen X, Cui K, Feng J, et al. The effects of initial and subsequent adiposity status on diabetes mellitus. Int J Cardiol. 2013;168:511–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Hardy LL, Denney-Wilson E, Thrift AP, Okely AD, Baur LA. Screen time and metabolic risk factors among adolescents. Arch Pediatra Med. 2010;164:643–9.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Pedersen BK, Febbraio MA. Muscles, exercise and obesity: skeletal muscle as a secretory organ. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2012;8:457–65.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. de Moraes AC, Carvalho HB, Siani A, Barba G, Veidebaum T, Tornaritis M, et al. Incidence of high blood pressure in children-effects of physical activity and sedentary behaviors: the IDEFICS study: high blood pressure, lifestyle and children. Int J Cardiol. 2015;180:165–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Dusek JA, Hibberd PL, Buczynski B, Chang BH, Dusek KC, Johnston JM, et al. Stress management versus lifestyle modification on systolic hypertension and medication elimination: a randomized trial. J Altern Complement Med. 2008;14:129–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Bhasin MK, Dusek JA, Chang BH, Joseph MG, Denninger JW, Fricchione GL, et al. Relaxation response induces temporal transcriptome changes in energy metabolism, insulin secretion and inflammatory pathways. PLoS ONE. 2013;8:e62817.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Cramer H, Lauche R, Haller H, Steckhan N, Michalsen A, Dobos G. Effects of yoga on cardiovascular disease risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Cardiol. 2014;173:170–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Pengpid S, Peltzer K, Skaal L. Efficacy of a church-based lifestyle intervention programme to control high normal blood pressure and/or high normal blood glucose in church members: a randomized controlled trial in Pretoria, South Africa. BMC Public Health. 2014;14:568.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Salim I, Al Suwaidi J, Ghadban W, Alkilani H, Salam AM. Impact of religious Ramadan fasting on cardiovascular disease: a systematic review of the literature. Curr Med Res Opin. 2013;29:343–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Khafaji HA, Bener A, Osman M, Al Merri A, Al Suwaidi J. The impact of diurnal fasting during Ramadan on the lipid profile hsCRP and serum leptin in stable cardiac patients. Vasc Health Risk Manag. 2012;8:7–14.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Hoogerwaard AF, de Jong MR, Elvan A. Renal nerve stimulation as procedural end point for renal sympathetic denervation. Curr Hypertens Rep. 2018;20:24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Grassi G, Seravalle G, Bertinieri G, Turri C, Dell’Oro R, Stella ML, et al. Sympathetic and reflex alterations in systo-diastolic and systolic hypertension of the elderly. J Hypertens. 2000;18:587–93.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Grassi G, Mark A, Esler M. The sympathetic nervous system alterations in human hypertension. Circ Res. 2015;116:976–90.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Hagins M, Rundle A, Consedine NS, Khalsa SB. A randomized controlled trial comparing the effects of yoga with an active control on ambulatory blood pressure in individuals with prehypertension and stage 1 hypertension. J ClinHypertens (Greenwich). 2014;16:54–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Suboc TB, Knabel D, Strath SJ, Dharmashankar K, Coulliard A, Malik M, et al. Associations of reducing sedentary time with vascular function and insulin sensitivity in older sedentary adults. Am J Hypertens. 2016;29:46–53.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Charlemagne-Badal SJ, Lee JW. Intrinsic religiosity and hypertension among older North American seventh-day adventists. J Relig Health. 2016;55:695–708.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Kobayashi D, Shimbo T, Takahashi O, Davis RB, Wee CC. The relationship between religiosity and cardiovascular risk factors in Japan: a large-scale cohort study. J Am Soc Hypertens. 2015;9:553–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Xu S, Jiayong Z, Li B, Zhu H, Chang H, Shi W, Gao Z, et al. Prevalence and clustering of cardiovascular disease risk factors among Tibetan adults in China: A Population-Based Study. PLoS ONE. 2015;10:e0129966.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. qian’s team at Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture People’s Hospital in Sichuan Province of China, for their contributions to this study.

Funding

This study was supported by two projects from the Science & Technology Pillar Program in Sichuan Province, China (grant no: 2012SZ0131and 17ZDYF3050).

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Kai Liu, Ying Xu

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

    Kai Liu, Ying Xu, Si Wang, Rufeng Shi, Shenzhen Gong, Xinran Li, Yujie Yang & Xiaoping Chen

Authors
  1. Kai Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ying Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Si Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Rufeng Shi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Shenzhen Gong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Xinran Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Yujie Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Xiaoping Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiaoping Chen.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Liu, K., Xu, Y., Wang, S. et al. Buddhist Activities related to Sedentary behavior and Hypertension in Tibetan monks. J Hum Hypertens 33, 756–762 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-018-0136-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-018-0136-0

Search

Advanced search

Quick links