I need information and the citation of a study from Israel where male
subjects dramatically decreased their cholesterol levels by sitting
down and doing nothing three times a day.

---

Request for Question Clarification by crabcakes-ga on 18 Jan 2004 12:48 PST

Hi successhotline,

I, like politicalguru, have found no evidence of this study. Can you
tell us where you read or heard this? How long ago did you learn of
this study? Maybe the group to which you refer was the control group,
and the the other group ate a large greasy meal three times a day? 
:-)

I'm still looking, but any further details you may have can help!

Regards,
crabcakes-ga

---

Clarification of Question by successhotline-ga on 18 Jan 2004 12:48 PST

I heard a radio interview with author Paul Pearsall, Ph.D., and he
mentioned it in passing.

I couldn't find the abovementioned study (if you have any additional
details on how you got to know about it, it might help us to find it),
but I did find another interesting Israeli study:

"New study ties moderate beer drinking to lower heart attack risk" 
<http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-12/acs-nst123002.php>

I believe this is the study you are looking for:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=359423&dopt=Abstract
[Effect of meditation on blood cholesterol and blood pressure]
[Article in Hebrew]
Cooper M, Aygen M.
Harefuah (Journal of the Israel Medical Association). 1978 Jul 2; 95(1): 1-2.

There was another later paper by these authors:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=392003&dopt=Abstract
J Human Stress. 1979 Dec; 5(4): 24-7
A relaxation technique in the management of hypercholesterolemia.
Cooper MJ, Aygen MM.
Chronic sympathetic nervous system overactivity has been implicated as
a factor capable of elevating and maintaining high serum cholesterol
levels independent of dietary measures. We conducted a controlled
trial to determine the effect of a relaxation technique.
Transcendental Meditation, on serum cholesterol levels in
hypercholesterolemic subjects. Serum cholesterol levels were measured
at beginning and end of an 11-month period in 12 hypercholesterolemic
subjects who regularly practiced meditation. Eleven
hypercholesterolemic controls who did not practice the technique were
similarly followed up for 13 months. Paired comparisons showed a
significant (p less than 0.005) reduction in fasting serum cholesterol
levels of those subjects who practiced meditation. These results
suggest that the regular practice of a relaxation technique may
contribute, most likely through a reduction in adrenergic activity, to
the amelioration of hypercholesterolemia in certain subjects.
(the meditation group lowered its cholesterol from a mean of 254 to 225)

I did not read either papers so I can't list the details (number of
times and minutes).  There was the following reference without the
specifics as to which study.

http://www.inman.com/remm/story.asp?ID=38873
An Israeli study showed that sitting down and being quiet for 20
minutes twice a day reduced cholesterol by up to one-third and had a
stronger effect than meditation

Additional papers that might be of interest:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Display&dopt=pubmed_pubmed&from_uid=359423