Long-term endocrinologic changes in subjects practicing the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Uncontrolled prospective longitudinal case series
PubMed 3511493 · doi:10.1097/00006842-198601000-00004
What was done
Eleven male subjects were prospectively evaluated before and across a 3-year period after starting the TM-Sidhi program (an advanced Transcendental Meditation technique) to examine potential long-term endocrine changes. Serum levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), growth hormone (GH), prolactin, cortisol, thyroxine (T4), and triiodothyronine (T3) were measured.
What was found
The abstract does not report exact numerical values or effect sizes. It reports a progressive decrease in serum TSH, growth hormone, and prolactin levels over the 3-year follow-up, with no consistent changes observed in cortisol, T4, or T3 levels.
Why it matters
The findings provide preliminary observational evidence that long-term meditative practices may influence anterior pituitary hormone secretion independently of peripheral target gland hormone levels.
Limits
The study is limited by an extremely small sample size (n = 11), an exclusively male cohort, the absence of a non-meditating control group, and a lack of 24-hour frequent blood sampling to account for circadian hormone pulsatility.
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