Researchers say ritual for Orthodox Jewish men
may offer heart benefits.
- Tefillin is used for morning prayers for Jewish men over the age of 13 on an almost daily
basis.It is placed on the non-dominant arm around the bicep & the forearm in a pretty tight manner. It is never worn in a fashion as to preclude the blood flow. This is worn for about
30 minutes continuously. While praying they are sitting & standing so often you have to retighten the strap around your arm. - Users often report that the binding of the arm & the discomfort may serve as a form pre-conditioning & offer a substantial degree of protection against acute ischemic reperfusion
injury (a section of the heart is deprived of oxygen & then damaged when re-oxygenated)
that occurs as a result of a heart attack. - A pilot study led by researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine suggests Jewish men who practice wearing tefillin, which involves the tight wrapping of an
arm with leather banding as part of daily prayer, may receive cardiovascular health benefits.
- The researchers propose that benefits may occur though remote ischemic pre-conditioning
that results in protection during heart attacks. The results are available online in the
American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology.
- Jack Reubenstein, MD, associate professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Health & a
UC Health cardiologist, says he enrolled 20 Jewish men living in Greater Cincinnati, 9 who
wear tefillin daily & 11 non-users of tefillin, in the study. His team of researchers recorded baseline information on all participants during the early morning & then additional data after wearing tefillin for 30 minutes. - They measured the participants’ vital signs, drew blood for analysis of circulating cytokines
& monocyte function & also measured blood flow in the arm not wrapped with tefillin. - The men in the study were between the ages of 18 & 40 & all were in good health.
- One of the ways that protection occurs is through pain. Feeling pain is actually a pre-conditioning stimulus.We found people who wear tefillin in either the short or long term, recorded a measureable positive effect on their blood flow. That has been associated with better outcomes in heart disease.
- Blood flow was higher for men who wore tefillin daily & improved in all participants after
wearing it just once as part of the study. - Men who wore tefillin daily also had fewer circulating cytokines, signaling molecules that
can cause inflammation & negatively impact the heart, compared to non-users, suggesting
that near daily use elicits an effect similar to that observed with other methods of eliciting
remote ischemic pre-conditioning-like effect. - Tefillin use may in fact offer protection as it’s worn on an almost daily basis.
- There are studies out of Israel that have found Orthodox men have a lower risk of dying of
heart disease compared to non-Orthodox men. This protection is not found in Orthodox
women who usually don’t wear tefillin.
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