Transcendental Meditation Increases My IOP

My daily average IOP has been higher recently. Prior to starting serious talks about this new business venture, my average IOP values for a given day were often 15-16 for each eye. Today's means were:

Left 17.6; Right 20.8 (differential 3.1; days since Timoptic 1) 

This data represents a departure from prior trends. Within 1 day after Timoptic in my right eye, the IOP differential would normally be around 0.

As usual, the data seem to indicate that not only does stress raise my mean IOP values, it also raises the standard deviation of the measurements.

Today's data supports the hypothesis that certain activities can significantly lower my IOP. Note that at 11:20 AM my IOP values were 21 and 23. After that IOP check, I began a series of activities that typically lower my IOP. At the end of those activities an hour later, my IOP had dropped to 16 and 18 (and it had dropped to as low as 14 and 15 after the weight lifting).

Unfortunately, I then performed 5 minutes of Transcendental Meditation (TM). This consistently raises my IOP. However, I wanted to try TM under today's circumstances: higher than usual stress related to business financing. My theory was that maybe TM would be effective in reducing the stress in a way that would lower my IOP. That didn't turn out to be the case. The TM actually raised my IOP today, as it usually does.

Even with the IOP-elevating effect of TM (which seems to persist all day), the earlier activities helped me maintain an IOP under the starting point for approximately 4 hours. At the 4 hour point, I engaged in a stressful conversation about business and finances. I would like to know how long my IOP would have remained lower if I had not done the TM and if I could have better avoided some of the extra stressful activities of the day.

The final two IOP values of the day are interesting because I think they may indicate how certain types of thinking influences the IOP values independently in each eye. Certain types of stress seem to raise the IOP in my right eye much more than in my left eye. The effect of my thoughts on my IOP can be almost instantaneous - at least that's what I think the data are indicating. Is there a connection between right/left brain activity and left/right IOP values? 

Here are my IOP values for 5-Nov-2006:

Time	Left	Right	SD L	SD R	Comments
9:38	17.7	20.0	0.577	1.000
9:42	18.7	20.7	3.055	2.082	repeated measurements
10:37	24.7	25.3	1.528	2.082	feeling some stress
11:20	21.0	23.0	2.646	4.583	just before starting a series of activities that usually lower my IOP
11:42	17.0	18.7	1.000	2.082	after 5m of playing frisbee with my dog and 5m of Bates long swing exercise
12:07	14.0	15.3	1.000	1.155	after 10m of weight lifting
12:24	15.7	17.7	1.528	1.155	after shower
12:35	17.7	19.0	1.155	1.000	after 5m of TM and a few minutes of rest
12:56	15.3	17.3	0.577	1.528	working at computer
13:50	19.7	21.7	3.055	2.517
14:52	19.3	25.3	1.528	4.041	after stressful conversation about business finances
15:28	17.7	23.7	1.528	1.155	after lunch
16:42	20.0	24.3	1.732	1.528	working at computer
18:40	18.7	23.0	2.887	2.646	after running errands
18:41	17.3	20.3	1.155	1.528	repeated measurements
21:22	18.0	24.7	2.646	3.055
21:31	15.0	21.3	1.000	2.309
23:54	16.3	18.3	2.082	2.082	after watching a movie (Wedding Crashers)
23:55	16.0	20.3	1.000	0.577	repeated measurements
0:11	17.0	16.0	1.000	2.000	measured while I had relaxing thoughts
0:13	13.7	20.0	0.577	1.000	measured while I had thoughts about money, business partners, and the new business venture

Today's IOP measurements were all taken with a Reichert AT555 NCT.

Before bed I used 1 drop of Xalatan in my left eye and 1 drop of Timoptic GFS 0.5% in my right eye.