High Blood Pressure(Hypertension)

[Guest guest]

Good Morning, !

 

You have a 3 fold questions which I will address in sections:

 

High Blood Pressure(Hypertension)

 

Blood pressure is determined by the amount of blood your heart pumps

and the resistance to blood flow in the arteries. Resistance to blood

flow is affected by the diameter of the small arteries. In general,

the more blood your heart pumps and the smaller the arteries, the

higher your blood pressure. Your kidneys regulate the volume of water

circulating in your body and the amount of salt your body contains.

More salt in your body means that more water is retained in your

circulation and may cause an increase in blood pressure. More salt in

your body also may increase the tendency for blood vessels to narrow.

Less salt means a trend to lower pressure. The main factor in most

cases of high blood pressure is an increase in resistance to blood

flow. This can occur if the diameter of your arterioles becomes

smaller. Your heart has to work harder to pump the same amount of

blood, and the pressure at which the blood is pumped increases.

 

The most critical function is maintenance of circulation to the

brain. When the sympathetic nervous system is activated, it sends

more blood to the brain by constricting peripheral arteries, raising

arterial blood pressure. With hypertension, the nervous system seems

to be reacting to an imaginary threat that never goes away.

Sympathetic tone is constantly too high, arteries are constantly

constricted, and blood pressure remains elevated to levels that can

eventually damage the heart and arteries, kidneys, and other organs.

Because the sympathetic nervous system deals with fear and uses

adrenalin and nonadrenalin as its chemical messengers, it is not

surprising that anxiety is a factor in essential hypertension.

 

 

The bottom number of a blood pressure reading, called the diastolic

pressure, is the measurement during the relaxed phase of the heart's

pumping cycle. It is the more important one in determining health

risks. If it is consistently 100 or above, you must do something to

get it down to 80 or below. The following is the program to decrease

high blood pressure.

 

Take supplemental calcium and magnesium: 1,000 milligrams of each at

bedtime and 500 milligrams of each 12 hours later. You can stay on

these supplements indefinitely.

Garlic is a powerful herbal medicine. Garlic has abilities to lower

cholesterol and reduce the clotting tendency of the blood. It can

also help lower high blood pressure. In addition raw garlic is a

potent antibiotic, especially active against fungal infections, with

antibacterial and antiviral effects as well.

 

Aromatherapy can actually reduce high blood pressure. Helpful, are

Essential oils such as Clary Sage, Lavender, Lemon, Marjoram, and

Ylang Ylang .

Baths, massage oils as well as, skin treatments and body treatments

all allow you to improve the condition of your body, as well as, your

emotional/spiritual well-being.

 

Homeopathically, you may want to consider:

Argentum nitricum: If blood pressure rises with anxiety and

nervousness, this remedy may be indicated. " Stage fright " or

anticipation of a stressful event can bring on dizziness, headache,

diarrhea, and a pounding pulse. People who need this remedy are

typically warm-blooded, imaginative, impulsive, claustrophobic, and

have strong cravings for sweets and salt.

 

Aurum metallicum: This remedy is sometimes indicated for serious

people, focused on career and accomplishment, with blood pressure

problems related to stress. Worry, depression, or anger may occur,

especially when these people feel they have made a mistake or failed

in some way. A general tendency to feel worse at night, and a strong

desire for alcohol, sweets, bread, and pastries are other indications

for Aurum.

Belladonna: This remedy is indicated when symptoms come on suddenly,

with great intensity and heat. The person's face is flushed, with

dilated pupils, and pulsations and throbbing may be felt in various

parts of the body. Despite the general heat, the person's hands and

feet may be cold. Vertigo and pounding headaches, worse from jarring

and worse from light, may also occur.

 

The Yogic breath exercise can be done without instruction, without

danger, and with a good chance that your discomfort and stressful

feelings will be reduced. Relaxation Breath is the most powerful tool

for stress management.

 

Sit up, with your back straight in any position.

Place your tongue against the ridge of tissue just behind your upper

front teeth and keep it there throughout the exercise.

Exhale completely through your mouth.

Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental

count of four.

Hold your breath for a count of seven.

Exhale completely through your mouth, to a count of eight.

Repeat this cycle three more times for a total of four breaths.

Try to do this breathing exercise at least twice a day. You can

repeat the whole sequence as often as you wish, but don't do it more

than four breaths at one time for the first month of practice. This

exercise is fairly intense and has a profound effect on the nervous

system.

 

Deep Diaphram Breath

Sit with your legs crossed in a comfortable position. Breathe slowly

and evenly from your diaphragm, through your nose. Fill your lower

abdomen, lungs, then chest with air. Hold for a four count then

slowly exhale the air out from your chest, lungs, then lower abdomen.

Repeat 3 or 4 times. That's it! Just allow your shoulders to drop and

your face relax as you breath, deep.

Also consider Alternate Nostril Breathing, Child's Pose, Half Moon,

Mountain, Relaxing, Simple Inverted, Thunderbolt, Warrior.

 

Color Therapy helps. When you are balanced, you can more effectively

fight dis-ease, rid your system of toxins, as well as, negative

patterns. You can achieve balance through the vibrational remedy and

application of color. Color inteacts with the human energy system in

a unique way to stablize physical, emotional, mental and spiritual

conditions. The best colors for high blood pressure are Blue and

Green.

 

EXERCISE

Lose weight if you are more than five pounds above your ideal weight.

Aerobic exercise is the key. While numerous studies have shown the

beneficial effects of aerobic exercise on high blood pressure, the

primary advice for hypertensives is to proceed with caution. If you

have not done aerobic exercise, start with walking a quarter of a

mile briskly. Then go up from there until you can walk a mile

briskly. After that initiate running, but only after a physical exam

and possibly a stress electrocardiogram. Consider a stair master,

step climber, stationary bike, if weather does not permit you to

exercise outside, or you already have a gym membership.

 

The reason exercise works is that it forces the blood vessels to open

up (vasodilate), and that makes the blood pressure come down. Even

though it tends to go back up during exercise, it drops when exercise

ends. Then when it goes back up, it doesn't go up as much.

 

Swimming, walking, and bike riding are all good exercises for

hypertension. You don't have to run. You do about the same amount of

work when you walk, it just takes longer to do it. The key thing is

that it should be a brisk walk—a quarter mile in 4 minutes when you

start, then later a full mile in about 15 minutes or less.

 

Exercise, as part of a program to reduce hypertension, appears to add

to overall wellnes. But, isometric exercises such as weight lifting

must be avoided. The reason is that weight-lifting exercises may

cause blood pressure to temporarily skyrocket.

 

 

NUTRITION

Water is essential in any healing process. Distilled water is the

best. 6-8 eight ounces glasses per day.

Eat a low-fat diet, with moderate protein and moderate complex

carbohydrates. Decrease your intake of sodium. There's no way to know

if you're salt sensitive other than putting yourself on a low-sodium

diet and seeing what effect that has on your blood pressure. Keep the

salt low, but don't count on it to do everything.

Increase your intake of potassium. Increased levels of this mineral

may be valuable in helping control high blood pressure.

Cut down on alcohol The connection between alcohol consumption and

high blood pressure has been well documented, people with

hypertension should limit their alcohol consumption.

 

Studies have shown that vegetarians have lower blood pressure than

the general population. A vegaterian diet lowers both systolic and

diastolic pressures. Vegetarians do in fact have lower blood

pressure, no one is exactly sure why. Maybe it's because people who

follow vegetarian diets tend not to smoke, drink, or overeat. It has

been shown that Garlic and Onions are both important foods for

lowering blood pressure due to their sulfur-containing compounds.

 

Although most recent research has been focused on the cholesterol

lowering properties, both have been shown to lower blood pressure in

cases of hypertension. Both garlic and onions should be used

liberally in the diet. Celery has also been shown to lower

hypertension due to its 3-n-butyl phthalide content. About 4 ribs of

celery a day is recommended. You should also consider nuts and seed

(or their oils) for their essential fatty acid content, cold water

fish such as salmon and mackerel, green leafy vegetables (rich in

calcium and magnesium), whole grains and legumes for their fiber and

foods rich in vitamin C such as broccoli and citrus fruits.

 

 

Andrew Pacholyk, L.Ac. MSTOM

Peacefulmind.com

Therapies for healing

mind, body, spirit

[Guest guest]

Hello Andrew--

 

I am glad that you offered the breathing exercises below to help with

high blood pressure. I would like to make some comments and

suggestions regarding them, however.

 

The relaxation breath is, as you say, a very powerful practice. It is

important for people to know, however, that because of its reliance

on breath holding after the inhalation, it can cause problems for

people who already hold their breath a lot--typically, those who are

anxious or fearful. Frequent breath holding disrupts the natural

movements of the diaphragm and eventually causes disturbed

inhalations and more reliance on the secondary breathing muscles, as

well as a gradual lack of coordination between the diaphragm and

these muscles. I agree that the exercise can be done safely by most

people three or four separate times a day, but for some any more than

this could over time undermine their breathing.

 

Another problem with too much breath holding--especially if people

try to take a big inhalation--is that it may overstretch the alveoli

of the lungs, and this may eventually cause damage. When people learn

how to breathe fully and naturally with the entire body, allowing the

natural pause at the end of the exhalation to begin to lengthen,

their breath slows down and oxygenation takes place more efficiently,

without breath holding. This will result in a relaxation (dilation)

of the arteries and veins. True, breath holding exercises such as

this one (which I also include in my new book with appropriate

warnings) can be great in the short term on an emergency basis, but

it is not something I would wish to promote to most westerners to do

frequently on a regular basis.

 

As regards your suggestion to breathe from the diaphragm, it's a

great suggestion. Unfortunately, many people don't have a clue about

where their diaphragm is and how to breathe from it. I have asked

hundreds of people in breathing workshops over the years to show me

where their diaphragm is, and only about 30 percent or so get it

right. Some people even point down around their navel. It's great, of

course, when the belly gets more involved in breathing--diaphragmatic

breathing requires it--but the mere movement of the belly does not

ensure the movement of the diaphragm (contrary to the common

misconception). Some people just use their abdominal muscles to push

their bellies out and in and this willful effort can actually be

detrimental to diaphragmatic breathing. What's more, many people

actually breathe with the secondary muscles of the chest and over

time their diaphragms become weaker and are unable to move through

their full range of motion, which generally (from top to bottom) is

just over five inches.

 

Carl Stough, a world-renown breath therapist (he worked with

emphysema patients, Olympic athletes, singers, and many others until

his death last year), claimed from research he has done in

consultation with hospital researchers that the average person on the

street only gets 1-2 inches of movement (up and down) in his/her

diaphragm. So, clearly, training is necessary for many people to

learn how to breathe naturally and easily with their diaphragms. I

offer a couple of free practices--the belly breathing exercise and

the straw breathing exercise--on my website that can help with this,

and many more practices that can help in my book " The Tao of Natural

Breathing " and my new book-- " Free Your Breath, Free Your Life " --due

out from Shambhala in May.

 

Many people with blood pressure hyperventilate a lot, that is, they

breathe too much air too quickly for the circumstances they are in,

and the rapid loss of too much carbon dioxide that results from this

causes the arteries and airways, etc. to constrict. By slowing down

their breathing and learning to breathe primarily through the nose

(or inhaling through the nose and exhaling slowly and gradually

through pursed lips), they can in many cases lower their blood

pressure immediately.

 

The bottom line is that good breathing can certainly help with blood

pressure and many other health problems, so it is important that you

brought this up and mentioned these exercises.

 

Dennis Lewis

http://www.authentic-breathing.com

 

, " yogiguruji "

<yogiguruji@a...> wrote:

 

Relaxation Breath is the most powerful tool

for stress management.

 

Sit up, with your back straight in any position.

Place your tongue against the ridge of tissue just behind your upper

front teeth and keep it there throughout the exercise.

Exhale completely through your mouth.

Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental

count of four.

Hold your breath for a count of seven.

Exhale completely through your mouth, to a count of eight.

Repeat this cycle three more times for a total of four breaths.

Try to do this breathing exercise at least twice a day. You can

repeat the whole sequence as often as you wish, but don't do it more

than four breaths at one time for the first month of practice. This

exercise is fairly intense and has a profound effect on the nervous

system.

 

Deep Diaphram Breath

Sit with your legs crossed in a comfortable position. Breathe slowly

and evenly from your diaphragm, through your nose. Fill your lower

abdomen, lungs, then chest with air. Hold for a four count then

slowly exhale the air out from your chest, lungs, then lower abdomen.

Repeat 3 or 4 times. That's it! Just allow your shoulders to drop and

your face relax as you breath, deep.

Also consider Alternate Nostril Breathing, Child's Pose, Half Moon,

Mountain, Relaxing, Simple Inverted, Thunderbolt, Warrior.

[Guest guest]

Thank you for your interesting message! It was very helpful for me.

I try to find as much information about such topics. I also recommend

you a website I found and which I find interesting:

vitanaturalis.com

I hope I am not offending you with my message or my suggestion.

>

>

>All the best!