8/12/2019 Lower Blood Pressure a Few Deep Breaths Away

1/1

ower blood pressure few deep bre ths w y

PatrickMassey M DAlternativeapjJroa h

Hypertension is verycommon and a significant riskfactor for two leading causesof death, heart attack andstroke. It can be effectivelytreated by lifelong medica-tions, but might there be asimpler and less expensiveway to treat mild to moderatehigh blood pressure. Theanswer could be as simple astaking a deep breath.Essential hypertension iscommonly defined as a systolic blood pressureconsistently over 140 and adiastolic blood pressure consistently over 90- without anidentifiable cause.An estimated 50 millionAmericans have high bloodpressure, and each year, 2 million new cases ofhypertensionare diagnosed. The costs formanaging high blood pressureare in the billions of dollarseveryyear.In addition, people withhigh blood pressure may nottake their medications as prescribed because ofside effects.There are a number of nonpharmacologic therapies thatcan lower blood pressure.Weight loss, stress reduction,salt restriction, regular exercise, biofeedback and evenregular meditation have beenshown to significantly reducehigh blood pressure.Specific breathing techniques also may reduce highblood pressure. Many ofthesebreathing techniques havebeen used in meditation aswell as martial art training for

thousands of years. Thesebreathing techniques werebelieved to increase lungcapacity, enhance cardiac andcirculatory function, reducestress and promote an overallrelaxed state ofbeing.In recent research fromBrazil, published in theArchives of Brazilian Cardiology,participants with essentialhypertension were able to significantly reduce both systolicand diastolic blood pressure

by practicingspecificbreathingtechniquesdaily for amonth.Thesebreathingexercisesfocused onbreathingmore slowlyand deeply.In thisstudy, bloodpressuredropped from an average of

135/99 to 124/81. In addition,total lung capacity alsoincreased. This was the firststudy to show that practicingbreathing exercises, over time,. can reduce high blood pres- .sure.Meditation, regular exerciseand other stress reducingtechniques all focus on deep,rhythmic breathing. From myown experiences in the martialarts, I knew that slow, deepbreathing patterns qigong)could lower blood pressure.Several years ago, I conducteda small clinical trial with thecardiac rehabilitation programat Alexian Brothers MedicalCenter in Elk GroveVillage. Iwas able to demonstrate thatthe daily practice of qigongbreathing could dramaticallylower blood pressure. How-

ever, the clinical trial was toosmall to publish.Deep breathing exercisesaffect a number of metabolicprocesses in the body including improving the sensitivityof the baroreflex - a bloodpressure gauge in the carotidarteries and aorta. In thosewith hypertension, this bloodpressure gauge may overshoot, causing the increase inblood pressure.Another mechanism may bethat deep breathing reduces

Takingslow deepbreathsdaily mayhelp lowerbloodpressurea studyshows

blood pressure by reducingstress hormones.Someone once said that theonly thing you have controloveris how you react to a situ-ation. So relax,practice a fewslow, deep breathes every dayand take control over yourblood pressure. Patrick B.Massey MD.Ph.D. ismedical director foralternative and complemen-tary medicine for AlexianBrothers Hospital Network.