High blood pressure affects a third of people 30 to 80-years-old.
Now new research gives another easy lifestyle change that can help to prevent long term complications.
A few of the most commonly included interventions were breath control, yoga/tai chi, and music.
It only took a few months adding these techniques into routines to lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure for people who have high blood pressure. While drugs are available to treat the condition, many people don’t take the meds as they should, generating interest in alternative approaches to reduce one of the major risk factors for high blood pressure, which is high stress levels.
Dr. Khaled Khalaf, Interventional and Structural Cardiology at Vital Heart and Vein, says relaxation techniques are not a replacement for medication but should be recommended by more doctors.
“When it comes to hypertension, it is the most common risk factor that we face in terms of risks of atherosclerosis, coronary atherosclerosis and that’s what we’re trying to fight ultimately. You have hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes and I say them in that order because that’s where they’re the most prevalent. The hypertension is the most common medical issue that we face as a society,” said Dr. Khalaf. “We don’t want to keep throwing medications at people. We want people to be able to naturally resolve their hypertension and unfortunately, there’s no way to do that apart from having a healthy lifestyle, which involves diet and exercise. But with this study, I think helps show that meditation and having low psychological stress also plays a big role.”
How much could you lower your blood pressure by?
Compared with no intervention, breath control achieved a reduction of 6.65 mm Hg in systolic blood pressure (the first and higher number in a blood pressure reading), meditation a drop of 7.71 mm Hg, meditative movement, such as tai chi and yoga, a drop of 9.58 mm Hg, and mindfulness a drop of 9.90 mm Hg.
“This did sort of shine some light on that. Maybe that’s something that we as health care providers should be pushing more of,” Dr. Khalaf said.
