How To Treat High Or Low Blood Pressure

Lowering Your Blood Pressure
Hypertension is the medical term from the chronic elevation of blood pressure. There are many individuals who are genetically prone to experiencing this phenomenon, while others develop it over time due to poor eating habits and lack of fitness.

Blood pressure is the force of the blood when it pumps through an individual’s arteries. The level changes throughout the day, according to what the person is doing at the moment.

Hypertension can be dangerous because it causes the heart to work more intensely than it should need to. It can also be attributed to artherosclerosis, or the hardening of the arteries.

The majority of cases cannot be linked to a certain developing symptom. Hypertension can lead to more of a likelihood of experiencing stroke, heart failure, arterial aneurysm, kidney failure, blindness, and a shorter life expectancy.

About two-thirds of individuals over the age of sixty experience high blood pressure. Many, however, just show the beginning stages of the disease and can prevent it from getting worse later on in life.

Just because you experience it does not necessarily mean that you are “unhealthy.” Many people are just prone to it and cannot complete get rid of it.

However, diet and exercise are two things that can make it better. When the arteries are clogged with plaque, the heart must work harder to pump blood through it.

Those that are more prone should choose to lower their intake of saturated fats, overall fat, and cholesterol. These substances have a tendency to clog the pathways for the blood, which forces them to work harder to pump the liquid through.

Studies have shown that the problem was decreased or prevented when a diet of healthy fruits, vegetables, and low fat dairy products were entered into the usual eating plan. Important things to including in your eating plan are whole wheat, poultry, fish, and nuts; these will give needed protein without adding fat to the system like red meats, sweets, and sugared beverages will.

It is also essential to reduce dietary sodium intake. The recommended about of sodium is fifteen hundred milligrams per day.

This is possible through the purchasing of fresh food products. Be sure to pay attention to labels when you are shopping and decide which items have too much sodium per serving.

If you shop smart and stick to healthy food choices, you are more likely to reduce your level of sodium. It has been theorized that being overweight increasing your chance of hypertension.

It can also raise your chance of experiencing high cholesterol and diabetes. Thus, if you feel that you have extra pounds, it may be a good idea to lose them and prevent a future increase in blood pressure.

To determine if you are, in fact, overweight, have your body mass index (BMI) and waist measurement checked by a medical professional. They will be able to tell you whether or not it is safe or necessary for you to lose extra pounds.

Becoming more physically active will help show a great improvement in blood pressure. Cardiovascular exercise is especially important, because it gets the heart pumping and blasts fats from your system.

Those that have been inactive for a long period of time can start out slowly through moderate exercise. Even daily chores can help to get your body moving and working on decreasing extra pressure and cholesterol.

Start out with walking and then you can slowly ease into a running or biking routine each day. You can even get your family together for a game of football, soccer, or volleyball; the activity will be good for your heart, and you will get to spend more quality time with the people you love.

It is essential for those that may be prone to experience this issue to cut down on alcohol and smoking. Both of these have been shown to actually raise the levels in your circulatory system and make your heart pump harder over time.

They are also a poor health choice, overall, because they tend to be the cause of many health issues in middle age. Lowering blood pressure and preventing hypertension can be simple if you make necessary changes within your lifestyle to become healthier and fitter.

Wave Breathing – A Type of Pranayama For Lowering Blood Pressure and Stress

Pranayama

Pranama or breath control is a very powerful tool not only in yoga but also anywhere and at anytime to keep blood pressure and stress at a minimum. prana means “life force.” The ancient sages realized that a person couldn’t live for very long without breathing and there was a direct connection between breathing and living. Smart people those sages. Pranayama is definitely an art as well as a science. Many people breathe incorrectly by forcing air into the upper lobes of their lungs leaving the bottom half of their lungs inactive. Watch a person breathe, while they are unaware of your watching them, and you will probably see their chest move rather than their stomach. This is indicative of wrongful breathing. The diaphragm, the sheet of muscle between the thorax and the abdomen, is the organ of breath. When it moves downward air flows into the lungs and when it relaxes back to its original dome-shaped position air flows out of the lungs.

This is normal, natural and unconscious breathing. But with the advent of chairs for sitting and tight belts for holding up pants, breathing has become reversed and lungs have become underutilized.

Wave Breathing

Wave breathing is a type of pranayama that I have learned to use over the years that is very effective in lowering my blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing rate. It is also very relaxing and soothing to my mind. Wave breathing is best done while standing, sitting or lying down. It can also be done while walking and doing mild yoga, but it is very difficult to do while vigorously exercising.

To do wave breathing, breathe in through the nose focusing on the diaphragm, pulling air into the bottom of the lungs.

I like to imagine the lungs as one large flat bag (much like a water bottle) extending all the way from the pelvis to the neck. Inflate the lungs slowly from the bottom, bringing air toward the top and imagine the air moving like an ocean wave. Don’t inflate the lungs fully but only partially, maybe about one-third full and then relax and let the lungs slowly deflate from the bottom to the top again. Breathing is done slowly and deliberately with emphasis on wave motion from bottom to top both on inhalation and exhalation. One hundred percent of the lungs’ volume is utilized this way with very little effort. With practice you will begin to notice your breathing rate become slower. You may be taking only two or three breaths per minute and feeling no discomfort at all. Also, the amount of air that you are taking in with each breath will get less and less, almost to the point of having the feeling of not breathing. The first time this happened to me I thought I wasn’t breathing at all. This is a very healthy practice because it calms everything while bathing every cell in the body with rich, fresh oxygen.

I didn’t read about wave breathing and no one taught me how do it. I discovered the method accidently one day while in the resting pose after doing some yoga. Since then, I have practiced wave breathing in different positions and in various situations. It always brings me into a state of calmness and peace of mind. Sometimes I like to practice wave breathing while listening to music. This morning I put on a CD consisting of a mixture of Benedictine Monk songs. I traveled though the poses very slowly and held the poses longer than usual while wave breathing. It was another unusual but marvelous experience. Focusing on my breath moving up and down my lungs like an ocean wave, I could literally feel the music being absorbed into my body The experience brought a complete sense of oneness with the breath, the body, and the music. I believe wave breathing could be another way to calm the mind for the purpose of reaching the state of consciousness known as pure awareness.