Lowering Blood Pressure: Consider a Mindfulness Approach
According to the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology’s 2017 Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Management of High Blood pressure in Adults published on November 13th, nearly half of all adults in the United States officially have high blood pressure![1] The new guidelines state hypertension as a reading of 130/80 or above, which includes 46% of adults, or 103.3 million Americans, and hypertension is a major risk factor for strokes, heart attack and kidney failure. The guidelines also offer a preferred solution, especially for younger Americans: eat healthier and exercise more.[2]
Please eat healthy and exercise more, especially if you have high blood pressure. There is enough research published to encourage us to add meditation to our healthy lifestyle to support the self-modulation of blood pressure.
According to the National Institute of Health (NIH)[3], studies have indicated that regular breath meditation over 9 sessions lower ambulatory blood pressure by promising amounts. The physiological impact of meditation involves an integrated hypothalamic response associated with decreased sympathetic nervous system activity. This, in turn, improves the heart’s ability to regulate blood flow and restore the body’s intrinsic ability to purify and properly pump blood for optimal function.
One might argue that the psychosomatic benefits of meditation might be stronger than the physiological impact. If so, who cares? Isn’t better…better? Effectively alleviating hypertension is the goal, and mediation’s “side-effects” are completely nonviolent, it is learned easily and inexpensively, meditation is practiced at no cost, and has no pharmacological side effects.[4]
Are you interested in learning how to meditate? Call 833-GUTWELL to schedule your FREE 30-minute meditation coaching session with Mindfulness Coach Jen.
Sources:
[1] http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/early/2017/11/08/CIRCULATIONAHA.117.032582
[2] https://www.wsj.com/articles/nearly-half-of-u-s-adults-have-high-blood-pressure-under-new-guidelines-1510611138
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3216041/
[4] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0021968174900836
Jennifer Vondracek
Mindfulness Coach
Mandala Integrative Medicine