A new study to answer the question: Which is the optimal blood pressure goal? has been terminated prematurely because it became statistically overwhelmingly clear that lower blood pressure targets will save lives.
That is a great outcome of a study: The clear-cut benefit of lower blood pressure. Not that it is all news: In medical school I already learned this medicine pearl: People with low pressure live for a long time, but they will feel lousy often – from dizziness and lack of energy. People with high blood pressure feel on top of the world – until they drop dead of stroke or heart attack.
It is good to know that our recent blood pressure goals have been set too high. If you have high blood pressure, or borderline high blood pressure, get ready for your doctor to put you on medication, or increase your anti-hypertension pills.
But the question is: Why do I read one report after the other about this blood pressure study, and all the commentators remark on how important it is to increase medications – and not a single commentator mentions that there are ways to lower your blood pressure without pills - naturally?
There are! You don’t have to take pills for the rest of your life; they can have serious side effect – one of the least seems to be impotence (erectile dysfunction), which is obviously a minor problem for the prescribing physician, but may make your life thoroughly miserable.
Here, if you want to go the natural way:
• End your hot showers always with a short (20 to 30 seconds) cold shower. Don’t do it yet if your blood pressure is uncontrolled high. But if you are on a pill, reasonably controlled, to can make this a daily habit. If a cold shower feels too harsh, wash yourself down with a cold facecloth twice a day in front of the sink.
• Get yourself a cheap step counter and walk more. The step counter is not really necessary, but is a great motivator. Walk more stairs, too.
• Also, walk on uneven surfaces whenever you have an occasion. Walking the beach, hiking, and walking barefoot have all been shown to lower blood pressure. One study showed that walking barefoot on pebbles is especially effective. Why is that so? The more uneven the terrain is, the more muscles you use, and the greater is the relaxation effect.
• Get enough sleep. Sleep deprivation leads to more stress, and stress increases blood pressure. Aim for being in bed around ten pm. Read for a few minutes, then sleep in darkness, with open window, whenever possible. Grandmother’s advice that sleep before midnight counts double sort of bears out in modern circadian rhythm studies.
• Meditate if your stress level is high. Or do woodworking, or play a musical instrument – any hobby that absorbs your attention wholly and makes you happy has a good de-stressing effect. Even just listening to soothing music lowers your blood pressure.
• Drink enough water. Salt does not seem the main culprit (but it does not hurt to ditch all processed foods – which are notoriously high in salt), but not drinking enough is. Aim for very light yellow urine. Dark urine shows that you are dehydrated (unless there is a kidney/bladder problem).
• Keep your relationships in order. I am all for a good fight if it is necessary. But an unhappy relationship will break your heart – with or without high blood pressure.
• Reduce screen time – TV, Twitter, telephone and Internet. All overexcite your brain. Be yourself – find quiet time often.
• Eat a diet high in vegetables and herbs. Plants contain thousands of chemical compound which all conspire to keep your blood pressure low. Eat meat but only organic (or from a farmer whose agricultural practices you trust). Have plenty of good fats like organic olive oil, coconut oil, cultured butter – fat is not the enemy.
• Slowly move toward your ideal weight by eating less sugars and starches. Avoid artificial sweeteners, too.
• And if you insist on a pill, let it be herbs (it may be advisable to work with a good herbalist – or a doctor who know herbs):
o Stinging nettle
o Linden
o Olive leaf
o Yarrow
o French Lavender
o Cinnamon
o Cat’s claw
o Hawthorn
o Celery seeds
o Garlic
o Cardamom
o Basil
And so many more! Some may go into your food as spices when you cook. Actually, cooking every evening from scratch might be the best course you could take: It will relax you after work and absorb your attention – and it will heal you body that gets high blood pressure from the pressures and habits of modern life. In 95 percent, hypertension is a lifestyle issue; only in five percent, a serious medical diagnosis (kidneys, endocrine) can be made.
If high blood pressure stems from wrong lifestyles, I suggest we replace it with better, healthier, more joyful lifestyles. Read More
Blog: On Health. On Writing. On Life. On Everything.
The Biological Clock
October 17, 2010
Our biological clock is ticking – but not the one you are thinking about. “Nature,” the eminent science journal, published an article that a team of scientists found a “clock” in pancreas cells. The pancreas is the organ responsible - when failing - for diabetes.
We used to think that diabetes was a “sugar” disease. Too much sugar (and starches, which are nothing else than one sugar after the other in a row like beads on a necklace) definitely play a role in the worst (and most preventable) disease of our times. Bad fats are the other culprits – mainly trans-fats, fats that are heated (frying!) or hardened (margarine!) – let’s call them h & h fats.
The “Nature” article gives us evidence that WHEN we eat plays a major role, too. Granted, the studies so far have only been done in mice. But I am convinced that it is only a matter of time that the same biological clock will be found ticking in the human pancreas also.
And not only in the pancreas. It is already known that fruit flies (drosophila) have such a clock in every single cell. I can’t believe that our bodies are less sophisticated than fruit flies’; our bodies are just harder to study. Chronobiology is the branch of science called that concerns itself with biological rhythms. From beginning of times, the Earth has indulged her majestic rhythms: ebb and flow, day and night, coming and going, death and renewal - think of compost pile!
What does the biological clock mean for you and me? Nothing new, actually. Natural Medicine has long stressed the importance of enough sleep, regularity and good habits. A little more of one hundred years of electricity has changed the world profoundly. But it hasn’t made a dent in our ancient bodies and primordial souls: They still have the same physiological and emotional needs as they always had.
Yes, you can raid the fridge in the middle of the night, go shopping in the wee hours, or sit at your computer all night long – but in the long run, going against your natural sleep-wake cycle will take a toll on your body – might even trigger diabetes, as we are learning. Read More