Secrets Of High Blood Pressure Treatment

Thirty percent of human population has a high blood pressure and everyone has a 90% risk to acquire it during the rest of the life. As a result, half of all human deaths are due to the major complications of high blood pressure, mainly stroke and heart attack.

Medical scientists are fighting this life-threatening disease and they have gained some success. That is the development of several classes of antihypertensive drugs and definition of “normal” levels of blood pressure that should be maintained to reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications and death.

Is it a great success? Unfortunately not. Pharmaceutical treatment can not reverse the disease. The patient with developed arterial hypertension can only hope to reduce the risk of high blood pressure complications. How big is this risk reduction? Relative risk reduction is less than 25% during 2-5 years for all major cardiovascular complications. It is higher for stroke (36-45%) and less for heart attacks (10-15%). When all risks are combined, the relative risk reduction is close to 25%.

Be careful and distinguish absolute and relative risk reductions. Papers and pharmaceutical ads always present relative risk reduction which is more impressive. They even do not mention that it is “relative”. That is because the absolute risk reduction could be as much as 0.2-2.0%. Does not impress you, right? Let’s take a clinical trial where 0.6% and 0.96% of patients had had fatal stroke in the treatment group and placebo group accordingly. Absolute risk reduction will be 0.96% - 0.60% = 0.36%, however relative risk reduction will be as much as (0.96% - 0.6%)/0.96% = 37.5%! Looks much better! Absolute risk reduction 0.36% means that from one thousand patients taking medication during 3-5 years, three or four could be saved from fatal stroke. Clinical trials don’t say what will happen with those saved patients after 5 years. Presumably, the risk is postponed towards after 5 years period. Clinical trials also do not say which particular patients will be saved. It is like lottery, it could happen that 4 saved patients is just a difference between 44 saved and 40 preliminary died due to pharmaceutical side effects. Vioxx, Celebrex, Baycol are the known examples.

As you see everyone has to pay for this risk reduction not only by inconvenience and cost of pharmaceuticals, but also by the risk of unpleasant or life-threatening side effects. For the patients with high estimated risk (more than 10% during 5 years or more than 20% during 10 years) this price is considered to be a worth-while to pay.

Estimated risk is calculated by doctor. Taking the patient’s age and blood pressure level, plus the presence of risk factors, such as smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, atherosclerosis and renal dysfunction, doctor can say that the risk for the cardiovascular complications of high blood pressure during 5, 10 or 20 years will be certain amount of chances For example, smoking woman, aged below 65, with abdominal obesity (waist more than 102cm) and blood pressure 140-179/90-109 mm Hg will have 15-20% absolute risk of all cardiovascular events at 10 years. Just add one more risk factor (diabetes or high cholesterol) and the risk goes up to 30%. This is high risk and the treatment is definitely required.

For the patients with initial stages of hypertension and low risk the balance between benefits and drawbacks of antihypertensive drugs is not established. There are three reasons for being reluctant to start taking antihypertensive drugs without having 10% estimated risk of cardiovascular complications.

Reason one: absolute risk reduction from, let’s say, 7 % to 5 % does not look sufficient to justify long-term expensive, unsafe and inconvenient treatment.

Reason two: even if we decide to operate the relative instead of absolute risk reduction, we CAN NOT do this, because available clinical trials have demonstrated risk reduction for the high risk patients and we can not extrapolate to the low risk patients. Clinical trials on low risk patients were not performed and we do not know if the harm of the treatment overbalances the benefit.

Reason three: negative side effects of antihypertensives are well known and include metabolic, lipid and hormonal disturbances including development of diabetes. We know that for the high risk patients (read - low life expectancy) the danger from the drug treatment is less than the benefit, but we do not know and we can not know without 20-30 years studies if it is the case for the low risk patients.

That is why official guidelines do not recommend starting drug treatment at the early stage of hypertension. Modern pharmaceutical treatment can not prevent or reverse the disease; it needs to be taken for life-long to maintain blood pressure at the recommended level.

What about non-pharmaceutical treatment?

The treatment guidelines include the following non-pharmaceutical recommendations.

1. Stop smoking

2. Reduce body weight

3. Aerobic physical exercise of 30-40 min, daily or at least 3-4 days per week.

4. More fruits, vegetables and potassium, and less sodium.

5. Alcohol intake not more than 20-30 g of “pure alcohol” per day (it corresponds to 150-200 ml of wine or a pint of beer).

6. Reduce stress

These non-pharmaceutical approaches have a proven efficacy in the reduction and prevention of high blood pressure. But they require substantial perseverance and will-power to comply with.

You should know how much effort is required to follow dietary restrictions or to stop smoking recommendations. Low compliance with these recommendations is usually accompanied by low compliance with drug therapy.

For people who want to be healthy and prevent or at least control this dangerous disease, there is a good news. Non-pharmaceutical recommendations really work; you will definitely reduce your risk by following them.

But people want more. People want the treatment that can effectively reverse the disease. The way to success here is in the proper coping with stresses. Stress causes activation of sympathetic system. Chronic activation of sympathetic system causes hypertension and obesity. Four out of six classes of antihypertensive drugs are designed to act upon sympathetic system.

Can we manage stress and accompanied sympathetic activation without drugs? The task is not easy. You may say that effective stress reduction is only possible after radical change of working or family environment. I may add that even after that, the man will be caught by the new stress. The problem is in people’s attitude and the ability to cope with stress and to avoid chronic anger. Those who are able, live more than hundred years. The researches on centenarians have demonstrated their unique ability to avoid damaging reactions on the stressful situations.

To select most effective stress-management technique for yourself, I recommend you to try first those having proven blood pressure reducing effect, like yoga, meditation and computerized devices reducing respiration rate. Coping with stress is the obvious way to escape from Number One Killer and to live the full life span we are designed for.

Summary.
Five secrets you should know about pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical treatment of the high blood pressure:

1. Pharmaceutical treatment should be initiated if estimated risk of cardiovascular complications is greater that 10% during 5 years or greater than 20% during 10 years.

2. The real benefit of the treatment is described by the absolute risk reduction which very often is not disclosed.

3. Side effects of the antihypertensive drugs during long-term consumption are common and serious.

4. Non-pharmaceutical treatments of hypertension really work. Although they require much more effort and will-power to implement in compare with daily chemical drugs consumption, they will protect you not only against hypertension, but also against the high cholesterol, diabetes, cancer, obesity and other diseases. Plus you will get better and healthier life, with much more energy and satisfaction.

5. We must learn from centenarians how to escape diseases. Centenarians have innate ability to cope with stress; they are natural stress-shedders. They are not preoccupied with worry, hostility and anxiety. They avoid unhealthy thinking, like anger, sadness, guilt and fear. It is possible to develop such personality with modern stress-management and personal development techniques.

Lower Your Blood Pressure by Losing Weight

If you are overweight by more than a few pounds, chances are you have hypertension (or high blood pressure) even if you don't know it. High blood pressure is pretty much a "symptomless" disease and you usually don't know you have it until you get a reading done by a doctor or nurse.

It's important to get regular checks especially if you're overweight because (left untreated) hypertension affects your heart and your arteries, increasing your risk of heart attack and stroke.

What is the link between weight and high blood pressure?

The two are linked because every part of your body needs a blood supply including any excess fat you are carrying. In fact, every extra pound of fat you have increases the total length of the small blood vessels in your body by about a mile. And the longer network of vessels means your heart has to pump harder to send the blood around your body – increasing blood pressure with every pound you carry.

But the good news is that these changes are reversible. Just as blood pressure tends to increase as you gain weight, losing weight reduces it. Sometimes the changes are dramatic.

Research has shown that, if you are overweight, losing 10kg (about 22lbs) can lower your systolic blood pressure level by up to 10mmgH – a figure that would not be a poor result for many of the blood pressure medications currently available. And it could certainly help you if you and your doctor are aiming to reduce the amount of medication you take.

The best way to lose weight is to gradually change your diet for a healthier one and slowly increase the amount of exercise you take. The weight loss programs which fail most are those which try to get you to change your whole lifestyle overnight. That is just not sustainable for most people.

By introducing more fruit, vegetables and whole grains, cutting down on junk food, reducing portion sizes and becoming a bit more active you will give yourself the best possible chance to succeed. A healthier diet and exercise not only leads to welcome weight loss but will also help reduce your blood pressure in other ways.

12 Health Benefits of Meditation

Meditation is usually recognized as a largely spiritual practice, particularly in Eastern philosophies and religions. In the past few decades, as Western culture has been exposed more and more to meditation through the martial arts and some popular Eastern philosophies, it has also been found to have many health benefits. Westerners are also discovering that meditation is not as mysterious or difficult to do as many of us may have thought. And given the long list of benefits that a little meditation can produce, it may be worth it for you to look in to this ancient practice.

Some health benefits of meditation may include:

Lowering oxygen consumption.

Decreasing respiratory rate.

Increasing blood flow and slowing the heart rate.

Increasing exercise tolerance in heart patients.

Leads to a deeper level of relaxation.

Good for people with high blood pressure because it helps bring the B.P. down.

Reducing anxiety attacks by lowering the levels of blood lactate.

Decreasing muscle tension ( and any pain due to tension) and headaches.

Building self-confidence.

Helping in chronic diseases like allergies , arthritis, etc.

Reducing pre- menstrual Syndrome.

Enhancing the immune system.

How to Meditate:

You don't have to sit in some pretzel like position in a secluded monastary to do good meditation. Meditation involves sitting in a relaxed position and clearing your mind. You can do this on the floor or on a bench, or in a chair. Just don't use a chair that is too comfortable or you may fall asleep. You may focus on a repetitive sound, or by counting your own breaths, or by concentrating on nothing at all. It's necessary to have 5-20 distraction-free minutes to spend. It is helpful to have silence and privacy.

If you haven't tried meditation before you might find it useful. Give it a try and see what you think. Or, in the case of meditation, it's actually what you don't think that counts.

7 Important Pointers for Healthier Eating

1. Understand Your Eating Habits -

Do you like to snack on salty junk food? If so, don't eat directly from the large bag. Get the smaller individual snack bags or take out a handful from the big bag and put the rest away. If you think the microwave is a lifesaver, buy healthy foods that can be easily prepared in the microwave. Realizing your individual eating preferences and working with them will help you to eat healthier much more effectively than trying to force yourself to adapt to new ways of doing everything. Remember that humans are extremely resistant to change, and the bigger the change the more we resist. Keep the changes small and more comfortable and you will be much more successful.

2. Reduce Meat Consumption -

Contrary to what most Americans think, meat should not be the main stay of your diet. In fact, a healthy diet should consist mainly of grains, nuts and seeds, and non starchy vegetables and fruits. Try to work more of these foods into your daily diet. Put some shelled sunflower seeds on a salad. Add a can of kidney beans to soup or your pasta dish. Have a bowl of brown rice mixed with three bean salad, some peanut butter, and a splash of low sodium soy sauce.

3. Experiment with Different Foods -

Eat more vegetables. No one said you have to eat plain steamed broccoli. Try adding some unusual spices that you like to common vegetables. Some of your experiments might not turn out great, but you may surprise yourself with some interesting combinations. Or, you can add some left over vegetables to your omelet or scrambled eggs in the morning. A big benefit of increasing your vegetable consumption is that it increases the volume of a meal while reducing calories. Apparently people tend to eat the same weight of food, not the same amount of calories over a day. Since non starchy vegetables are usually lower in calories and higher in bulk, you can trick yourself into thinking you're eating as much as you always have.

4. Packaged Foods and Labels -

The fact is that Americans ingest three-quarters of their sodium and almost all the trans fats and added sugar from packaged foods. Don't pay attention to all the fabulous claims on the fronts of packaged goods. Look for the nutrition facts section instead and pay close attention to the calories, saturated fats, trans fats, and sodium. Check other brands to see if the numbers on a competing brand may be lower. And don't forget that the numbers shown are for one serving. If you know you're going to eat more than one serving, make sure you multiply the numbers by the expected serving you'll be consuming.

5. Know Your Fats -

Fats have almost twice the calories per gram than proteins or carbohydrates. If you want to maintain or lose weight, you need to limit the amount of fats you eat - both the "good"ones and the "bad" ones. Different fats affect the body in different ways. Polyunsaturated and mono-unsaturated fats are the "good" fats found in vegetable oils and oily fish. They don't raise cholesterol levels and may even reduce the risk of cardiovascular problems. Saturated and trans fats are know as "bad" fats. These are found in dairy and beef products and many packaged and fast foods. The more you eat of these, the higher your risk of cardiovascular disease.

6. Watch What You Drink -

Beverages can create a lot of unwanted calories. A twelve ounce can of regular soda contains 150 calories. If you drink just two of those every day, you could gain over 30 pounds in a year. And beverages don't fill you up the same way that foods do. Studies have shown that people eat the same amount whether they wash their food down with a 150 calorie drink or just plain water. If you think about it, for thousands of years, all people drank was water. And that's not a bad thing.

7. Portion Control Is Important -

Restaurants these days cause us many problems when it comes to eating healthy. In addition to high calorie high fat dishes, they also serve us huge portions. The average human is usually in a state where they can say they are neither hungry nor full. Unfortunately, in that state, if something is put in front of us, we'll eat it. Remember that a serving of almost any food should be the amount that fits into the palm of your hand. If you're eating out, one strategy is to share an entree. That way you'll eat less, and save some money too. Another tactic is to ask your server for a "doggy bag" as soon as you get your food and put half of it in the bag before you start to eat.

Fitness Facts

According to the Physical Activity and Health report from the US Surgeon General,

• More than 60% of US adults don’t engage in the recommended amount of activity.
• About a quarter of adults are not active at all.
• Physical inactivity is more common among:
  • Women than men
  • African American and Hispanic adults than whites
  • Older than younger adults
  • Less affluent than more affluent people
• Social support from family and friends has been consistently and positively related to regular physical activity.

The benefits of physical activity are broad and important. It:

• Reduces the risk of dying from heart disease
• Lowers your chance of developing high blood pressure, colon cancer, and diabetes
• Helps maintain healthy bones, muscles, and joints
• Reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression
• Fosters improvement in mood and feelings of well-being
• Helps control blood sugar and weight, develop lean muscle, and reduce body fat