LEARN THE RELAXATION TECHNIQUES TO REDUCE BLOOD PRESSURE
posted in heart disease |
WHAT IS HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE?
Our arteries carry blood from our heart to the rest of our body. When our blood flows through our arteries at a higher pressure than normal, it results in a condition called ‘High Blood Pressure’ (also named ‘Hypertension’).According to medical standards a normal blood pressure stands at a reading of about 120/80. High blood pressure is 140/90 or sometimes higher.
WHY HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE?
Remember that the basic cause of high blood pressure is a stressful and sedentary lifestyle, family history, obesity, lack of regular exercise, and unhealthy eating habits.
THE RISK AND SYMPTOMS
- Most of the signs of high blood pressure is unnoticeable, and in most cases they will be ignored and consider normal. Some more obvious condition like dizziness, blurred vision, shortness of breath and headache are symptoms of high blood pressure, and should be taken seriously. If you have the symptoms mention above, you might have anxiety and depression problems as well, see the list of symptoms for anxiety and panic attack
- Some other risk factors for high blood pressure leading to hypertension are excessive intake of sodium in diet, aging, diabetes, certain kidney diseases and atherosclerosis (thickening and hardening of the arteries).
- Stressful pregnancy may lead to high blood pressure, try to relax.
- High BP can also give rise to severe complications like stroke and heart attack (because of weakened blood vessels, causing aneurysm). Hypertension may also lead to loss of vision and disturbed metabolic syndrome.
- High blood pressure may also affect the kidneys by narrowing and weakening blood vessels in the kidneys.
INTRODUCTION TO RELAXATION TECHNIQUES
Health professionals, doctors and psychotherapists are skilled at and do teach relaxation techniques to reduce blood pressure, but there are many things that you can do on your own to check your blood pressure from rising. Relaxation techniques are meant to increase awareness of your body and refocusing your attention towards a calming thought.
Effective relaxation techniques that reduce blood pressure:
- Ocean, Wind and Stream Sound with Music
- Exercise or Physical Activity
- Yoga
- Relaxation Hypnosis
- Massage Acupuncture
- Meditation
There are various relaxation techniques to choose from, but what really matters is that the relaxation techniques are to be practiced regularly without fail. Lets us now have a look at some very upcoming, useful and not so common relaxation techniques:
Progressive Muscle Relaxation. Begin with your toes, make fist with the toes and tense for 5 seconds, then open and relax your toe muscles for 30 seconds, next, move your focus to the legs, asses, tummy, arms, neck, head. Repeat the process few times from toe to head and from head to toe until you feel all of the muscles in your body are relaxed. Remember to deep breathing during the exercise.
Visualization. Visual relaxation is a powerful technique to help calm your mind, emotion and body. Visualize yourself on the beach, small stream river side, top of a small and windy mountain, on a vacation, spa or doing aromatherapy. Use as many of your senses to create the peaceful and calm situation, imagine the sound, sights, smells and textures of peaceful places, relax your body and mind. Remember to wear loose clothing during the practice, you don’t want your body to generate tight feelings during the practice.
Autogenic Relaxation- Autogenic refers to “something that originates within you.” Both body awareness and visual imagery are used in this technique, to reduce stress. Muscle tension in your body is reduced by repeating self help words or suggestions in your mind to. You have to develop an active imagination system where you need to imagine peaceful surroundings, develop a relaxed breathing and focus on it, or imagine other physical sensations like relaxing your body parts one after the other to master this relaxation technique to reduce blood pressure.
OVERVIEW
You need to control the high blood pressure problems, and avoid damaging the arteries that will lead to heart attack and stroke. Practice relaxation techniques will reduce the blood pressure, which is critical in maintaining a healthy mind and body. To cure high blood pressure caused by anxiety and depression, see the anxiety native treatment for more information.