Blood Pressure and Emotions

[KEND]

Blood pressure and emotions
Late last year I moved back to the UK, spent a while living with friends before getting an apartment on the coast. I had been eating out a lot and fell into a Brit style of eating. This included fish and chips, steak and kidney pie, Pasties and other pies. Not the most healthy way of eating since previously I had stuck to a modified Mediterranean diet in the USA. I didn’t feel particularly unhealthy and resolved to get back to healthy diet when I settled in. About a month ago I joined the NHS and as such had to undergo a series of tests, blood, heart etc.
Fortunately the tests turned out OK except for being a little overweight and having a surprisingly high blood pressure. As with any situation I like to do my own research on how this came about and evolve a strategy to deal with it [I had declined medication]. The weight, no problem, I had done that once before a few years ago. With respect to the blood pressure I found that there was a ‘white coat’ effect which raises blood pressure while in a doctor’s office, but this would not account for the high level shown, on the other hand it did show that emotions played a part.
I purchased a meter and started to check blood pressure each day. Next I resolved to reduce the pressure with acupuncture, diet, exercise and meditation. Well, after a month it appeared to be working. Along the way I found some curious anomalies.
I would take three readings within a few minutes of each other and there would be as much as 15 points difference in the systolic readings, with the final reading being, in general, the lowest. Since anxiety, according to various studies appears to be a factor in elevated readings I experimented with self induced emotions and their effect on the readings. I took the first reading while in a ‘happy ‘ state, thinking of a joke or ‘inner smile’, this gave the lowest reading, next single point meditation, clearing the mind of thoughts, this gave the highest reading, then a ‘normal’ state, thinking of events of the day, this gave a middle reading. I repeated these in a different order, same results. Not quite what I expected. Now this is by no means definitive, a series of self administered tests, probably prone to subjective bias, not recommended to others as a panacea for reducing blood pressure.
One thing seems to have emerged, that keeping oneself in a ‘happy’ state is beneficial to one’s health. I am not advocating a ‘la la’ existence, a certain degree of anxiety is necessary to function in a responsible manner.
Anyway, work in progress.
Any input from medical professionals and others would be appreciated

[Dmitri]

Fascinating, thanks for sharing!

(Sorry, no useful input here...)

[kenneth fish]

I did some work with this (in relation to both medical uses of Bp monitors as well as interrogation uses). Your observations coincide with what we found, although there are meditative and focus techniques, as well as trained responses ("bio-feedback") that can be used to effect transient reductions in Bp. Your observation regarding very focused meditation is also in keeping with what others have observed.

I suggest eliminating as much salt from your diet as possible too.

[yeniseri]

Western science through psychoneuroimmunology (psyche influencing neural (input) affecting immune system -whether positive or negative) and influencing state/stages of health.

Some years ago, I broke down some elements of TCM (the wellness continum) at an acupuncture school and I used the basics of salutogenesis with corresponding Western frame of reference.
http://www.ndphs.org///documents/2502/S ... 20NCDs.pdf

In short, individuals have to find their own model since the one size fitting all will not apply. Some people may see somethng in taijiquan, yoga, pilates and even a simple walk as part of the wellness template

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salutogenesis
Definition/background of Aaron Antonovsky

[KEND]

Thanks for your input Ken. Are there any official studies on this. I found also that progressive relaxation technique gave similar results to 'happy' thoughts. Salt can be a problem , almost all packaged foods are laced with sugar or salt. I have never particularly liked salt so that's not a problem. Anyway down in the 130/78 range [ down from 180/86] so its moving in the right direction.

[Peacedog]

Kend,

Good news on your improvement.

For cases of mild hypertension I've seen a reduction in bodyfat levels almost always provide relief.

Please keep an eye on this though.

If acupuncture and herbs stop working, definitely go on the meds. The effects of uncontrolled blood pressure over time are really bad on a number of levels and while largely preventable can't be repaired afterwards.

I've seen a number of people in the clinic over the last year who had uncontrolled HBP for extended periods of time, largely due to a fear of medication, and the results aren't pretty. Interestingly, acupuncture failed to improve their condition. In at least one case it made the situation worse. My only thought is that after a certain point the internal remodeling produces changes to support the condition that cannot be alleviated through the better known treatment protocols.

Best of luck,

Peacedog

[kenneth fish]

As mentioned above, salt and body mass have probably the greatest effect on Bp over time.

As for mood (which is referred to as "affect") :

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22561512

http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/76/1/104/

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00998776

[KEND]

Ken, Thanks again for the info. I remember in the 60's and 70'sthere were many studies on biofeedback as a therapy for many stress related conditions, is it still used.
Peacedog, thank you for your advice, were there any studies on the people you mentioned, did they change their lifestyle. I don't have a fear of medication. No disrespect , but I personally feel that educating yourself gives you a better perspective on the risks involved in various forms of therapy. With an average of 60% of the population on meds[and over 70% of those over 70] I believe there is cause to re evaluate their use.

[Peacedog]

Kend,

Absolutely none taken. In fact, I think you are being smart about it. Just in case what you are doing stops working, please consider the alternative.

No case studies I can sent anyone unfortunately. Due to the nature of the clinic I'm at a good percentage of the clientele are not acting with what I would call complete control of their faculties. And yes, a committed dietary change would probably help in the majority of those cases.

[KEND]

Glad to say back on track, after 9 weeks figures are 130/75 with 55 pulse

[Peacedog]

Good for you.

How much weight did you lose during that time?

[KEND]

8 lbs--not as much as I hoped but working on it

[Michael]

Way to go, Ken!