Reducing Blood Pressure With Breathing?

"Just a take a deep breath" is a common suggestion when someone is stressed out. Now a series of clinical studies has shown that deep, slow breathing is actually a powerful way to permanently reduce blood pressure. It's estimated that around 65 million people in the United States alone have high blood pressure. High blood pressure has been linked with increased risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, blindness and even dementia. Contrary to popular perceptions, high blood pressure has no symptoms. It's possible for a "Type A" personality to have no blood pressure issues and conversely for a "mellow" type to actually have high blood pressure.

According to Dr. David Anderson of the National Institute on Aging, "If you sit there under-breathing all day and you have high salt intake, your kidneys may be less effective at getting rid of that salt." In clinical trials published in the American Journal of Hypertension, patients who did slow-breathing for 15 minutes a day over a two month investigation period were able to reduce their blood pressure by 10 to 15 points. The exact mechanism for how slow breathing reduces blood pressure is not fully understood. "It's still a bit of a black box," noted Dr. William J. Elliot from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

Although it would seem logical that slow breathing would have a temporary calming effect, how it's able to produce permanent results is still being researched. One theory is that slow breathing alters the bodies' blood chemistry. "They may be changing their blood gases and the way their kidneys are regulating salt," says Anderson.Meditation, yoga and other relaxation methods that use slow, deep breathing have been suspected to lower blood pressure, but the hard evidence has been elusive until now. Part of the trick of slow breathing is doing it right. Counting your breaths is one way. For example, you can do a 1:4:2 ratio of "one count inhale," "4 counts hold," and "2 counts exhale." The catch is that this takes practice and the mind tends to wander over the 15 minutes needed to see benefits from slow breathing. Plus, counting in your head isn't exactly relaxing. Audio programs such as "Lower Blood Pressure Drug Free: Guided Breathing for Low Blood Pressure" use a combination of nature sounds with synchronized inhale and exhale sound cues. The sound cues are ocean waves, songbirds and other naturally soothing sounds.

This takes the guesswork out of the slow breathing and allows the listener to achieve deep relaxation. The program is available through LowBPdrugFree.com and amazon.com. With one in three adults having high blood pressure, it's clear that even simple lifestyle modifications like slow breathing could help millions improve their health. Anderson describes high blood pressure as a "disease of civilization and a sedentary lifestyle." Although diet, exercise and medication are the traditional solutions for treating high blood pressure, it seems that another, natural treatment is right under our noses - breathing.