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Cardio-vascular Health

Hypertension, Blood Pressure

The best treatment for Hypertension

By Dr. W. Gifford Jones

Several weeks ago I wrote about "White-Coat Hypertension", a syndrome revealed in a study from Cornell University that one in four people being treated for hypertension actually had normal blood pressures. But there was one proviso. The blood pressure had to be taken by a female technician or a recorder rather than a doctor. Suppose you're one of the 35 million in North America diagnosed as having hypertension. Is it therefore possible to treat this high blood pressure successfully by relaxation techniques rather than drugs?

Dr. Chandra Patel, a clinical instructor at University College, London, England, reported to the International Society of Hypertension in Heidelberg that relaxation techniques can lower blood pressure, and should be the treatment of choice for patients with mild hypertension.

Dr. Patel studied 192 male and female employees of a London manufacturing company for four years. The subjects all had mild increases in their blood pressure. In addition the participants had two or more risk factors: a blood pressure greater than 140/90, smoked 10 or more cigarettes a day and increased blood cholesterol. None of the workers were taking anti-hypertensive medication. Their weight and alcohol consumption were similar.

Employees were then divided into two groups. Both groups were told to stop smoking, decrease the amount of animal fat in their diet and continue seeing their own physician.

But there the similarities ended. The treatment group were also instructed on ways of decreasing stress. Classes were given for an hour each week for eight weeks. Training included meditation, diaphragmatic breathing and deep muscle relaxation.

Employees were told to spend 20 minutes every day practicing relaxation techniques. The entire thrust was to incorporate these techniques into their everyday life; to make a conscious effort to bring them into play whenever a waiter spilled soup over them, or if they were delayed unduly by a red light, Or if they encountered personality problems at work.

There were visible benefits for those who practiced the relaxation techniques. They slept better, had less tension and anxiety in their daily life. And they got along better with family and fellow workers. Ô 0*0*0* At the end of four years the study revealed a significant fact. The group using the relaxation techniques also had a 12 per cent less chance of developing coronary attack.

Some researchers, however,question the value of specific relaxation techniques in lowering blood pressure. Dr. Jane Irvine, is a psychologist at the Toronto General Hospital. She agrees that teaching some patients how to control stressful situations is effective in lowering blood pressure. But a study conducted by Dr. Irvine and her colleagues showed that the addition of relaxation techniques such as biofeedback, hypnosis and transcendental meditation did not have any appreciable effect on blood pressure.

Teaching some people to relax is easier said than done. A high-powered executive was once watching an elderly farmer sawing a log. It seemed to take forever to accomplish the task. Finally the businessman said, "Why does it take you so damn long to saw that log." The farmer replied, "When I saws I just saws."

Dr. Irvine says that patients with hypertension must learn to control situations that create anger. The best approach is to analyze how you currently deal with troublesome problems. If you pour a scotch and soda every time someone insults you, it's time to change your ways. It's also prudent to arrange relaxing breaks during the day. This doesn't mean having a sandwich at the desk waiting for the telephone to ring. Don't forget that exercise is a sound way to fight hypertension. Dr. R.S. Paffenbarger in the U.S. reported an interesting finding in the 1970's. His research revealed the incidence of hypertension was 20 to 40 per cent lower in individuals 40 to 50 years of age who had participated in five hours of sports activity per week during their college years than those who were less active in younger years.

More recent investigations have studied what happens to blood pressure when dynamic exercises such as jogging, swimming, bicycling and aerobic exercises are carried out three times a week. Results show that the amount of exercise required to lower blood pressure varies from patient to patient. Some patients sustained a 10 to 20 per cent drop in pressure. Others were able to stop taking medication. The best results were seen in those who had never taken any drugs for hypertension. And in those patients who had an overactive nervous system.

Remember that some forms of exercise may be detrimental to blood pressure. Hypertension can't be cured if the main purpose is to mercilessly beat your tennis partners week after week. If that's the primary reason for the game it's wiser to go for a long walk. Remember that it's often beneficial to saw slowly!


W. Gifford-Jones M.D is the pen name of Dr. Ken Walker graduate of Harvard. Dr. Walker's website is: Docgiff.com

My book, �90 + How I Got There� can be obtained by sending $19.95 to:

Giff Holdings, 525 Balliol St, Unit # 6,Toronto, Ontario, M4S 1E1

Pre-2008 articles by Gifford Jones
Canada Free Press, CFP Editor Judi McLeod