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Can Naturopathy & Yoga Alleviate Prehypertension?
Stage 1 hypertension, often termed prehypertension, indicates systolic (top number) readings between 120 mmHg and 139 mmHg, or diastolic (bottom number) readings between 80 mmHg and 89 mmHg. Prehypertension serves as an important warning sign, signalling the likelihood of developing high blood pressure in the future. Elevated blood pressure significantly amplifies the risk of severe health complications, including heart attack, stroke, coronary heart disease, heart failure, and kidney failure.
While there is no outright cure for high blood pressure, proactive measures can effectively manage and mitigate its progression. Naturopathy and yoga offer a holistic approach to address prehypertension.
Identifying underlying causes: Naturopathic doctors conduct thorough assessments to identify the underlying factors contributing to prehypertension. This may include examining lifestyle habits, dietary patterns, stress levels, hormonal imbalances, and genetic predispositions. By understanding the unique factors influencing an individual's blood pressure, naturopathic practitioners can tailor treatment plans accordingly.
Dietary modifications: Nutrition plays a crucial role in managing prehypertension. Naturopathic doctors often recommend dietary modifications that prioritise whole foods rich in nutrients and antioxidants while minimising processed foods, sodium and added sugars. Emphasising a plant-based diet, high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins, can help lower blood pressure and improve overallcardiovascular health.
Lifestyle changes: Lifestyle factors such as physical activity, sleep quality, and stress management significantly impact blood pressure levels. Naturopathic practitioners emphasise the importance of regular exercise, adequate sleep, and stress-reduction techniques such as meditation, and deep breathing exercises. These lifestyle changes not only help lower blood pressure but also contribute to overall well-being.
Herbal supplements: Herbal medicine has long been used in naturopathic practice to support cardiovascular health and manage hypertension. Certain herbs, such as hawthorn, garlic, hibiscus, and olive leaf extract, have demonstrated potential in lowering blood pressure and improving vascular function. Naturopathic doctors may prescribe individualised herbal formulations based on a patient's specific needs and health history.
Other therapies: In addition to dietary and lifestyle interventions, naturopathic treatment for prehypertension may incorporate other therapeutic modalities such as acupuncture, mud therapy, and hydrotherapy. These complementary therapies can help optimise blood circulation, reduce stress, and promote relaxation, improving blood pressure control.
Can yoga help in managing prehypertension?
Yoga, an ancient practice revered for its holistic approach to health, holds promise in aiding the management of prehypertension.
Through a combination of mindful movements, controlled breathing, and relaxation techniques, yoga offers a multifaceted approach to promoting cardiovascular wellness. Here are some yoga poses and pranayama that can be incorporated into your routine to help manage prehypertension effectively.
• Stand erect with feet joined together and look in front at a point.
• Interlock the fingers. While inhaling, raise your hands and heels and turn your palms to face upwards.
• Maintain the position with normal breath for 20 seconds.
• While exhaling, bring the heels down.
Benefits: Improves balance, strengthens leg muscles, and fosters mental focus, while aiding in stress reduction and blood pressure regulation.
Setubandhasana (bridge pose)
• Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart.
• Press your feet into the floor as you lift your hips towards the ceiling, engaging your glutes and thighs.
• Place the palms on the waist and support the back.
• Maintain the position with normal breath.
• To release the pose, bring the palms down and while exhaling, bring down the spine on the floor.
Benefits: Opens the chest, stretches the spine, promotes deep breathing, improves respiratory function and aids in blood pressure management.
Bhujangasana (cobra pose)
• Lie on your stomach, keep the legs together and place the palms beside the chest.
• While inhaling, engage the back muscles to lift your head, and upper torso and look up.
• Align elbows under shoulders for support.
• Maintain the position for some time with normal breathing.
• While exhaling, bring the chin down and relax.
Benefits: Gently stretches the spine, opens up the chest, improves breathing and promotes relaxation which helps control the blood pressure.
Sukhasana (the comfortable pose)
• Sit with your legs stretched out and your back erect.• Place palms on the floor behind your hips, fingers pointing backwards.• Cross your legs, right foot under the left thigh and left foot under the right thigh.• Keep the spine straight, hands on knees, eyes closed and body relaxed.• Breathe slowly and evenly, maintaining the pose.Benefits: Promotes relaxation, reduces stress, and calms the mind, thereby helping to lower blood pressure.
Nadi Shodhanan Pranayama (alternate nostril breathing)
• Sit comfortably with your spine straight.• Adopt nasika mudra with the right hand and place the left hand on the left knee.• Close the right nostril with your right thumb, inhale gently through the left nostril and hold your breath for some time.• Close the left nostril with the ring finger, and exhale through the right nostril.• Now, inhale through the right nostril and hold the breath for some time, close the right nostril with the thumb and exhale through the left nostril. The exhalation must be longer than the inhalation.• Repeat the practice for ten rounds.Benefits: Balances nervous system, reduces stress, improves respiratory function, enhances mental clarity, and supports cardiovascular health.
Prehypertension, a significant lifestyle ailment, poses serious health risks and can even be fatal in some cases. The most effective approach to prevention involves reassessing dietary habits, embracing physical activity, and implementing stress-reduction techniques.(The author is the chief medical officer of a naturecure institute.)
The New Low For High Blood Pressure
One night back in May, I went to sleep with perfectly normal blood pressure, an unremarkable 120/80. The next day, I woke up in a blood pressure danger zone. What happened? My blood pressure didn't spike overnight; instead, government officials issued revised blood pressure guidelines that included a new category: prehypertension.
Anyone with a systolic (top number) reading of 120 or over, or a diastolic (bottom) reading of 80 or over, now has prehypertension, which means we're at increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
Between those of us with newly-minted prehypertension (some 23% of the population), and people who have full-blown hypertension (at least another 25%), danger-zone blood pressure is an emerging epidemic in this country. Nearly half of all American adults over 18 are in one category or the other.
Are so many of us really so unhealthy? I'm only 36. I run three miles every other day. (Well, okay, sometimes I skip a day.) I almost never eat fried foods. I'm just one of thousands of people in their 30s, 40s and 50s who thought we were paragons of health until the new numbers were released. Are the doctors just trying to scare us?
"This is a wake-up call. We've changed what normal is, because we now know that blood pressure in the prehypertension range is not normal," says Sheldon Sheps, MD, medical editor of MayoClinic.Com's High Blood Pressure Center. He served on the committee that drafted the new guidelines.
"There is increasing evidence of the relationship between an elevated blood pressure and future problems with heart attack and stroke. With each level of increase in pressure, you get increased risk," he tells WebMD. Consider these startling statistics:
Starting as low as 115/75, the risk of heart attack and stroke doubles for every 20-point jump in systolic blood pressure or every 10-point rise in diastolic blood pressure.
"We've also learned that people age 55 and older, who currently have normal blood pressure, have a 90% risk of developing high blood pressure down the road," says Aram Chobanian, MD, Dean of Boston University School of Medicine, who chaired the guidelines committee.
"We have a lot of concern about this rise in blood pressure over the course of our lifetimes, and to try to prevent that from happening, we have identified a 'prehypertension' group in which lifestyle changes can make a difference," Chobanian says.
But if so many people are already likely to go on to develop high blood pressure, can we really avoid it? Maybe high blood pressure is just an inevitable consequence of aging. Not so, says Chobanian.
"There are populations in the world where age-related rises in blood pressure are minimal. In areas of Mexico, certain areas of the South Pacific, and other parts of the world with very low salt intake, there's not anywhere near the age-related rise in blood pressure that we see in the United States."
So if rising blood pressure and aging don't -- or shouldn't -- go hand in hand, what should the millions of us who now have prehypertension do about it? The good news: we shouldn't be looking for a new pill. "Unless you have diabetes or kidney disease, people with prehypertension don't need to be on medication," says Sheps.
That's also the bad news. Preventing high blood pressure means lifestyle changes, which is usually harder than popping a pill. Number one on the blood pressure reduction hit parade: preventing or treating obesity. As our pants sizes get smaller, so do our blood pressure numbers. Of course, the opposite is true as well. With our nation on a supersizing binge and a growing percentage of adults and children becoming overweight or obese, it's no surprise that rates of high blood pressure have skyrocketed as well.
You can get your weight down by any number of methods, but ultimately, staying healthy means choosing a plan you can live with long-term. Of the trendy high-protein, low-carb plans like Atkins and South Beach, Sheps says, "If you want to try them to get a jump-start on weight loss, go ahead for a month or two months. That's about all people can stand before they get bored to tears.
"But for life, the diet you need to be on for life is the DASH diet, which is not specifically designed for weight loss. The Holy Grail is a healthier lifestyle and we know from untold numbers of studies that if you follow a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and low in fat, you'll live longer and better."
High in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, and low in total saturated fats, DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) has been found to be as effective in reducing blood pressure as blood pressure medication. "It's not clear what it is about DASH that works, but it's high in potassium and calcium and low in saturated fat and sodium," says Chobanian. "It's a sensible diet that you can realistically follow for the rest of your life."
Studies have also shown that DASH is even more effective in controlling weight and reducing blood pressure when combined with a regular exercise program. If you can't fit in the newly-recommended one hour of physical activity a day, half an hour daily still beats never breaking a sweat.
Ultimately, say experts, those of us with prehypertension need to be more aware of our changing blood pressure rates. Sheps suggests monitoring your blood pressure on your own between doctor's visits, using a home blood pressure device. "Just make sure the cuff size is appropriate," he says. "It needs to cover at least 80% of the circumference of the arm."
Putting the brakes on the high blood pressure epidemic won't be easy. "It's always an uphill battle to get people to change their lifestyles," says Chobanian. Yet these days, when half of American adults are at risk for heart attack or stroke because of their blood pressure, doctors say it's time for a major public health effort.
The Benefits Of Doing Yoga Everyday
New yoga studios and schools are popping up everywhere from Tokyo to Toronto and from Sao Paulo to San Francisco. People from all walks of life, including C-suite leaders, actors, athletes andhomemakers, are increasingly incorporating yoga in their fitness and wellness routines because of the benefits such a practice offers.
That yoga improves flexibility, mobility and joint health, is common knowledge. It does a lot more. Here are some of the top benefits of yoga.
Beat stressBe it your daily commute, work, family and even social gatherings, stressorsare everywhere. Regular practice of yoga is extremely useful in stress management. Inverted postures such as sarvangasana and shavasana as well as pranayamaare helpful in tackling stress, says ManishPole, a Bengaluru-based yoga instructor.
A practice such as Yoga-nidra, a technique in which one progressively relaxes the body from toes to head, is a great way of beating stress. "You focus on one part of the body at a time and consciously relax it. By focusing on just one part of the body at a time, we reduce the speed at which the mind works. This conscious slowing down of the mind helps us handle stress better and thereby manage diabetes and hypertension," explains Karthik Kashyap, ayoga instructorin Bengaluru.
Improved health markers (BP, cholesterol)Doctors often prescribe yoga practice, alongside medicine, for managing vital health markers such as blood pressure and cholesterol. A research paper titled Effectiveness Of Yoga For Hypertension: Systematic Review And Meta-analysis, published in 2013, found that"overall, yoga was associated with a modest but significant reduction in blood pressure… with larger, more clinically significant reductions in blood pressure for interventions incorporating 3 basic elements of yoga practice (postures, meditation, and breathing)."
The paper concludes that yoga is an effective intervention for reducing blood pressure among people with pre-hypertension or hypertension. Yoga can be especially effective when combined with aerobic activities to manage your blood pressure and cholesterol levels, says Dr. Yogesh Shah, an internal medicine consultant at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Indore.
Better balance, more strengthResearch has shown that yoga is good for improving athletic performance by improving flexibility and balance, which helps prevent common injuries, and increasing mental concentration. Yoga practice also increases body awareness and strength and enhances stability and balance, saysRahul Huidrom,Cult.Fitfitness expert.
Yoga postures such as the triangle pose and tree pose not just help strengthen the leg muscles, but they also increase stability and improve balance, says Girish Bindra, a running coach in Mumbai. The form of yoga that especially tests your strength is Ashtanga Yoga. Yoga improves elasticity of muscles, says Mumbai-based yoga trainer Abhishek Sharma.
Pain managementYoga is a useful strategy in pain management and rehabilitation in conjunction with other interventions, says Kashyap. While acute pain requires medical intervention, chronic (long-term) pain can be effectively managed with yoga. Sukshma vyayama (a relaxation technique involving tightening your muscles and letting go) is useful in managing pain caused by ligament tears and bone degeneration, he adds.
"This must be supported by exercises that help strengthen the muscles around the affected area by moving them regularly to relax the injured spot. This process improves blood circulation and reduces muscular stress," adds Kashyap.
Also, yoga leads to a greater acceptance of chronic pain rather than the obsession with eliminating it, explains Sharma."It is our reaction to the pain that causes us greater suffering. Yoga helps accept the pain, takes away our obsession with it. Yoga helps you disconnect from the negative emotions that come with pain and that helps people cope better with the perception of pain. That helps reduce the suffering."
Injury preventionYoga is preventive in nature, says Sharma. If you regularly and consistently do yoga the correct way, you are unlikely to experience minor niggles and pain in your day to day life, he argues. "Whatever little aches that surface can easily be fixed with even a gentle session of yoga," says Sharma. The increased flexibility, mobility, balance and elasticity in muscles makes our bodies more resistant to injuries when we push ourselves or carry out strenuous tasks and movements.
Weight managementWhile yoga on its own is not an effective way of losing weight, in conjunction with cardio and strength training, it is a very good weapon in your arsenal to manage your weight, say yoga teachers. The newer, more dynamic forms of hybrid yoga that are fast growing in popularity are more effective for weight loss than traditional yoga, says Srivalli Cherla, a yoga instructor and founder of Samsara Yoga in Bengaluru."Cardio-intensive forms of yoga such as power or Vinyasa yoga are best suited to those who want to address their weight problems. Vinyasayoga is a combination of the dynamic and static forms where you hold asanas for a little longer before moving to the next while in power yoga you move through postures very quickly. Power yoga is a very dynamic practice," she explains Cherla. It is also important to eat healthier if weight management is your end goal, she adds.
Shrenik Avlani is a writer and editor and the co-author of The Shivfit Way, a book on functional fitness.
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