May is High Blood Pressure Education Month
May 19th, 2009
According to the CDC, about 73 million people in the United States have high blood pressure, which is also called hypertension. High blood pressure increases the risk for heart disease and stroke, the first and third leading causes of death in the United States. Have your blood pressure checked regularly.
Blood pressure is written as two numbers. The first (systolic) number represents the pressure when the heart beats. The second (diastolic) number represents the pressure when the heart rests between beats.
Blood pressure that is slightly higher than normal is called prehypertension. Persons with prehypertension are more likely to develop high blood pressure than are persons with normal blood pressure levels.
Almost 90 percent of middle-aged adults will develop high blood pressure during the remainder of their lifetime. About 28 percent of American adults have prehypertension. Nearly one of five people with high blood pressure do not know they have it.
High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure, and kidney disease.
A diet high in sodium increases the risk for higher blood pressure. About 77 percent of the sodium Americans consume comes from processed and restaurant foods.
You can maintain healthy blood pressure by changing your lifestyle. Key lifestyle changes include: Maintaining healthy weight, being moderately physically active on most days of the week, following a healthy low-sodium eating plan, and quitting smoking.
With its capacity to regulate blood pressure, particularly if blood pressure is high, acupuncture can also reduce the stress response that may increase blood pressure. The effects of acupuncture can be long lasting and the duration of the effects increase with the number of acupuncture treatments.
High blood pressure is often treated with lifestyle recommendations associated with diet, exercise and weight loss in combination with drug therapy. However, some individuals seek out alternative therapies due to an inability to enact healthful lifestyle changes or who continue to experience high blood pressure although they lead a healthy lifestyle. Acupuncture can be a solution to high blood pressure that is safe and painless.
Acupuncture treats specific acupoints on the wrist, forearm and leg that trigger the release of opioid chemicals in the brain, which reduces excitatory responses in the cardiovascular system. Acupuncture can be part of a therapeutic regimen for long-term care of hypertension and other cardiovascular ailments and can be safely integrated into conventional medical treatment.
For information about acupuncture for hypertension call Dr. Richard Browne, Acupuncture Physician, at (305) 595-9500.
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