Hypertension – Lifestyle factors
Following on from my introduction to Hypertension (High BP), in this blog I want to discuss lifestyle strategies to prevent and assist the treatment of Hypertension (High BP).
Manage your Stress
I know its obvious, but I thought it was worth starting with this. The link between hypertension and stress is well documented as are the long list of things that help you cope including exercise, counselling, massage, reflexology etc. While we are on the subject of the obvious, I would like to remind readers that High BP is associated with high salt diets, smoking and high alcohol consumption too.
Optimise your Vitamin D levels
Ateria stiffness (atherosclerosis) is a driving factor for hypertension. As your blood travels from your heart, cells in the wall of your aorta, called barorecptors, sense the pressure load, and signal your nervous system to either raise or lower the pressure. However, the stiffer your arteries are, the more insensitive your baroreceptors become, and the less efficient they become at sending the signals. Vitamin D deficiency is, in turn, linked to stiff arteries, which is why optimising your vitamin D levels are so important.
Get enough sleep
In a study presented at the American Heart Association High Blood Pressure Research 2012 Scientific Sessions, researchers found a strong link between sleep quality and a type of high blood pressure known as resistant hypertension, which does not respond to typical drug-based treatments.
In fact, women who had resistant hypertension were five times as likely to also have poor sleep quality. While the average length of sleep in this study was only 6.4 hours a night (and nearly half slept fewer than six hours each night), it was sleep quality, not quantity, that appeared to influence hypertension risk.
While this study only found an association with women, other studies have also linked hypertension in men to a lack of deep sleep,1 and sleeping fewer than seven hours a night has been linked to hypertension in both men and women.2
References
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Can a placebo work for back pain, even when you now you’re taking it?
My initial response to this question, is off course not. A placebo is anything that seems to be a "real" medical treatment -- but isn't i.e. it is fake. The judgement of what is fake is based on the availability of scientific evidence. Traditionally in medical trails patients don't know if they are taking a placebo. For most of my readers, they would probably refuse to take a placebo, as they know its a placebo, so you would think your wasting your time. I would agree with this, but was a bit surprised by some recent research. Around half of 97 patients with chronic lower back pain were given a pill bottle with the word "Placebo" printed on it - after they been told that a placebo contains no active ingredient - along with a standard NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) pain killer, while the remainder of the group was just given the NSAID. After taking the pills twice a day for three weeks, the patients taking they placebo plus the NSAID reported a 30% reduction in pain compared with a 9% decrease in those given only the NSAID. So the researches discovered that a placebo may be effective treatment for lower back pain even when people know they are taking a placebo! Reference Carvalho, Cláudia; Caetano et al, 2016, Open-label placebo treatment in chronic low back pain: a randomized controlled trial, Journal of Pain, December 2016, Vol 157, Issue 2, p 2766 - 2772
Mundane superfoods – part 2
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Elbow Pain
Recently we have treated a few cases of elbow pain.
There are two common site for elbow pain, the outside edge of the elbow which is often an indication of tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis and the inside edge of the elbow which is often an indication of glofer's elbow or medial epicondylitis. With both of these conditions the pain may radiate up the arm and / or down along the forearm.
Both conditions can be caused by precise wrist movements from using a mouse or keyboard. As the name suggests tennis elbow can be caused by faulty backhand technique when playing tennis. While golfer's elbow can be caused by poor technique when playing Golf or faulty forehand technique when playing tennis.
In addition tennis elbow can be caused by carrying heavy shopping bags as it causes tension in the wrist extensors.
Most of the cases we see are caused by long hours using computers. The first thing we do is try and establish the cause of the pain, which can be tightness or spasm in the muscles of the forearm, neck or shoulders and then treat accordingly. We can also show you simple stretches to stretch out the muscles of the forearm.
What surprised us, and prompted me to write this blog is that they all the clients had just assumed that elbow pain was something that they just had to lived with. In all the cases we dramatically reduced the pain and in most cases after a few treatments the clients were pain free! So don't sit their in pain, book a massage.
