Defy Age Naturally

Start your timer for one minute. If you can you take fewer than 10 breaths a minute, then you can lower your blood pressure.

While increasing physical activity, maintaining balanced weight, and eating a diet high in fruit and vegetables and light on the salt are important ways to lower blood pressure naturally, taking time to breathe slowly and consciously is also being shown to have a significantly positive effect.

Research at the National Institutes of Health suggests that breathing slowly for a few minutes a day is enough to help people lower blood pressure naturally without pills or supplements. In fact, scientists believe that how we breathe may hold a key to how the body regulates blood pressure.

How to Relieve Stress

There are a number of reasons why this works. First, if you have tried slowing down your breathing, you have probably noticed that it slows down your mind. People have been using breathing techniques for centuries as one of the most powerful stress relievers to calm the body and mind.

Break Down Salt

Researchers claim that in addition to deep relaxation, breathing slowly breaks down the salt that we eat.

Dr. David Anderson, who heads research into how to lower blood pressure naturally with behavior at the NIH’s National Institute on Aging, is working to demonstrate this with the help of a special gadget that trains volunteers with high blood pressure to slow-breathe. His studies are revealing a connection between high blood pressure, stress and diet.

“If you sit there under-breathing all day (as most people do) and you have a high salt intake, your kidneys may be less effective at getting rid of that salt than if you’re out hiking in the woods,” said Anderson,

Why is balanced Blood Pressure essential to our health?

People that have high blood pressure have an increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, kidney damage, blindness and dementia. It is often called the silent killer, because patients may notice no symptoms until it already has done serious damage.

Breathe Like a Yogi

One way to slow down your breathing is to use the yoga or Ujjayi Breath. Make an “H” sound, as in “How”. This will make your throat constrict slightly. Now close your mouth, but keep your throat tight. Begin to breathe very slowly in and out. Make sure you fill your lungs to full capacity, and then empty them thoroughly.

I have timed myself doing this, and can do as few as two and a half breaths in one minute. After 10 minutes (or 2 hours if I am doing my yoga practice), I feel incredibly relaxed… and have detoxified any extra salt consumed through the day.

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 14th, 2008 at 11:40 am and is filed under Brain/Mind Fitness, Reduce stress, meditation, yoga.

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