In this electronic world, acupuncture for high blood pressure offers a distinct perspective. A healthy body is our natural state, and any illness or health problem is caused by an imbalance in the body. Acupuncture aims to restore balance to each patient in order to achieve wellness. If left untreated, high blood pressure can be fatal; however, a more optimistic perspective is that high blood pressure is a warning sign that something in a person's lifestyle needs to change.
What is High Blood Pressure and the Reason Behind it?
High blood pressure is a condition in which the blood pressure is higher than usual. Your blood pressure changes throughout the day based on what you do. The higher your blood pressure is, the greater your risk of developing additional health issues like Kidney failure, heart attack, and stroke. High blood pressure is a condition that often develops over time. It can occur as a result of poor lifestyle choices, such as a lack of regular physical activity. Certain health issues, such as diabetes and obesity, might also raise your chances of developing high blood pressure. High salt and sugar diet will cause sustained high blood pressure. All the processed foods have higher than normal levels of salt, which lead water retention in your blood vessels. High stress can lead to high cortisol and adrenaline levels, which can also increase your blood pressure. Women after menopause tends to have high blood pressure because their sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight response) may become hypersensitive.
How does Acupuncture Help Lower High Blood Pressure?
Acupuncture can aid in the reduction of high blood pressure. One of the mechanisms that acupuncture for high blood pressure may do for a patient is to help them relax, which will remove the stress that is at the foundation of the problem. During acupuncture treatment, certain hair-thin needles are inserted into specific parts of the body that link to meridians. These meridians are the pathways by which “qi,” or a person's natural energy, moves through the body. A blockage of qi is regarded to be the cause of any imbalance in the body. Acupuncture helps to clear obstructions and restore a healthy qi flow. Someone with high blood pressure should come in twcie a week for the first 4-6 weeks, depending on the severity and chronicity of their HBP, then reevaluated. This duration of treatments will improve the outcome, especially if they are using herbs in conjunction with their acupuncture treatments. Results can be seen sooner and be long lasting. Acupuncture for high blood pressure aims to treat the cause of each patient's health problem rather than just the symptoms. Stress appears to be a crucial role in the development of hypertension.
How can You Prevent the High Blood Pressure?
1. Reduce the salt intake
2. Meditate every day before you go to sleep, so you calm down your sympathetic nervous system.
3. Eating watermelon can help you drain out the extra water in your blood vessels.
4. Magnesium can help relax the smooth muscles on the blood vessels.
Research for Acupuncture and High Blood Pressure:
Controlling blood pressure is an important part of preventing cardiovascular disease, macular degeneration and kidney disease. Despite advancements in hypertension medication, effective management remains a challenge. Multiple pharmacological techniques used together fail to control blood pressure, and long-term usage of those drugs has serious adverse effects. When high dosage medications are applied, your blood pressure may drop to very low levels, which can cause insufficient blood flow to your eyes and brain. Long term insufficient blood flow will lead to macular degeneration, insomnia, retinitis pigmentosa and dementia. Recent studies indicated that older people should keep their blood pressure to the level based on their age.
A study conducted in Turkey and published in Acupunct Electrother Res, 2013, indicated that combing acupuncture and medications, patients have more stabilized blood pressure and had less side effects such as fatigue, dizziness, weakness, headache, joint pain, sleeping problems, cold hands and feet, edema and depression. Acupuncture treatment may help patients lower the dosage of high blood pressure medication so the blood pressure will not fluctuate too much. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23724695/).
Dr Li Zheng is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist. Graduated from the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Li Zheng now has 26 years of clinical experience. She holds a PhD in neuroscience from the US and is a Harvard Medical School-trained researcher and a professor at the New England School of Acupuncture. Her two practices are located in Needham, MA, and Boca Raton, FL. For more information please visit: https://bostonchineseacupuncture.org/ .