Hypertension guide

When someone sits you down (or in my case comes alongside the Hospital bed) and tells you "you have morbidly anything" it is always advisable to sit up and take notice.

Seriously, in my case it was a diagnosis of "Morbidly High Blood Pressure". When someone uses the word "morbidly" it usually has an association with something pretty deadly i.e. Death or Dying. From the Latin morbidus diseased or morbus disease you can appreciate that it does tend to concentrate the mind a bit.

Now a conventional measurement of High Blood Pressure (HBP) analyses the pressure of the blood going into and out of the heart and the affect this has on the arteries etc. It is measured in two terms. In each heartbeat the blood pressure varies between a maximum level (systolic) and a minimum level (diastolic) pressure.

Now historically this has always been calculated or measured in terms of millimetres of mercury (mmHg). Statistically the average has always been known as 120 over 80 but you can imagine when the Doctor sits you down and says:

"Mr Morgan you're suffering from what we call "Morbidly High Blood Pressure, that is to say currently the readings are showing 216 over 160"

Now remember the average is supposed to be 120 over 80 and mine was 216 over 160.

At this point alarm bells started ringing all over the place (metaphorically speaking) and it was a good job I was already sitting down in a hospital bed because if I wasn't already there that's where I would be immediately heading!!

Now I mention this small anecdote (it wasn't small then it was pretty darn major I can tell you)because this was over 12 years ago and since then I have brought my Blood Pressure down to the level it sits at today which is 135 over 82. I was 40 when I was diagnosed with High Blood Pressure and I am in my early fifties now so that accounts for the variation but the moral of this and a series of future articles is that a diagnosis (no matter how extreme or serious at the time) of HBP is not the death sentence it once was.

Now... this is not to be taken as an indication that you are to take it any the less serious than I did but... that with careful treatment, exercise, good diet and in my case additional therapy then it can be brought under control and from here on in, life can return to normal.

Now in my case, my background was that I had spent 25 years in the Music Industry in a variety of roles and so when I explored and discovered a form of relaxation therapy that worked for my Blood Pressure you can imagine I was pretty excited about the whole thing.

It's all about the marriage of regulating and controlling your breathing and in conjunction with music has really helped me relax, take the stress out of very day and ultimately help me lower my blood pressure.

Works for me?

View the original article here