According to the Hypertension Guidelines for Bermuda 2011, hypertensive women who lower their systolic pressure (the top figure) by 15mmHG reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease by 40 percent compared with men who were shown to have a 20 percent reduction.

Women who have high blood pressure should also be aware that their oral contraceptives might be contributing to the problem. According to the guidelines, women with high blood pressure should be on the progesterone-only pill, commonly called POP.

Women over 35 who smoke or suffer with migraines are advised not to use a combined oral contraceptive.

The guidelines say that women with stage-one hypertension, ie a blood pressure of 140-159/90 99, who want to remain on oral contraceptives should closely monitor their blood pressure, cut salt from their diets and use anti-hypertensive medication.

Women with stage-two hypertension or higher, ie blood pressure over 160/100, should not be allowed to take combined oral contraceptives.

Women in menopause have it a bit easier as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has not been shown to increase blood pressure. Hypertensive women in this category can continue their HRT treatments.

Body & Soul has partnered with the Department of Health to raise awareness of the importance of maintaining your blood pressure at healthy levels ie 120-129/80-84.

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Aneroid Blood Stress Displays or Handbook blood strain screens

Principally you will see this blood pressure monitor at your Doctor’s table. Guide blood stress monitor contains arm cuff, a squeeze bulb for inflation, a stethoscope or microphone, and a medical gauge to measure the blood pressure. This monitor is the most effective if you want most accurate reading. Disadvantage is that these are of a lot greater sizes as in comparison with digital ones. You want separate stethoscope.

Digital Blood Strain Screens

Additionally called as Electronic or computerized blood strain monitor. These are available with wrist in addition to arm cuffs. But arm cuffs digital monitors are thought of as more correct as compared to wrist monitors. They’ve a show display which reveals results. Extra of those include only one easy button. Wrap cuff, and click button , thats it. The only disadvantage of these are that these are costlier and generally does not give accurate result if cuff is just not wrapped accurately. Higher you take 2-3 readings everytime you use digital monitor.

Finger Blood Pressure Monitor

New Technology has arrived. Those who has to take blood pressure often, this finger monitor is ideal for them. Just place your index finger in finger cuff. Cuff inflates automatically. LCD will present the results. Highly mild weight and portable. Most individuals use this monitor, even realizing that this is not correct as arm monitors. They often desire it as a result of these are most light weight and dont must roll up their sleeves. When ever you buy this monitor, all the time examine your readings with normal arm BP apparatus.

PEDIATRIC BLOOD PRESSURE MONITOR

This monitor comes with small cuff and a LCD like liquid crystal display of video game. This blood stress monitor will help in protecting the kids calmed and entertained while having their diagnosis and treatment. Pediatric blood stress monitor is being used to display the hypertension for younger children. It is noted that both systolic and diastolic pressure increased significantly in youngsters due to the higher variety of overweight and overweight children. As the little one becomes heavier, the risk of high blood pressure increases as well. Monitoring blood pressure for pediatrics and youngsters is broadly used nowadays.

Wrist blood pressure monitor

When you have fracture of arm or have arthritis of elbow joints, the preferably use wrist blood strain monitor. Though it’s stated that finger and wrist screens do not measure blood pressure very nicely, many individuals are nonetheless using it. These are more sensitive to body temperature and body place so could give false reading. These are also too expensive. These come with a cuff, small LCD and a storage case. Some even with pulse monitor. These are extremely portable. Producers have come up with the idea of adding a lot utility to this system, and because of this, the wrist blood strain gadget are improved to look like a watch. For that reason, the wrist blood strain monitor has brought the consolation of taking blood pressure into much greater dimension. This is particularly made to swimsuit the life-style of large-ranging people.

Blood stress monitor cuff

When choosing blood stress monitor, always see dimension of cuff first. If you are a fat person, dont go for normal dimension cuff. You need a larger dimension cuff. If you will use regular dimension cuff , chances are you’ll hyper inflate it, providing you with false reading. For children, also use smaller measurement cuffs. All relies upon upon your arm size.

What ever you select for taking blood pressure, thought is try to choose that blood strain monitor which you’ll be able to deal with, read and function easily and comfortably, thus supplying you with most accurate reading. While taking blood strain, Follow all precautions on leaflet comes with any blood pressure monitor.

Dr Armughan, Author of this article

Too much pressure of course can damage the brain, eyes, kidneys and heart. Therefore, doctors usually measure your blood pressure as a matter of routine. When the pressure is high, 140/90 consistently, hypertension is diagnosed and dietary and lifestyle changes are suggested first, drugs second.

What if your measurement, however, is increased by the stress of your visit to the clinic? This is called “white coat hypertension” and it is real.

Physicians do not want to treat white coat hypertension because this condition is a temporary response to stress and resolves after patients leave the clinic.

What we would really like to document is blood pressures at home. As a result, medical reports on the Internet are heralding new emphasis on home blood pressure monitoring, also referred to as ambulatory monitoring.

One expert, Dr. T.G. Pickering, writing in the Journal of the American Society of Hypertension, recommends new guidelines for patients to consider that may be more universally recognized within the near future.

Once a physician detects a blood pressure of 140/90 in the clinic the patient is encouraged to purchase and use a home blood pressure cuff. New cuffs are digital, automated, easy to use and emulate the accuracy of office equipment.

If several measurements over a period of weeks show blood pressure trends less than 125/75, doctors are reassured that the higher measures are white coat hypertension, treatment is not needed, and the patients can be encouraged to continue monitoring home blood pressure while working on lifestyle modifications such as smoking cessation, weight loss and exercise.

Meanwhile, those with blood pressures that trend greater than 135/85 need treatment. What about those in between?

For blood pressures which range from 125 to 135 systolic (the top number) and 75 to 85 diastolic (the bottom number), patients may be fitted with an ambulatory blood pressure monitor that is worn for 24 hours and records blood pressures regularly and automatically. When this equipment is returned to the clinic, it can be downloaded into a computer and graphed for easy interpretation.

Ultimately, the real beauty of home blood pressure monitoring is the ready availability, ease of use and affordability of the equipment. No prescription is required.

Those concerned with white coat hypertension may record or graph their blood pressure trends on their home computers to present to the doctors. Clinicians always appreciate more data measurements.

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What the numbers mean and how to keep yours in a healthy range.

Blood pressure. We all know the numbers shouldn’t get too high or too low. It’s usually something that crosses our mind during an annual exam or as a sidebar in a conversation about a high sodium diet. But knowing your blood pressure, the acceptable range, and steps you can take to normalize it, is an important aspect of taking charge of your health.

Shop for blood pressure monitors

So here’s the low down on the two numbers. The systolic number is the higher of the two; it’s also the measurement you get on the top. It represents the pressure in the arteries when your heart muscle contracts. The bottom number measures the pressure in arteries when the heart muscle is relaxing and refilling with blood.

Typically more attention is given to the systolic blood pressure. It signifies a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease for people over the age of 50. In most people, systolic blood pressure rises steadily with age due to increasing stiffness of large arteries, long-term build-up of plaque, and increased incidence of cardiac and vascular disease.

Ideally, you what the systolic number to be less than 120 and the diastolic number to be less than 80. There are various stages of hypertension that your doctor can go over with you but when your blood pressure reads 140 over 90 or higher (at any age) that usually raises concern.

One high reading does not mean you have chronic high blood pressure. Usually, your doctor will take the measurement more than once and on more than one occasion before diagnosing you with high blood pressure. After all, it can change from minute to minute. The number varies depending on your posture, if you’re stressed, if you get up suddenly, or if you are sleeping.

High blood pressure has several contributing factors including smoking, being overweight or obese, too much salt, too much alcohol, and too much stress. There are some risk factors that you have no control over like age, genetics, family history, and certain diseases.

One thing you can do is add more activity into your lifestyle. Increasing physical activity is one easy way you can bring your blood pressure down without resorting to medicine. Regular physical activity makes your heart stronger. A stronger heart can pump more blood with less effort. If your heart can work less to pump, the force on your arteries decreases, lowering your blood pressure. It takes one to three months before you see any change in the number and you have to keep exercising to keep it in the healthy range.

You can monitor your own blood pressure on a regular basis by purchasing an automated cuff at the drug store. If you don’t want to make the investment, most of these stores have a clinic with a stationary machine for public use.

Obviously, if you feel like you are going to black out or feel dizzy and get a low blood pressure reading, seek medical attention. On the opposite end of the spectrum, untreated hypertension (high blood pressure) increases the risk of heart disease and stroke (two of the most common causes of death in the United States). If, while monitoring your blood pressure, you get a systolic reading of 180 mm Hg or higher OR a diastolic reading of 120 mm HG or higher, you should seek immediate emergency medical treatment for a hypertensive crisis.

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About a quarter of people become anxious while they have their blood pressure taken in the surgery, meaning they potentially give a misleading reading. This wrongly pushes many into the high blood pressure zone, a phenomenon known as white coat hypertension. This means up to three million people could be taking drugs needlessly or in incorrect doses.

Now the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) has produced definitive guidelines so GPs can diagnose the condition more accurately.

They recommend that when a patient is deemed hypertensive in the consulting room, they are sent home with a special machine called an ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) device.

This comprises an arm cuff and a small belt-clip monitor box containing a timer, compressor and computer chip, which can be worn during everyday activities.

Patients wear them for 24 hours and readings are automatically taken every half an hour during waking hours. The information is then downloaded on to the surgery computer.

Studies show this method gives far more accurate readings than in the   potentially stressful surgery setting, said Bryan Williams, professor of   medicine at Leicester University, who chaired the guidelines panel.

He said ABPM monitoring would help screen out those with white coat   hypertension while providing more accurate readings for those who really had   high blood pressure, resulting in better treatment.

High blood pressure, which leads to heart disease and stroke, is one of the   country’s most widespread health problems. Some 12 million people are   officially diagnosed – although a quarter arguably wrongly – while up to six   million more could have it without knowing.

Nice has decided to recommend nationwide (England and Wales) use of the ABPM   monitors – which currently cost about £1,000 apiece – after doing a   financial analysis which showed they would save money in the long term.

The NHS will have to fork out about £5 million a year to invest in the machines, but Nice predicts that after two years they will start to save money due to less prescriptions for ACE inhibitors, calcium-channel blockers and diuretics, which all lower blood pressure.

These drugs currently cost the NHS £1 billion a year, or one per cent of its   budget. Cut out people with white coat hypertension and that bill would fall   dramatically.

Prof Williams described the new method as a “step-change” that was   likely to be replicated worldwide.

He said: “It will ensure that those who really need treatment get treated   and those who don’t need treatment don’t get treated unnecessarily.”

Nice estimates that in five years, treatment costs will be £15.6 million lower   per annum than today, giving a net saving of £10.5 million in that year.

These estimates are quite conservative because they are based on new diagnoses   rather than re-evaluating the 12 million existing ones.

However, Prof Williams believed many people with “borderline”   hypertension would now question whether they really needed to be taking   drugs and would ask to be re-checked.

“The emphasis is on new diagnoses but, having scaled it up, we will be   able to use it for reviewing existing diagnoses,” he said.

At the moment the availability of devices is very limited though, which could   lead to long delays for patients.

Currently, only about one diagnosis in 20 is made with an ABPM machine, said   Prof Richard McManus, a Birmingham GP, who spearheaded the   cost-effectiveness study, published today in The Lancet. He said they   were mainly confined to larger GP practices and specialist units.

Questions remain over whether GPs will be convinced enough of the benefits to   pay for the devices, which experts admitted were extremely expensive. The   Nice guidelines are not mandatory.

Prof Williams believed the cost per device could come down to £500 in time,   especially if the NHS ordered sufficient numbers.

A much less expensive option is to use home blood pressure monitoring devices,   which cost as little as £15. These non-automated devices require patients to   remember to take their pressure every half hour and record the information   accurately.

Nice says these can be used in the absence of ABPMs, but Prof Williams   emphasised the evidence showed automated devices produced better diagnoses,   better outcomes, and were eventually cost effective.

Prof Mark Caulfield, president of the British Hypertension Society, believed   the future lay in pared-down ABPM devices that plugged into smartphones,   harnessing their processing power.

iHealth, an American company, already makes such a device for iPhones and   iPads – albeit without a timer for full automation – which sells for $100   (£60).

*One in seven blood pressure machines used by GPs could be inaccurate,   according to a study in the British Journal of General Practice.

A research team from Oxford, led by Dr Christine A’Court, tested machines in   over 80 general practices and found 14 per cent did not meet British   Hypertension Society standards.

Dr A’Court and her team concluded low cost aneroid machines were particularly   inaccurate and should be replaced with digital devices.

Shop for Blood Pressure Monitor

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There are two types of monitors you can use at home: a manual monitor, and an electronic or digital monitor. A digital monitor is a better option. It is very important that you have a monitor with a cuff that fits your arm (above the elbow). Make sure that the cuff is the right size (one size does not fit all).

Practice using the monitor with your doctor or nurse to make sure you are taking your blood pressure correctly.

Ask your doctor to show you how to use the monitor. Your arm should be supported, with your upper arm at heart level and feet on the floor (back supported, legs uncrossed).

It’s best to measure your blood pressure after you rest for at least 5 minutes. Do not take your blood pressure when you are under stress, have had caffeine or used a tobacco product in the last 30 minutes, or have recently exercised.

MANUAL BLOOD PRESSURE DEVICES

Manual devices include a cuff that wraps around your arm, a rubber squeeze bulb, and a gauge that measures the blood pressure. A stethoscope is needed to listen to the blood pulsing through the artery.

You can see your blood pressure on the circular dial of the gauge as the needle moves around and the pressure in the cuff rises or falls.

When used correctly, manual devices are very accurate. However, they are not the recommended type of blood pressure monitor for home use.

DIGITAL BLOOD PRESSURE DEVICES

A digital device will also have a cuff that wraps around your arm. To inflate the cuff, you may need to use a rubber squeeze ball, or simply push a button and the cuff will inflate by itself.

After the cuff is inflated, the pressure will slowly drop on its own. The screen will show a digital readout of your systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

After showing your blood pressure, the cuff will deflate on its own. With most machines, you must wait for 2 to 3 minutes before using it again.

A digital blood pressure monitor will not be as accurate if your body is moving when you are using it. Also, an irregular heart rate will make the reading less accurate. However, digital monitors are the best choice for most people.

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Researchers analyzed systolic (upper) blood-pressure measurements taken from 444 veterans with hypertension over 18 months. They had their blood pressure measured in three ways: via a home monitor that transmitted measurements electronically three times a week; during regular office visits (approximately once a month) with their primary-care provider; and at 6-month intervals by the researchers conducting the study.

Rates of blood-pressure control – defined as a systolic reading of less than 140 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) for in-office measurements and less than 135 mm Hg for home measurements – varied widely across the three methods, with the lowest rates (28 percent) coming from single doctor’s office measurements and the highest (68 percent) from the research measurements. The low rate of “controlled” readings at the doctor’s office could potentially lead to overtreatment with antihypertensive drugs, since physicians would rely on numbers that might be artificially high in determining where to go with drug treatment.

In contrast, the researchers found that taking an average blood-pressure reading from several measurements resulted in substantially greater accuracy, and suggested home monitoring as a convenient, cost-effective way of generating those measurements. “The effect of within-patient variability could be greatly reduced by averaging several measurements, with most benefit accrued at 5 to 6 measurements,” they wrote.

Bottom line: If you have hypertension, this study provides more reason to get a home monitor, and to use it regularly. For tip on how to get the best results, watch our video, below.

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Different breathing techniques offer original ways of respiration. For example, traditional oriental systems (yoga, Qigong) use slow diaphragmatic breathing for physical and mental state regulation.

Buteyko method recommends optimizing breathing in order to get rid of hyperventilation and restore normal CO2 content in the body.

There are other unique breathing regulation techniques for treating different conditions and increasing body’s spare capacities.
Different breathing devices are used for training respiratory muscles based on resistance to breathing and they allow performing hypoxic trainings.

Original author’s technique of breathing exercises PNEUMOBALANCE allows simultaneous use several training factors.
During the exercise a resistance to breathing is created during inhalation and exhalation. Patient is performing long and slow exhalation while at the same time relaxing the diaphragm. This allows developing a new pattern of energy saving breathing and resistance to hypoxy.

This program allows optimal combination of training factors and improvement of self-regulation processes in the body – that’s why it’s called PNEUMOBALANCE.

This method is so simple and convenient that even elderly people and children starting from age 5-6 years old can easily master it.

With the help of this unique technique one can gradually improve their health even in case of such severe diseases as asthma and COPD, hypertension, improve nervous system, get rid of insomnia and nicotine addiction. This method is also beneficial for people leading active way of life as it increases body potential and is extremely useful when diving, swimming, running, doing fitness and other sports.

To find out more about this unique method you can visit www.intellectbreathing.com

You might be right. While experts say weight loss can always be reduced to the simple “calories in, calories out” mantra—meaning if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you’ll lose weight—a host of oft-hidden saboteurs may be meddling with the balance. Here’s a smattering of them:

1. Treating healthy foods as low-calorie foods. “A lot of times they’re not consistent,” says Scott Kahan, co-director of the George Washington University Weight Management Program in Washington, D.C. So while whole grains, avocados, and nuts might be kind to your heart or cholesterol levels, dieters who binge on such foods can, before they know it, add hundreds of calories to the day’s total. Enjoy calorie-rich healthy foods, dietitians urge, but ration them out: a quarter of an avocado on a salad or a small handful of almonds for a snack.

2. Shunning shuteye. Some research has linked shorter sleep duration to a higher body mass index (a measure of body fat) and increased hunger and appetite. Additionally, if you’re tired, you might be prone to grab a sugar-laden treat for a midday boost, skip the gym, and have takeout for dinner to avoid cooking. It’s a vicious cycle. Aim for seven or eight hours a night.

3. Underestimating calories eaten. Quick—how many calories have you had today? No idea? Calorie ignorance is common and fueled by quite a few factors, dietitians say. First is a warped understanding of portion sizes. “People will tell me, ‘Oh, I eat a half teaspoon of butter and I spread that on a piece of toast,’ ” says Ellen Liskov, a registered dietitian and nutrition specialist at Yale-New Haven Hospital. “I don’t think you can do that mechanically.” (People typically use a tablespoon or more.) You’re going to have to recalibrate: Measure everything for a few days and work from recipes that calculate calories per serving or do it yourself. And be diligent about checking serving sizes. One sleeve of PopTarts, for example, is two servings. Also, be wary of seemingly innocent things like fruit, juice, trail mix, and dips. It’s particularly easy to go overboard here.

Forgetfulness magnifies calorie ignorance. With all the to-do’s jammed into your brain, you probably don’t want to add a food diary. Too bad—your selective food memory is going to continue to sabotage you “until you start to pay attention every time you put something in your mouth,” says Madelyn Fernstrom, founding director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Weight Management Center and author of The Real You Diet. Also, while a couple healthy snacks strategically spread throughout the day is a good hunger-control tactic, Liskov warns of “random” snacking. You’ll almost certainly lose track of all those calories.

4. Overestimating calories burned. “We tend to reward ourselves with too many calories of food for the amount of calories we burned exercising,” says Kahan. Suppose you go for a 30-minute jog. The University of Maryland Medical Center’s “calories burned calculator” estimates a 150-pound person would burn about 370 calories. Eat a few cookies later that day and you’ve just canceled it out.

5. Feeding your thirst. If you’re not sure whether you’re hungry or thirsty, assume it’s the latter. Drink a water or tea and see how you feel. Some research even suggests drinking two 8-ounce glasses of water before breakfast, lunch, and dinner may help you manage hunger and eat less.

6. The food environment. Commercials on TV hawk junk food. Billboards for fast-food restaurants bombard you on the road. “We’re in a society that really lends itself to eating a lot,” says Kahan. Without addressing these saboteurs, he says, it’s “almost overwhelmingly difficult” to lost weight. His solution: “Engineer your environment.” At home, do a junk-food purge. At work, avoid the treats in the kitchen and lobby your coworkers to hide the Hershey’s Kisses and go on a healthy-eating kick with you.

7. Saving up calories to eat junk. A couple hundred calories a day for an indulgence is OK, but don’t get carried away. “You could eat a bag of chips ’til the cows come home, but that’s not going to make you satisfied,” says Marilyn Tanner-Blasiar, a dietitian at the  Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Without enough protein and fiber, you’ll be ravenous an hour later and blow your calorie limit.

8. Medications you take. It’s worth a check with your doctor if you don’t know whether weight gain is a side effect of a medicine you’re on. Psychiatric medications to treat bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and depression, along with heart medications like beta blockers, commonly cause weight gain. While treating the primary condition is most important, says Kahan, you may be able to find a substitute sans the side effect.

9. Your family and friends. This can manifest in many ways. Maybe it’s too heartbreaking to turn down grandma when she insists you have a third helping of her double-fried chicken. Or the rest of the family isn’t on a diet, meaning some junk foods linger to tempt you. Perhaps your nights out with friends always revolve around food-and-drink binges. No wonder a 2007 report in the New England Journal of Medicine found that one’s chance of becoming obese increase by 57 percent if a close friend becomes obese.

10. Yourself. Don’t be overly restrictive. “If you set too many limits on yourself, you get bored and resentful. And that, mentally, will hinder your weight loss,” says Tanner-Blasiar. Aim for slow and steady, shedding maybe a couple pounds a week, and don’t obsess over the scale. You didn’t gain the weight over the course of a couple weeks; likewise, it’ll take more than that to lose it.

Above all, remember: “You can’t be perfect. You can’t be perfect in your relationships, in your job, in your life—certainly not in your weight-loss attempts,” says Kahan. “There’s nothing wrong with having a piece of cake on your birthday. There’s nothing wrong with trying to aim for moderation.”

By Kurtis Hiatt

Hypertension and high blood pressure are alternative beats of the same heart. Do not neglect this serious type of disturbance in your system. Do not be under the impression that these high and lows happen in life!

Now, having the blood pressure monitor alone is not going to solve your problem. Monitor needs your cooperation. The number of blood pressure patients is rising all over the world. So are the types of blood pressure monitors. Many of the drug stores do also keep such machines as a customer facility. But the advantages of having your own monitor at home are many.

There is going to be some fluctuation in the measurement of the blood pressure if you take it home or in your doctor’s chamber. These little fluctuations are of academic interest only. Actually they have nothing to do with the basic condition of your health.

But if you are a confirmed blood pressure patient, to own a monitor is worthwhile, to enable you keep a constant watch about the change in the blood pressure level, so that you can provide an accurate data to your doctor for his examination.

As already said, the number and types of monitors available in the market are many. Blood pressure monitor costing as low as $25 to the costly ones ranging up to $300 are easily available. They are manual, electric as well as battery operated. The costly ones have many features as well.

Some models inflate automatically, some need to be manipulated manually. Most of the blood pressure monitors display pulse rate as well as blood pressure reading.

There are blood pressure monitors that give a warning in case of a missing heartbeat. Accessories like carrying case, note pad to keep the recordings and battery can be taken as sale promotion items. Nevertheless, they are very useful to you.

Now that you have the monitor, don’t consider yourself to be safe. It is just a tool. You are the actual person to control your blood pressure. That can be done through regular exercises, proper diet control, and with the removal of all those negativities that contributed to your blood pressure.

Also, just because you have the monitor, don’t make a chronic habit of taking the reading now and then. Have a fixed time table and a regular chart to note down the blood pressure readings.

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