Need to quickly lower blood pressure? You do if you have blood pressure readings higher than 140/90 mm Hg. When your blood pressure readings reach these levels, you are considered to have hypertension and if you’re like most people , you want to lower your blood pressure without using blood pressure medication . If this is the case , there are several methods you can try. One of these methods is lowering your blood pressure with breathing exercises.
Learn the Facts About High Blood Pressure
Many times, people with high blood pressure don’t even know it. That’s why it’s often called the “silent killer “. You can have high blood pressure and not know it . A ll the while , this common heart disease is causing damage to your heart, arteries and other crucial body organs. Left untreated, high blood pressure causes heart attacks, strokes, kidney damage, blindness, memory loss, chest pains, and memory loss. D on’t think that you must have severe blood pressure before you’re at risk for these conditions – anything over 140/90 causes damage.
Lower Blood Pressure Quickly with Breathing Exercises
Daily life brings many different stressful situations and many of these can raise your blood pressure. One way to help control your blood pressure is with breathing exercises. Have you ever noticed how your breathing changes depending on the situation you’re in? When you’re relaxed, your breathing is slow and regular. During a stressful situation, you notice that your breathing is faster and more shallow with shorter breaths.
Take a minute to notice how you naturally breathe when you’re relaxed and how your body feels during that time . Right before you fall asleep or when you first wake up in the morning is a good time to pay attention to this. This same relaxed, easy feeling is the same that you can use to lower blood pressure quickly. Breathing exercises help you achieve this state of relaxation, slow down your breathing, and slow your heart rate.
By breating deeply, you send the message to your brain that it’s time to calm down and relax . As you relax, all the rest of your body systems get the message and they relax and slow down too.1
How to Quickly Lower Blood Pressure with Deep Breathing Techniques
It isn’t hard to learn deep breathing exercise and it doesn’t require any special equipment. As you learn these different types of deep breathing methods, youll find they become one of your best weapons when it comes to battleing high blood pressure.
Although t here are several different breathing exercises that can help you lower your blood pressure , t he easiest and the one you should begin with is abdominal breathing. Your goal with this breathing exercise is to reach the level of relaxation you feel when you are truly relaxed. You want to try to acheive the same feeling you have before you fall asleep or when you first wake up in the morning .
Simple Instructions to Learn Abdominal Breathing
Find a comfortable place away from distractions and sit in a relaxed position.
Place one hand on your abdomen or stomach just under your ribs. Place the other hand on your chest .
Breathe in deeply through your nose without moving your chest. Let your stomach push your hand out .
Hold this breath for 7 to 8 counts.
Breathe out slowly to a count of 8 through your mouth. Your hand on your stomach should be moving in as you release the breath.
Practise breathing this way 3 to 10 times whenever you feel stressed. As you get comfortable with the exercise and know you are breathing correctly, you can do the breating exercises without using your hands. By learning deep breathing methods like the one mentioned here, you can learn to quickly lower your blood pressure.
1 Murray MT, Pizzorno JE Jr (2006). Stress management. In JE Pizzorno Jr, MT Murray, eds., Textbook of Natural Medicine, 3rd ed., vol. 1, pp. 701-708. St. Louis: Churchill Livingstone.
