Yogic Management of Hypertension

Hypertension Facts

Fig:1

Images Courtesy http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001502/

War is not the major killer or threat to life today in the world. The real problem today is TENSION,  TOTAL TENSION, HYPERTENSION.

Possible disorders of unchecked hypertension 

Fig:2

The WHO has identified that Hypertension or high blood pressure is the leading cause of cardiovascular mortality.

50% of people who may be having hypertension are not aware of their condition & the imminent danger it can cause.

Primary hypertension

More than nine in 10 people with high blood pressure have what is called primary or essential hypertension. This means that it has no single clear cause.

Many factors to do with your lifestyle may contribute to primary hypertension. These include:

•     smoking
•     obesity (being very overweight)
•     drinking a lot of alcohol – especially if you binge drink
•      lack of exercise
•     your diet
• If someone else in your family has high blood pressure, you also have a higher risk of developing it.

Secondary hypertension

Around one in 20 people with high blood pressure have secondary hypertension. This means your doctor can link your high blood pressure to a known cause:

•  kidney disease
• endocrine disease 
• (hormone disorders – a hormone is a regulatory chemical that occurs  naturally in your body)
• a narrowing of the aorta (the largest artery leading from the heart) or the arteries leading to the kidneys

Secondary hypertension can also be caused by:

• steroid medicines
• the contraceptive pill
• pregnancy, which can cause pre-eclampsia – this can be serious and harm your baby

Hypertension is the most important preventable risk factor for premature death worldwide. It increases the risk of ischemic heart disease, strokes, peripheral vascular disease, and other cardiovascular diseases, including heart failure, aortic aneurysm, diffuse atherosclerosis, and pulmonary embolism.

When  the heart becomes strained due to high blood pressure, becomes enlarged. This results in  overall dysfunction .


Hypertension is also a risk factor for cognitive impairment and dementia. Due to impaired blood circulation & oxygen supply its functions are distorted. Initially reeling of head, headaches & imbalances in emotions, irritability, loss of memory & dissipation of focus & concentration is experienced. It can even lead to physical damage.
Silent stroke is a type of stroke (infarct) that does not have any outward symptoms (asymptomatic), and the patient is typically unaware they have suffered a stroke. Despite not causing identifiable symptoms a silent stroke still causes damage to the brain, and places the patient at increased risk for a major stroke in the future. Hypertension is the major treatable risk factor associated with silent strokes.  


Chronic kidney disease, leading to dysfunction of the renal system. This means the body loses its natural function of producing urine. As a results the toxic build up rises in the body; this may lead to death.

Other complications include:

• Hypertensive retinopathy
• Hypertensive nephropathy

From 2007 several global initiatives have been taken to bring awareness about the presence of hypertension, how to recognize it. Huge effort has been taken on a global scale to control hypertension & reduce the incidence of mortality & further complications.

Fig:3

We have presented a graph above from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License) for the information of readers.

Conventional management
Lifestyle adjustments plays a very important role in the management of hypertension. Normally doctors advise patients to take to simple lifestyle modifications; such as dietary changes, exercise & weight loss. These are quiet effective in reducing the high blood pressure in people with hypertension.

Fig:4

When a doctor observes that the blood pressure is high enough that medical intervention is necessary to keep blood pressure at normal levels. Lest chronic increased blood pressure may even culminate in a myocardial infraction (heart attack) or other complications  depicted in the (fig:2) above.

Medication in conjunction with exercise & lifestyle adjustments has been the approach that is popular.

In most cases multiple medication becomes necessary in order to keep blood pressure in admissible levels.

Cause
Hypertension is a good example of a modern social disease. A combination of several specific causes and a combination of two or more of these have been found to increase the chances all the more.

• Heredity
• Age
• Smoking
• Cholesterol & high fat diet
• Sedentary lifestyle
• Personality & emotions

Who is prone to get hypertension?

Young; Middle Aged;Competitive;Aggressive;Ambitious;Go Getter; with a stressful life style are the common traits found in many people who suffer from high blood pressure.

If you see some commonalities in your personality, then you better be warned that you may be creating such an imbalance in your body which is only working silently & may surface; for you to notice only after sufficient damage has already been done.

Given these details, it is understandable that a definite & systematic approach to the management of hypertension has to be understood. It would even better if preventive lifestyle is practiced by all managers & people in high stress jobs. And in Satyananda Yoga a well researched approach to the management of Hypertension has been established.

You will find a very interesting and informative post about the management of hypertension from a yogic perspective. Visit http://www.syctchennai.com/workshops/yogic-management-of-hypertension/ for complete information.