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Hypertension: The Hype And The Hope

According to the Centers for Disease Control, approximately 90 percent of middle-aged people will develop high blood pressure at some point in their lives. And when their time rolls around, the prescriptions start flying. But using drugs to treat hypertension is not the answer. In the first place, they don’t work all that well, and second, they have a host of dangerous and unpleasant side effects.

In addition to increasing the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular complications, and even death, these meds also cause fatigue, lethargy, dizziness, and sexual dysfunction. As a result, many patients stop taking them. So what do their doctors do? Prescribe another drug—then another and another—in order to achieve “normal” blood pressure.

If you’ve found yourself on this merry-go-round, I suggest you get off. Don’t quit your medications cold turkey, but do take a serious look at drug-free alternatives. The ultimate goal isn’t to hit the jackpot of 120/80. It’s to prevent stroke and heart attack, and that requires addressing the underlying causes of cardiovascular disease, not fixating on numbers. Let’s take a look at some safe and proven therapies which do just that.

Squeeze Out Hypertension

Thirty years ago, Ronald Wiley, PhD, a cardiopulmonary physiologist, was working with the Air Force to find a solution for “G-force blackout.” When pilots pull out of a dive or otherwise sharply accelerate, the increase in gravitational force interferes with blood circulation and can cause them to temporarily lose vision or even black out—a big problem when you’re in a fighter jet at 30,000 feet.

Dr. Wiley came up with a handgrip that, when squeezed, increases blood pressure and forces more blood to the brain. As he tested it with pilots, he noticed that in addition to increasing G-force tolerance, it also lowered resting blood pressure. He knew he was on to something, and he spent the next 20 years studying “isometric handgrip training” and refining and testing his device, which is now marketed under the name of Zona Plus.

All you do is hold Zona Plus, which looks like a joystick, in your hand and squeeze for two minutes, rest for a minute, squeeze, rest. A digital readout will tell you exactly how hard to squeeze and when to relax. It’s difficult to believe that doing this for just 12 minutes five days a week could lower blood pressure, but it does—and in a major way.

Address Underlying Causes

Studies reveal that over six to eight weeks, isometric handgrip training reduces blood pressure by an average of 14 mmHg. This means it’s more effective than most antihypertensive medications, and indeed, it has helped thousands of people discontinue their drugs.

I am enthusiastic about this therapy because it addresses a primary underlying cause of hypertension: endothelial dysfunction. When the endothelial cells lining the arteries are unresponsive and the arterial walls are unable to relax and dilate, blood pressure rises. Zona Plus has been shown to improve endothelial function by boosting production of nitric oxide, nature’s most powerful vasodilator. The device also tones down the sympathetic nervous system, and this, too, reduces blood pressure.

In essence, Zona Plus taps into the healing power of your own body, a feat no drug on earth can achieve.

Stop Snoring, Lower Blood Pressure

Another way to boost your body’s innate healing ability and lower your blood pressure is to make sure you’re getting adequate sleep. And if you’re a snorer, that’s next to impossible.

Heavy snoring is a sign of obstructive sleep apnea, and it can destroy your health. When people with this condition sleep, the soft tissues in the back of their throats relax and close off the airway—they simply stop breathing. As oxygen levels plummet, they awake just enough to take a breath. If this cycle repeats throughout the night, normal sleep patterns are disrupted, and the deepest and most regenerative stages of sleep are never reached.

Over time, people with this condition end up with much more than daytime sleepiness. That’s because sleep apnea drives risk of hypertension, stroke, arrhythmia, obesity, and diabetes through the roof. We screen all of our patients who have these disorders with an inexpensive, overnight test, and you’d be surprised by how many have sleep apnea. However, once treatment begins, things start looking up—and blood pressure starts going down.

One of my patients, R.H., had extremely high blood pressure, along with heart failure and other cardiovascular problems. After I discovered he had severe sleep apnea, he borrowed a CPAP machine (continuous positive airway pressure, the gold standard in sleep apnea treatment) and used it while he was at the clinic. The very fi

rst night, R.H. slept more soundly than he had in 20 years. After three weeks of treatment with CPAP and other therapies, R.H.’s energy rebounded, his exercise tolerance improved, and his blood pressure fell into the normal range.

Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy

Smoking, lack of exercise, excess alcohol, dehydration, a bad diet, and stress all conspire to drive up blood pressure. Making changes in your daily routines and habits is a profoundly effective way to improve your cardiovascular health.

When it comes to diet, most physicians tell their patients to eat less salt. That’s it. My advice? Eat a “metabolic syndrome diet.” Metabolic syndrome is characterized by hypertension, abdominal obesity, and insulin resistance. Guess how many Americans are afflicted with this condition? About 32 percent—the same as hypertension.

Researchers recently found the typical Western diet significantly increases risk of metabolic syndrome. So, I suggest you avoid “All-American” fried and processed foods, excess meat, starches, and sugars. Instead, eat plenty of vegetables. They’re rich in potassium, which helps control blood pressure by balancing out sodium. To beef up your potassium intake, drink a glass or two of Low-Sodium V8 juice daily and fill your salt shaker with a combination of three parts potassium salt (Nu-Salt or Morton’s Salt Substitute) and one part regular table salt.

Take These Supplements

Finally, take targeted nutritional supplements. Start with a good multivitamin and mineral with high doses of magnesium, which relaxes the arteries; vitamin C and other antioxidants, which protect against free radical damage vitamin D, which modulates hormones involved in blood pressure regulation and B-complex vitamins, which lower levels of homocysteine, a toxin that damages the endothelium. Add to your multivitamin L-arginine, an amino acid that boosts levels of nitric oxide, and coenzyme Q10, an antioxidant that also increases cellular energy. Additionally, garlic, reishi mushrooms, and fish peptides have been shown to help lower blood pressure.

However, the single most potent supplement, in my experience, is Balance3. We’ve been using this mixture of Chinese herbs at the clinic for about five years now, and for most patients, it works well. For example, Marjorie A. was taking three drugs, but her blood pressure still ran as high as 200/100. After she started taking three tablets of Balance3 at bedtime (and eating a lot of celery, which also helps), her blood pressure fell into the normal range and she was able to cut back on her medications.

In summary, hypertension is a serious issue, and we all need to keep tabs on our blood pressure. However, it is not an inevitable part of aging. To avoid becoming a statistic, implement the necessary lifestyle changes, and if your blood pressure is high, remember that drugs are not the answer.

Recommendations:

• If you snore, get tested for sleep apnea. For more information on the screening process, call Sleep Apnea Screening Services at (866) 364-7378 or visit their Web site at sleepapneass.com.

• To order Zona Plus, call (800) 705-5559. It may seem a little pricey ($399) until you consider that antihypertensive drugs cost more than $1,000 a year. Zona Plus comes with an eight-week money-back guarantee, which should be ample time to see if it’s going to work for you.

• The nutritional supplements discussed above are available in most health food stores. Use as directed.

References:

Lutsey PL, et al. Dietary intake and the development of the metabolic syndrome. Circulation. 2008 Feb 12;117(6):754-61.

National Association of Chronic Disease Directors. Americans and Blood Pressure Survey. 2008. Available online at www.chronicdisease.org/files/public/BloodPressure_1_9_07FINAL.ppt.

Taylor AC, et al. Isometric training lowers resting blood pressure and modulates autonomic control. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2003 Feb;35(2):251–256.

For more information visit http://www.searchhearthealth.com

Dr. Whitaker is Director of the Whitaker Wellness Institute and Editor of Health and Healing newsletter that provides important health advice for more than 500,000 people nationwide. Dr. Whitaker graduated from Dartmouth College in 1966 and received his MD in 1970 from Emory University Medical School. He completed his surgical internship at Grady Memorial Hospital in 1971, and continued at the University of California in San Francisco in orthopedic surgery. In 1974, Dr. Whitaker founded the California Orthomolecular Medical Society, along with four other physicians and the Nobel prize-winning scientist Dr. Linus Pauling. Dr. Whitaker is the author of several books including the best-selling Shed 10 Years in 10 Weeks.

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