5 Steps to a Healthy Heart with Acupuncture
February is
the American Heart Association's Heart Health Awareness Month, emphasizing
the dangers of heart disease and the importance of heart health.
Heart disease includes conditions
affecting the heart, such as coronary heart disease, heart attacks,
congestive heart failure, and congenital heart disease. Despite dramatic
medical advances over the past fifty years, heart disease remains a leading
cause of death globally and the number one cause of death in the United
States. By integrating acupuncture and Oriental medicine into your heart
healthy lifestyle, you can dramatically reduce your risk of heart disease.
Taking small steps to improve your
health can reduce your risk for heart disease by as much as eighty percent.
Steps to prevention include managing high blood pressure, quitting smoking,
maintaining a healthy weight, reducing stress and improved sleep - all of
which can be helped with acupuncture.
1. Manage High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure makes the heart
work harder, increasing its oxygen demands and contributing to angina. This
excessive pressure can lead to an enlarged heart (cardiomegaly),
as well as damage to blood vessels in the kidneys and brain. It increases
the risk of heart attacks, stroke and kidney disease.
Acupuncture has been found to be
particularly helpful in lowering blood pressure. By applying acupuncture
needles at specific sites along the wrist, inside the forearm or in the
leg, researchers at the Susan Samueli Center for
Integrative Medicine at the University of California, Irvine, were able to
stimulate the release of opioids, which decreases
the heart’s activity and thus its need for oxygen. This, in turn, lowers
blood pressure.
2. Quit Smoking
Most people associate cigarette
smoking with breathing problems and lung cancer. But did you know that
smoking is also a major cause of coronary artery disease? In fact, about
twenty percent of all deaths from heart disease are directly related to
cigarette smoking.
Acupuncture has shown to be an
effective treatment for smoking. Acupuncture treatments for smoking
cessation focus on jitters, cravings, irritability, and restlessness;
symptoms that people commonly complain about when they quit. It also aids
in relaxation and detoxification.
3. Maintain a Healthy Weight
Obesity is associated with diabetes,
high blood pressure and coronary artery disease, all of which increase the
risk of developing heart disease, but studies have shown that excess body
weight itself (and not just the associated medical conditions) can also
lead to heart failure. Even if you are entirely healthy otherwise, being
overweight still places you at a greater risk of developing heart failure.
Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine are an excellent adjunctive tool when it comes to losing
weight. They can help to energize the body, maximize the absorption of
nutrients, regulate elimination, control overeating, suppress the appetite,
and reduce anxiety.
4. Reduce Stress
Stress is a normal part of life. But
if left unmanaged, stress can lead to emotional, psychological, and even
physical problems, including heart disease, high blood pressure, chest
pains, or irregular heart beats. Medical
researchers aren't sure exactly how stress increases the risk of heart
disease. Stress itself might be a risk factor, or it could be that high
levels of stress make other risk factors worse. For example, if you are
under stress, your blood pressure goes up, you may overeat, you may
exercise less, and you may be more likely to smoke.
Numerous studies have demonstrated the
substantial benefits of acupuncture in the treatment of stress, anxiety and
mental health. In addition to acupuncture, Oriental medicine offers a whole
gamut of tools and techniques that can be integrated into your life to keep
stress in check. These tools include Tui Na, Qi Gong exercises, herbal medicine, dietary therapy,
meditations and acupressure that you can administer at home.
5. Improve Sleep
Poor sleep has been linked with high
blood pressure, atherosclerosis, heart failure, heart attacks, stroke,
diabetes, and obesity. Researchers have shown that getting at least eight
hours of sleep is needed for good heart health and getting less than eight
hours of sleep can put you at a greater risk for developing heart disease.
Acupuncture has shown great success
treating a wide array of sleep problems without any of the side effects of
prescription or over-the-counter sleep aids. The acupuncture treatments for
problems sleeping focus on the root disharmony within the body that is
causing the insomnia. Therefore, those who use acupuncture for insomnia
achieve not only better sleep, but also an overall improvement of physical
and mental health.
Come in for a consultation during
Heart Health Awareness Month to see how acupuncture and Oriental medicine
can assist you with your heart health and help you to live a long, healthy
life.
Study Shows Acupuncture Significantly Lowers Blood
Pressure
A German
study published in the journal, Circulation, found that acupuncture
significantly lowers both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The extent
of the blood pressure reductions by acupuncture treatments was comparable
to those seen with antihypertensive medication or aggressive lifestyle
changes, including radical salt restrictions.
For the study, 160 outpatients with
uncomplicated, mild to moderate hypertension were randomized to six weeks
of acupuncture performed by Oriental medicine practitioners or to a sham
procedure. Patients underwent 22 sessions, each 30 minutes in length. By
the end of the six weeks, 24 hour ambulatory systolic and diastolic blood
pressures were significantly reduced from baseline in the acupuncture
treated patients (5.4 mm Hg and 3.0 mm Hg, respectively). No significant
changes were seen in the sham acupuncture group.
After six months the blood pressure
reductions disappeared, leading investigators to conclude that ongoing
acupuncture treatments would be required to maintain the blood pressure
reductions.
Source: Circulation, June 2007
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In This Issue
·
5 Steps to a Healthy Heart with
Acupuncture
·
Study Shows Acupuncture
Significantly Lowers Blood Pressure
·
Heart Healthy Foods
Heart Healthy Foods
Here are
some suggestions to support your heart healthy lifestyle.
Green Tea
Green tea contains several powerful
antioxidants that reduce bad cholesterol and boost good cholesterol, improving
an individuals overall cholesterol profile.
Drinking green tea also seems to enhance cardiovascular health by improving
the consistency of platelets in the blood and may even lower blood
pressure.
Garlic
Just one clove a day--or 300 mg, three
times daily--reduces the risk of a heart attack at least three ways: It discourages
red blood cells from sticking together and blocking your arteries, it
reduces arterial damage, and it discourages cholesterol from lining the
arteries and making them so narrow that blockages are likely.
Fruit
Oranges contain folic acid that helps
lower your levels of homocysteine, a heart attack
risk factor. Grapes are loaded with flavonoids
and resveratrol, both potent antioxidants that
may discourage red blood cells from clumping together and forming an
artery-blocking clot. Pomegranate juice is chock-full of potassium and polyphenols, which promote heart health and have been
shown to help lower cholesterol
Vegetables
Make sure that cruciferous vegetables
such as kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cabbage, which are a gold
mine of antioxidants and other heart-saving phytochemicals,
are part of your heart health diet every day.
Fish
Fatty fish such as salmon and anchovies
are foods loaded with the omega-3 fatty acids that will help your heart
maintain a steady rhythm. Having even one fish serving a week could reduce
your risk of death from a heart attack by fifty two percent.
Flaxseed
Flaxseed is one of the most potent
sources of heart health-promoting omega-3 fats. Studies indicate that
adding flaxseed to your diet can reduce the development of heart disease by
forty six percent while helping keep red blood cells from clumping together
and forming clots that can block arteries. Sprinkle 2 Tbs
flaxseed a day on your cereal or salad.
Nuts
Studies have found that those who eat
more than 5 oz of nuts a week are one-third less likely to have either
heart disease or a heart attack. Just don't overdo it--nuts can pile on the
pounds.
Red Wine
Scientific studies overwhelmingly show
that a daily glass of wine can reduce your risk of a heart attack. Both
plant compounds called saponins and antioxidants
in the "fruit of the vine" work to protect arteries. Researchers
have found that red is much more effective than white for improving heart
health.
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