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5-min breathing workout lowers blood pressure as much as exercise, drugs (2021)

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Re: 5-min breathing workout lowers blood pressure as much as exercise, drugs (2021)

#41
post #31

What is the obsession of looking for a cheap way out if you are able bodied. Literally just go for a walk, run, or ride. I highly doubt doing some small activity can really compare to the full health benefits of some daily exercise.

BP tends to go up with age even being able bodied and active, so research into how to control it without medications (which have to be tuned to the individual and can have some unpleasant side effects) is worthwhile.

Re: 5-min breathing workout lowers blood pressure as much as exercise, drugs (2021)

#42
post #29

I've been using a Powerbreathe for inspiratory muscle training. The daily exercise only takes a few minutes. But it requires occasional cleaning, and the spring valve sometimes gets stuck closed. I haven't noticed any obvious decrease in blood pressure. https://www.powerbreathe.com/product-category/breathing-trai...

[deleted]

Re: 5-min breathing workout lowers blood pressure as much as exercise, drugs (2021)

#43

My wife has white coat syndrome. There was a time (~7 years ago). We were living in NYC. The doctors office was at the top of 5 flights of stairs and the elevator was out. Having just climbed 5 flights of stairs and telling the doctor she has white coat syndrome, they _immediately_ take her blood pressure. Noting it’s (unsurprisingly) high, suggests she go on blood pressure medication. A decision that would surely ha…

You are completely correct with your TLDR. I saw the same when a close family member had to battle their way through the medical system to live through (and eventually overcome) advanced cancer.

I’ve started to see doctors more like advanced chatbots than anything else.

They are good if you know what you need and how to formulate your questions. They are good at searching UpToDate (a database of DDx flows). They are good at treating specific problems.

But it is a very rare doctor who takes considerate time to understand a patient and treat them holistically. I believe this is why alternative medicine providers are able to peddle their voodoo so effectively. Many people who don’t feel understood by allopathic medicine turn to cranks, because at least the cranks listen to them and make them feel heard.

Re: 5-min breathing workout lowers blood pressure as much as exercise, drugs (2021)

#44
post #34

This is called Pranayam. We are doing this in India since ages... Good to see that 'experts' from Western countries taking baby steps to learn. Good for you guys! Keep it up. Note 1: Some 'expert' took my comment on their ego and downvoted my comment. Guys, my comment was encouraging. Taking it on your ego is your personal choice.

mainne englo shikshakon ke saath adhyayan kiya, lekin seedhe Sri BKS Iyengar ke vansh ke tahat. mere shikshak bahut satark the. main bahut achchhe svaasthy mein hoon aur tees saal baad ab meree achchhee aadaten hain. Light on Pranayama kee adhikaansh takaneeken ek shaharavaasee ke lie, yahaan tak ki mere lie bhee, bahut unnat hain.

edit: apologies for the terrible Hindi, but since YNews was so rude to a guest with a downvote, I wanted to show some respect to the South Asian knowledge. Yogas citta vritti naroda'ha -- namaste

Re: 5-min breathing workout lowers blood pressure as much as exercise, drugs (2021)

#45

My wife has white coat syndrome. There was a time (~7 years ago). We were living in NYC. The doctors office was at the top of 5 flights of stairs and the elevator was out. Having just climbed 5 flights of stairs and telling the doctor she has white coat syndrome, they _immediately_ take her blood pressure. Noting it’s (unsurprisingly) high, suggests she go on blood pressure medication. A decision that would surely ha…

Good that she could self-advocate!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_coat_hypertension describes the condition.

Re: 5-min breathing workout lowers blood pressure as much as exercise, drugs (2021)

#46
post #37

I don't fully get the "lowers blood pressure" claim. Doesn't Table S2 in the paper say that blood pressure stayed roughly the same for people doing high-resistance IMST and went up for the control/sham group doing low-resistance IMST? The question in my mind is "why does low-resistance IMST increase blood pressure?" Am I missing something?

Hmm this is a great catch. The figures quoted in their Methods and Results ("from 135±2 mm Hg to 126±3 mm Hg") don't seem to match any in Table 2.

Re: 5-min breathing workout lowers blood pressure as much as exercise, drugs (2021)

#47
Fun things to try with breathing:

- When lightly exercising, close eyes and focus on breathing. Note effects on heart rate.

- Get into an uncomfortable (but safe) position such as a deep squat, crab position, etc. Close eyes and focus on breathing. Note effects on feelings of discomfort, and effort to maintain the position.

Re: 5-min breathing workout lowers blood pressure as much as exercise, drugs (2021)

#48
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I understand the question. The point is to breathe in and out as strongly/deeply and slowly as possible. You don't "do" anything aside from breathing and increasing the difficulty mode as your strength improves (over e.g. weeks). If you breathe out quickly you're losing a large amount of the benefit of the exercise. PS - I own a POWERBREATHE Sport, no relation to the company or this study.

Powerbreathe seems like an unnecessary uni-tasking gadget conforming to western sensibilities. Zen and the Brain by James Austin details his study of Zen monks brains which revealed this breathing-stress connection scientifically decades ago. If I remember correctly, the exhale is especially important to triggering certain relaxation states; brains of monks who were especially focused on long exhales were appreciably…

> Powerbreathe seems like an unnecessary uni-tasking gadget conforming to western sensibilities.

This is an incredibly elitist and exclusive observation.

The use of a tool that provides positive health benefits to assist those unfamiliar with zen breathing techniques should be applauded. Meditation is ‘easy’ to those who are open and have time to commit to it, and it’s not for everyone. To some it might even be outside their own cultural or personal comfort zone, and that is entirely OK.

And what on earth is the problem with a ‘uni-tasking gadget’? My garage, bathroom and kitchen drawers are all full of these things. In fact, with the obvious exception of the smart phone, it’s the multi-tasking gadgets that should be derided (the outdoors industry is full of these, as epitomised by the ‘axesaw’).

Re: 5-min breathing workout lowers blood pressure as much as exercise, drugs (2021)

#49
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought this one for this purpose and it seems to work. ($25) https://www.amazon.com/Expand-A-Lung-BD12512-Breathing-Fitne...

I'm curious how breathing with this device compares with breathing through the nose

It's adjustable with a screw down. In general though breathing through the nose just will not replicate the inspiratory effort required to use this device. Not even close.

Re: 5-min breathing workout lowers blood pressure as much as exercise, drugs (2021)

#50
post #37

I don't fully get the "lowers blood pressure" claim. Doesn't Table S2 in the paper say that blood pressure stayed roughly the same for people doing high-resistance IMST and went up for the control/sham group doing low-resistance IMST? The question in my mind is "why does low-resistance IMST increase blood pressure?" Am I missing something?

Casual vs ambulatory blood pressure readings seem to account for the difference between what is reported in Table S2 and what is shown in the main paper. I don't know which kind of reading is more clinically significant or reliable. A little worrying that its not seen in the ambulatory too.

Comparing group means might not be quite so informative in any case, because of baseline effects (e.g. you'd want to do paired tests I think to compare the diffs)

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