Sunday, February 19, 2023

The Great benefits of Exercise...HIIT and blood pressure

Another great reason to start a regular exercise routine and another great article by Dr Grisanti

HIIT and blood pressure

Ronald Grisanti D.C., D.A.B.C.O., DACBN, MS, CFMP

When it comes to lowering blood pressure exercise is a non-negotiable factor.

You may be thinking what is the most effective form of exercise to lower blood pressure.

More and more studies are showing the exciting results of something called HIIT in lowering blood pressure. HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training

What is HIIT?
HIIT is not any specific exercise, rather, it is a technique. You can apply this technique to almost any kind of exercise whether it be walking, riding a bike, swimming, doing some body weight exercises or even dancing in your living room.

** ALWAYS CHECK WITH YOUR PHYSICIAN BEFORE STARTING ANY FORM OF EXERCISE FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

HIIT training consists of combining very short bursts of working at your absolute max alternating short periods of active recovery rest. Research has found that this form of exercising gives you more health benefits than any other way of exercising.

It shortens the amount of time you need to spend on exercise and is more effective; you work out for just 10-30 minutes and reap impressive health benefits. You burn more body fat, your metabolism is stimulated for long after you finish exercising, and it also it helps you utilize oxygen more efficiently.

One of the biggest benefits people find from HIIT is the reduction in training time. Through HIIT, you can put in about half the amount of time compared to traditional cardio exercise to reach your goals.

One study found that just 2 minutes of HIIT sprinting increased metabolism as much as 30 minutes of running. HIIT increases the efficiency of your heart and HIIT training also has a major effect on naturally lowering your blood pressure.

HIIT and blood pressure:

Although most any type of exercise has its benefits, HIIT shines when it comes to saving time. Using the HIIT technique is the ultimate short-cut.

Study after study shows that HIIT exercise improves blood pressure in people with hypertension better than any other kind of exercise routine.

HIIT is extremely effective in reducing resting heart rate and blood pressure in overweight and obese individuals.

It has been shown that HIIT exercising just 3 times per week for just 20 minutes at a time lowers blood pressure more effectively than continuous endurance training.

What is the science that makes HIIT so effective?

HIIT training changes something called endothelial function.

The endothelium is a very thin membrane that lines the inside of your heart and your blood vessels. The cells in this membrane release a variety of substances that control how your blood vessels relax and contract.

We know that stiff hard arteries play a role in high blood pressure.

The ability of your artery walls to expand (vasodilate) is very important.

You need to have flexibility in your arteries to allow for appropriate blood flow throughout your body.

HIIT improves endothelial function and reduces the stiffness in your artery walls more so than any other traditional form or exercise.

Just a 1% improvement in your endothelial function can result in a 13% reduction in the risk of cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes.

One study showed that 73% of people restored blood pressure to normal using a HIIT training method for just 2 months and 24 exercise sessions. There was a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure from 145.4 (± 9.0) to 118.3 ( ± 15.6) mm Hg.

How to Apply HIIT

With HIIT training you're are going to go ‘all out' at a high intensity for short amounts of time. You then do an ‘active recovery' rest for a short interval. You can apply this technique to any kind of exercise, walking, running, jumping rope, cycling and even to weight training.

I personally prefer using a stationary bike for minimizing injury. It is simply a great option to implement HIIT into your workouts.

Using the HIIT on a stationary bike

Warm-up for 5 minutes on a low setting.

After your 5 minute warm-up increase the tension on the bike and pedal as fast as you can for 20 seconds. This is called the Sprint phase. After the 20 second sprint phase, lower the tension on the bike and comfortably pedal for 2 minutes.

This is one session of HIIT.

Repeat the above 5 times and you are done.

Heart Recovery Tip

After doing your 20 second sprint, lower the tension and wait 60 seconds and check your pulse. You want your elevated pulse to come down between 8-10 beats. This is your heart recovery zone. If for some reason your pulse does not come down 8-10 beats you should stop and call it a day. For example: After you do your all out sprint for 20 minutes your heart rate when go up to 110 beats. After one minute of decreasing the tension and comfortably pedaling, your heart rate should come down to 100-102 beats. That is a good heart recovery.

Although as I mentioned above I prefer the stationary bike this can be applied to walking as well. Simply walking at a comfortable pace for 5 minutes then do an all out "brisk" walk for 20 seconds. Walking comfortably for 2 minutes then repeat five times.

That is all you need to do to maximize this effective form of exercise (HIIT) to lower your blood pressure.

References

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29424402/

https://www.sci-sport.com/en/articles/HIIT-and-hypertension-Improvement-of-cardiovascular-functions-163.php

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/benefits-of-hiit#TOC_TITLE_HDR_8

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21450580/

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1741826711400512

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0531556516306003

Dr. Grisanti encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional. Visit www.FunctionalMedicineUniversity.com for more information on our training in functional medicine.

Friday, February 10, 2023

Spirituality needs and the links to Cardiovascular health

This article is supplied by the Institute of Functional Medicine....and I found it very interesting and wanted to share it with you all.

Spiritual Needs, Stress, and Cardiovascular Responses

Spirituality is an important determinant of health that can affect patient healing, outcomes, and quality of life. Its effects on stress and physiological dysfunction have been widely studied, particularly regarding cardiovascular function. Can spiritual coping strategies help patients manage stress and improve their cardiovascular health? Spiritual coping mechanisms such as mindfulness, yoga, prayer, daily affirmations, and expressing gratitude can improve mental health states, but they also confer physical health benefits by improving recovery from stress-induced changes in cardiovascular function.

Spirit, Stress, and Cardiovascular Risk

Spiritual coping can be defined as using belief systems, attitudes, and mindfulness practices to manage emotional distress or hardship. While spirituality can have a religious connotation, coping behaviors like prayer do not need to be overtly religious in nature and may be reframed as taking a few moments in the day to set a goal or reflect on an accomplishment. Spirituality, more broadly, is the feeling of connection, purpose, meaning, and balance in life. Mindfulness and awareness practices can help achieve this by giving patients the tools to recognize and transform stress and help navigate adversity.

Spiritual coping mechanisms may help patients to self-manage stress and reduce the impact of stress-related cardiovascular reactivity1 such as increased blood pressure.2 The physiological symptoms of stress, including temporary states of hypertension and increased heart rate, are contributing factors to cardiovascular disease. The practices of mindfulness and meditation3,4 have both been shown to benefit blood pressure management, reducing the risk of arterial stiffness5 and hypertension3,6,7 through improved stress response, emotional regulation, and self-awareness of health-related behaviors.4,5,8,9 A systematic review of literature assessing spirituality in cardiovascular disease patients revealed that those who engaged in spiritual or religious coping strategies reported higher quality of life outcomes over time.10 Patients facing adverse cardiovascular events in palliative care settings also reported better coping through spirituality when they had the tools to effectively manage stress regarding their diagnoses; some even expressed feelings of hope, patience, and tolerance about overcoming their diagnosis.11

Attending places of worship is associated with positive improvements in health-related behaviors that influence cardiometabolic dysfunction.12 Religious attendance was associated with lower incidence of all-cause mortality and marked improvement in nutrition and exercise habits, along with lower rates of smoking and alcohol consumption.13-15 This was also shown to impact the risk for metabolic syndrome,16,17 with those expressing lower levels of religious faith experiencing more rapid disease progression.17 Those who have religious affiliations as part of their spiritual well-being also reported higher levels of purpose, belonging, and resilience adaptation. Including community in a spiritual practice such as attending places of worship may be important for treatment adherence and as a motivator for patients to make changes in their lifestyle.

Coping With Emotional Distress

Negative emotional states can alter the risk factors and trajectory of hypertension. Feelings of optimism, satisfaction,18 and purpose19 are associated with better cardiovascular outcomes by indirectly influencing health behaviors and directly influencing the impact of stress in the body.7,19 Social relationships, which play a strong role in maintaining positive emotions, were shown to counteract the physical stress responses of negative emotions such as anger and provided patients a support system that allowed them to return to normal resting blood pressure levels more quickly.7,20 Psychological well-being in itself is an important consideration for hypertension patients, and having strong social connections was an important mitigating factor for hypertension in all populations.7,21 Religious and spiritual involvement may be a potential intervention to build and strengthen these social connections.

Spiritual coping strategies may also be protective against the strain of diagnosis or emotional hardship; some cancer patients noted that they felt more connected to family, friends, and community through prayer, which improved their survival rates and quality of life outcomes in remission.22,23 Social support and feelings of interconnectedness to self, others, and a higher purpose were also associated with decreased mortality24 in patients in coronary palliative care, helping them accept the reality of their illness and the challenges it would engender in the course of their lives.11

Stress and depressive symptoms that can accompany difficult diagnoses are risk factors for incident hypertension and comorbid outcomes.7 Educating patients on effective coping strategies can improve their ability to handle diagnosis-related stressors and appears to ultimately affect their survival rates. It may also provide a critical self-management tool for dealing with the negative emotional states that can occur during remission. When recalling particular hardships they experienced during their illness, spiritual coping strategies helped breast cancer survivors recover more quickly from disruptions in mood and episodic blood pressure spikes.20

Spiritual coping mechanisms, especially during times of crisis or illness, can influence a patient’s recovery and ability to self-manage their illness and related stressors. These practices may include listening to music, reading inspirational or heartfelt writings, engaging in prayer or moments of positive affirmations, spending time with loved ones, and feeling supported by their communities. These interventions do not necessarily need to be framed in a religious or spiritual context; the important thing is to help patients connect with themselves on a deeper level and find meaning in some activity or practice that they enjoy.

An interesting systematic review published in 2022 showed a paucity of literature exploring the relationship between spirituality and medication adherence among patients with cardiovascular diseases.25 Approximately 50% of patients suffering from these conditions are non-adherent to their prescribed medications. In patients with hypertension and heart failure, medication adherence improved with high levels of spirituality, higher organizational religiousness, and prayer. The authors conclude that a better understanding of the relationship between spirituality and medication-taking behaviors will help to develop culturally sensitive, spiritually based, and patient-centered interventions to improve medication adherence.25

Spiritual Needs in Practice

Patients may find purpose, community, and encouragement through religious or spiritual practices and beliefs or other coping mechanisms that can help them engage with and sustain positive lifestyle changes. While religious faith may or may not be a part of your patient’s life, spirituality and related coping mechanisms have an undeniable impact on health. Functional medicine recognizes the importance of the mental-emotional-spiritual connection to physical health and addresses these concerns as a core clinical imbalance of the functional medicine matrix. Through empathetic listening and retelling of a patient’s health story and recommending ways they might reconnect to their own purpose in life, addressing spiritual needs can strengthen the therapeutic partnership and open up new avenues of healing for the patient. Learn more about tools and strategies to help patients achieve sustainable lifestyle change and improve their well-being through IFM’s new course Lifestyle: The Foundations of Functional Medicine.