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Lesson Overview

In this lesson, we discuss hypertension (high blood pressure), including extensive research on causes and effective therapies.

Objective

Be familiar with diagnostic criteria, root causes and conditions of hypertension, and research showing effective techniques for reversing high blood pressure, including breathing practices, movement, yoga, and nutritional therapies.

Description

Explain how blood pressure is measured. Define hypertension and discuss categorizing measurements and related diagnoses. Note four flaws in the diagnostic criteria. Discuss root causes and conditions for high blood pressure. Cite research on the effectiveness of breathing training in reducing blood pressure. Discuss related yogic breathing considerations. Discuss movement for promoting healthy pressure and addressing high blood pressure; cite related research. Cite research on the effectiveness of yoga in lowering high blood pressure. Note yoga practice cautions for people with chronically high blood pressure. Discuss meditation and mindfulness, spiritual practice and stress management among other techniques shown to be effective in reducing high blood pressure; cite related research. Discuss nutritional remedies for lowering and regulating pressure; cite related research. Name four commonly prescribed types of drugs for lowering blood pressure and cite the poor outcomes and negative effects of blood pressure-lowering drugs.

Vocabulary

diastolic blood pressure, essential hypertension, high blood pressure, hypertension, hypertension emergency, idiopathic hypertension, malignant hypertension, primary hypertension, resistant hypertension, secondary hypertension, systolic blood pressure, white-coat hypertension / syndrome