Church-based lifestyle intervention reduces BP in black patients

Among black patients with hypertension, a community-based lifestyle intervention taking place in churches conferred a greater reduction in systolic BP than a control intervention, according to the results of the FAITH study. “African-Americans have a significantly greater burden of hypertension and heart disease, and our findings prove that people with uncontrolled hypertension can, indeed, better manage their blood pressure through programs administered in places of worship,” Gbenga Ogedegbe, MD, MPH, FACP, Dr. Adolph & Margaret Berger Professor of Population Health and Medicine, chief of the Division of Health & Behavior and director of…

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How to control high BP in pregnancy, symptoms and cure for a healthy baby

Pregnant women are advised ample rest and there’s a good reason for it. In fact, pregnant women undergo constant blood pressure check up so that the doctor can monitor the pressure levels throughout pregnancy. Developing high blood pressure during pregnancy is not always harmful but it could also lead to several complications. “These days high BP during late pregnancies is very common. There is also a high possibility that women have hypertension as a pre-existing condition,” says Dr Anjali Talwalkar, obstetrics and gynecology, Kohinoor Hospital. These are some of the symptoms that you…

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More people prefer popping pills and drinking healthy tea over exercise to treat high BP

According to a recent study, people would rather pop a pill or sip tea than exercise to treat high blood pressure. Researchers wanted to find out how people weigh the benefits of high blood pressure treatment options against its inconvenience. They asked survey respondents to imagine that they had high blood pressure and then asked about their willingness to adopt any of four “treatments” to gain an extra month, year or five years of life. In this survey, the “treatments” proposed were: a daily cup of tea, exercise, pills or…

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Weed smokers, marijuana may triple your chances of dying from high BP

Turns out, it’s not just cigarettes that risk your heart as according to a recent study, marijuana smokers have triple the death risk from high blood pressure (BP). In the absence of longitudinal data on marijuana use, the researchers designed a retrospective follow-up study of NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) participants aged 20 years and above. Information on marijuana use was merged with mortality data in 2011 from the National Centre for Health Statistics. The researchers estimated the associations of marijuana use, and duration of use, with death…

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Certain high BP drugs cut spread of cancer in body

A team of researchers has found that drugs used to treat high blood pressure can block the spread of cancer. The findings were published in journal of Nature Communications. Calcium channel blockers are currently used to treat hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, but their potential use in blocking cancer cell metastases has not been previously reported. By screening already approved drugs, the team led by Postdoctoral Researcher Guillaume Jacquemet and Academy Professor Johanna Ivaska from University of Turku in Finland discovered that calcium channel blockers can efficiently stop…

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Suffering from High BP? Try Yoga

Practising hatha yoga — a combination of asanas, pranayam and meditation — daily as well as maintaining healthy lifestyle may help reduce blood pressure in patients with pre hypertension, a study has found. Pre hypertension — slightly elevated blood pressure — is blood pressure readings with a systolic pressure from 120 to 139 mm Hg or a diastolic pressure from 80 to 89 mm Hg. Readings greater than or equal to 140/90 mm Hg are considered hypertension — or high blood pressure. “Patients with pre hypertension are likely to develop…

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