Airplane Noise Can Boost Blood Pressure

As reported in HealthDay... People who live near major airports may be disturbed by the din of aircraft flying overhead all day, but a new study finds it can also boost their blood pressure even while they're sleeping.

In fact, the louder the noise, the higher blood pressure will go, the study found. That finding holds whether the noise comes from airplanes, passing traffic or other sources, according to the report in the February issue of the European Heart Journal. Click here to read entire article.

A Happy Marriage Lowers Blood Pressure

As reported in Reuters... "Happily married people have lower blood pressure than unhappy married people or singles, a Brigham Young University study says.

On the other hand, even having a supportive social network did not translate into a blood pressure benefit for singles or unhappy married people, according to the study.

"There seem to be some unique health benefits from marriage. It's not just being married that benefits health -- what's really the most protective of health is having a happy marriage," study author Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a psychologist who specializes in relationships and health, said in a prepared statement.

The study included 204 married and 99 single adults who wore portable blood-pressure monitors for 24 hours. The monitors recorded blood pressure at random intervals and provided a total of about 72 readings.

"We wanted to capture participants' blood pressure doing whatever they normally do in everyday life. Getting one or two readings in a clinic is not really representative of the fluctuations that occur throughout the day," Holt-Lunstad said.

Overall, happily married people scored four points lower on the blood pressure readings than single adults. The study also found that blood pressure among married people -- especially those in happy marriages -- dipped more during sleep than in single people.

"Research has shown that people whose blood pressure remains high throughout the night are at much greater risk of cardiovascular problems than people whose blood pressure dips," Holt-Lunstad said.

The study was published in the March 20 issue of the journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

The study also found that unhappily married adults have higher blood pressure than both happily married and single adults.

Holt-Lunstad noted that spouses can encourage healthy habits in one another, such as eating a healthy diet and having regular doctor visits. People in happy marriages also have a source of emotional support, she said."

Meditation Lowers Blood Pressure

Meditation can not only lower stress, it also helps in regulating high blood pressure with an added benefit of bypassing possible side effects and hazards of anti-hypertension drugs, says a new study.

In the new meta-analysis, researchers from University of Kentucky conducted nine randomized, controlled trials with Transcendental Meditation as a primary intervention for hypertensive patients.

The findings revealed that practicing Transcendental Meditation led to approximate reduction of 4.7 mm systolic blood pressure and 3.2 mm diastolic blood pressure.

Dr. James W. Anderson, lead author and professor of medicine at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, insisted that reduction the blood pressure could significantly reduce the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease without the side effects of drugs.

“Adding Transcendental Medication is about equivalent to adding a second antihypertension agent to one’s current regimen only safer and less troublesome,” he said.

The study appears in the March issue of the American Journal of Hypertension.

Women, Watch Your Blood Pressure!

A recent survey of adults 30 years or older found that the incidence of blood pressure is rising among women in the United States. The research found that hypertension is rising in women, while, with men, the condition is seeing a decline. For more information click here...

DASHing Away From Good Eating

A recent survey of hypertensive adults found that adherence to the dietary guidelines of the DASH nutrition program were much lower than expected. Contributing factors may be the increasing cost of food and the lack of public education on the importance of healthy eating. 

See HeartWire for more information.

Even Moderate Drinking May Increase Blood Pressure

Researches in England have recently concluded a study which indicates that people who had three or more alcoholic drinks a day had an increased risk of hypertension. 

The report also indicates that there is a genetic link between increased hypertension and drinking. Click here for more...

Mormon Fasting may be Heart Healthy

As reported by the Associated Press...

"A recent study reports that Mormons have less heart disease — something doctors have long chalked up to their religion's ban on smoking. New research suggests that another of their "clean living" habits also may be helping their hearts: fasting for one day each month.

A study in Utah, where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is based, found that people who skipped meals once a month were about 40 per cent less likely to be diagnosed with clogged arteries than those who did not regularly fast.

People did not have to "get religion" to benefit: non-Mormons who regularly took breaks from food also were less likely to have clogged arteries, scientists found.

They concede that their study is far from proof that periodic fasting is good for anyone, but said the benefit they observed poses a theory that deserves further testing.

"It might suggest these are people who just control eating habits better," and that this discipline extends to other areas of their lives that improves their health, said Benjamin Horne, a heart disease researcher from Intermountain Medical Center and the
University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

He led the study and reported results at a recent American Heart Association conference. The research was partly funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Roughly 70 per cent of Utah residents are Mormons, whose religion advises abstaining from food on the first Sunday of each month, Horne said.

Lower incidence of heart disease

Researchers got the idea to study fasting after analyzing medical records of patients who had X-ray exams to check for blocked heart arteries between 1994 and 2002 in the Intermountain Health Collaborative Study, a health registry. Of these patients, 4,629 could be diagnosed as clearly having or lacking heart disease — an artery at least 70 per cent clogged.

Researchers saw a pattern: only 61 per cent of Mormons had heart disease compared to 66 per cent of non-Mormons. They thought tobacco use probably accounted for the difference. But after taking smoking into account, they still saw a lower rate of heart disease among Mormons and designed a survey to explore why.

It asked about Mormons' religious practices: monthly fasting; avoiding tea, coffee and alcohol; taking a weekly day of rest; going to church, and donating time or money to charity.

Among the 515 people surveyed, only fasting made a significant difference in heart risks: 59 per cent of periodic meal skippers were diagnosed with heart disease versus 67 per cent of the others. The difference persisted even when researchers took weight, age and conditions like diabetes or high cholesterol or blood pressure into account.

About eight per cent of those surveyed were not Mormons, and those who regularly fasted had lower rates of heart disease, too.

Body in calorie-burn mode

Horne speculated that when people take a break from food, it forces the body to dip into fat reserves to burn calories. It also keeps the body from being constantly exposed to sugar and having to make insulin to metabolize it.

When people develop diabetes, insulin-producing cells become less sensitive to cues from eating, so fasting may provide brief rests that resensitize these cells and make them work better, he said.

But Horne and other doctors cautioned that skipping meals is not advised for diabetics — it could cause dangerous swings in blood sugar.

Also for dieters, "the news is not as good as you might think" on fasting, said Dr. Raymond Gibbons of the Mayo Clinic, a former heart association president.

"Fasting resets the metabolic rate," slowing it down to adjust to less food and forcing the body to store calories as soon as people resume eating, Gibbons said."