Blood Pressure

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Tue Nov 27, 2001 10:52 pm

Crazycat

I seem to recall talking about blood pressure on a number of occasions. My graduate academic training was all about cardiorespiratory control systems, so this isn't far from home for me. But I don't recall a discussion quite like you are proposing, so this is probably a good place to start. <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote

infomation on controling blood pressure

I've talked about this on a number of occasions, but this has often been in response to someone fretting over their baseline health status. Many folks develop hypertension with age. Some of it is genetics, some of it is age related, some of it is related to body weight, some of it is related to the general abuse (pharmeceutical) that you put your body through, some of it is a result of chronic stress, etc, etc.

The best things that a person can do to affect baseline blood pressure are:

1) First and foremost, have it checked regularly

2) Keep your weight in an ideal range.

3) Live a stress free existence. Exercise regularly. Stay away from life as a restaurant chef, air-traffic controler, etc. Good luck trying to make a living! Mostly those that can manage their work load are most likely to be able to manage their stress. When you are at the mercy of what comes in the front door of your business, you are vulnerable to the ravages of chronic stress.

4) Don't take medication unless you have to. Even innocent meds like ibuprofen can cause blood pressure increases over time when taken regularly. It's probably a kidney damage thing. Bummer!

5) Don't smoke.

6) Eat a good diet. One supplement in particular that'll keep your bones strong AND keep your blood pressure low is a calcium/magnesium supplement.

7) Consider meditation - stationary or moving. Research shows it's theoretically possible to consciously affect the autonomic nervous system. In practice this is much more difficult, but possible.

8) Don't "Valsalva" (strain while holding your breath. This doesn't affect baseline blood pressure, but it could cause dangerous short-term spikes (while you are doing the Valsalva).

9) If with all that you still have high blood pressure, get a cardiologist to help you with modern pharmacology. <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote

during the fight blood pressure seems to rise, ways to control that

This is all about the sympathetic nervous system (autonomic control). Part of the fight/flight response is an increase in heart rate, increase in strength of contraction, and an increase in peripheral vascular resistance. This is necessary to get the body ready to dump blood where it is needed if you have to run from the saber-toothed tiger or wrestle an alligator. This system is why you are alive today. At some point, those catecholamines helped your ancestors survive multiple life-threatening events.

Short bursts of sympathetic stimulation aren't necessarily a bad thing if they help you escape bad situations. I think the main issue here is the dose/response thing. You don't want to be so overstimulated that you do nothing more than s*** your britches.

How to resolve this? Here's what I recommend. Others can add.

1) Train, practice, then train some more, then practice some more, etc, etc ad nauseum. Being prepared can help stave off the panic attacks.

2) Other than kata, weights, and sparring, it's important to put yourself through scenario training. Here is where you learn to apply your skills while highly stimulated. The more you do, the better you get under these conditions and the better you can manage the stress.

I yield the floor to the other experts. Pardon the typos - gotta go.

- Bill

crazycat · Post by **crazycat** » Wed Nov 28, 2001 5:24 am

Hi All,

Bill, there was a good post on blood pressure in your forum and I can't seem to find it or remember the title it was under. We can always start a new one.

1.) infomation on controling blood pressure.

2.) during the fight blood pressure seems to rise, ways to control that.

3.) Any other helpful information.

thanks friends

crazycat · Post by **crazycat** » Sat Jan 19, 2002 3:42 pm

I now remember the post where you said you could control your heart rate. This comes to mind by a new TV show called "The Chair" The wife and kid's want ot put me in this show. I got a quick glimpse of the show last night, the person in the chair has to control their heart rate before answering the question. They have a previous specified heart rate to control, something within their range. They are also subject to actions that will make their heart rate increase like dropping an alligator on your lap or fire under your seat. The only people that make any money on the show are martial artist's because they can control their heart rate. I'm not sure I understand this controling heart rate.

Besides constantly forcing myself to relax, how can I control my heart rate? why does being a martial artist come into play here? this maybe a meditative action?

Ian · Post by **Ian** » Sat Jan 19, 2002 3:51 pm

Don't forget that exercise, associated with short term blood pressure increases and rapid heart rate, are what's best for protecting your heart in the long run, are part of that includes lowering the heart rate and blood pressure. Go figure.

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Sat Jan 19, 2002 9:05 pm

It feels a bit off topic, but about the heart rate and the game show...
From what I know, consciously relaxing your muscles and relaxing your mind will lower your heart rate. In martial arts, (well, in the classes I've taken and what I've studied) you need to learn to relax mentally so you can function in a stressful situation and you also need to learn to relax physically so you can develop quicker movements. Probably alot of people just don't have the body awareness or the self control to relax like the show needs.

Adam

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Mon Jan 21, 2002 11:25 pm

The reason why martial artists, actors, surgeons, test piolots, etc. are good at controlling their heart rates is because they are constantly in tune with other things that correlate with heart rate.

I had some of my best years of learning on this subject in the five years I did bench research in the division of cardiology at UVa. I did open heart surgery (on dogs) about 3 times a week for 5 years. I already have a bit of a tremor, and anything that gets me a little excited makes it worse. On the flip side, anything that quiets my sympathetic nervous system will minimize my tremor. The word "Zen mind" doesn't quite describe that blissful state I taught myself to be in, but it's the best I can do.

Most people can't control their heart rate because they don't pay attention to things that are associated with it. The best way to learn is to make a little biofeedback monitor that converts heart rate (measuring the reciprocal of the R-R inteval in the ECG) to either a tone or a visual signal. Then it's just a matter of figuring out what to do to make the signal or tone go up and down. It's easy to figure out what NOT to do... The rest just takes time to figure out. Eventually you end up in your happy space.

Some are better at this than others. Just so you don't feel bad, people who are really good at this are sometimes thought of as "boring" people (not very excitable).

- Bill

crazycat · Post by **crazycat** » Wed Jan 23, 2002 5:18 am

Maybe controlling the heart rate is taught through our fears and ego (ie through MA teachings.)

Attitude of our enviroment that we have created through our thoughts.

You all have given me food for thought..

raulf7 · Post by **raulf7** » Mon Jan 28, 2002 2:42 am

I think with intense training over many years one reaches a point of total calmness when in a real fight. This has been my experience. The training brings about a confidence that breeds calmness when a threat is eminent or inaction.

I have met many other Dan grades that have experienced this