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Could our breathing hold the secret to achieving lower blood pressure naturally?

Many researchers think so and they have a growing amount of evidence to back them up. What’s more, these are not the claims of alternative health promoters or any of the other usual suspects but those of doctors and scientists published in peer-reviewed medical journals.

It seems that the close connection between our respiratory and circulatory systems, long recognized and used by ancient cultures, does have scientific validity. We know logically that our heartbeat and breathing rate increase in unison in response to physical demands or strong emotions such as fear, anger, or panic. What we’re not able to feel is the corresponding increase in our blood pressure. This is a natural response to stress in preparation for fight or flight.

We usually think in terms of our breathing following our heart rate/blood pressure as it goes up but why would the reverse not be true? Why would heart rate and blood pressure not follow breathing – and why not down as well as up?

There was no mystery in this for ancient peoples. You may have heard of the incredible feats of certain Indian yogis: their ability to slow their heartbeats to the point at which it appears to stop, for instance. This requires complete mastery of mind and body but there is one tool they use above all to accomplish this feat: their breathing.

incredible feats through breathing control

The yogis have learned that slowing their breathing calms the heart, mind and nervous system. By reducing their respiratory rate to less than one breath per minute they are able to achieve a sort of “suspended animation”.

It takes a lifetime of discipline to reach this level but virtually anyone can learn to control their breathing within practical limits. Could this be of use to ordinary people to self-regulate their blood pressure? It was with this question in mind that researchers set out several years ago to find out if controlled breathing could be used to benefit the heart and blood pressure.

Their findings are promising, to say the least. A report in the April, 2001, Journal of Human Hypertension announced: "Breathing-control lowers blood pressure". The study, backed up by at least seven further clinical trials, concludes that short sessions of only 10 to 15 minutes a day of a therapeutic type of breathing is "an effective non-pharmacologic modality to reduce BP". In simple English, it works!

The method, known as "slow breathing", begins to reduce blood pressure at rates below 10 breaths per minute. A specific breathing pattern involving prolonged exhalation also plays an important role. Results improve as the breathing rate drops further but there is no need to become a yogi; maximum benefits are obtained at rates that almost everyone can achieve comfortably.

Using a simple method that guides breathing with the help of musical tones, people with no training were able to obtain impressive drops in blood pressure. The most successful have averaged reductions of 36 points systolic and 20 points diastolic. This is a phenomenal result that can only be equaled by a barrage of blood pressure medications. Average reductions across the board are a bit less but still very impressive.

Equally important is the surprising finding that the effects of slow breathing are cumulative. The reductions tend to be short-lived at first but build up over several weeks until they start to last around the clock. This makes slow breathing much more useful than simple relaxation, the effects of which are usually only temporary.

One other result may be more surprising still; a follow-up study showed that a massive 82% of resistant hypertensives – people who had failed to respond to other forms of treatment – responded positively to slow breathing. This result was published in the American Journal of Hypertension in June 2003. It indicates that slow breathing helps a broad range of people with high blood pressure, not just those whose hypertension may be caused by breathing problems, as many had believed.

With potential like this for many millions of hypertension sufferers you would expect slow breathing to spread like wildfire. After all, it offers so many advantages, not to mention additional benefits like stress and anxiety relief, with virtually no downside. Slow breathing has already helped thousands to avoid, reduce or eliminate potentially dangerous blood pressure medications.

Ironically, even with prestigious institutions like the Mayo Clinic and The American Heart Association have putting their influence behind the method, slow breathing has proved slow to catch on. It can appear difficult to learn and impractical. Luckily, new developments have emerged that allow virtually anybody to quickly and easily take advantage of this unique, totally natural method.

Discover more about using slow breathing along with music to lower blood pressure, stress relief and much more.