Wednesday's Wellness ..."A Deep Breath of Restoration"

You exercise, you eat right, but your last few checkups have you more than a
little perturbed. So what has your blood pressure boiling? Well ... your blood
pressure, actually! Until you hit your mid 40s, the blood pressure you've always
bragged about, a well-worth-the-exercise effort of 110/70, has slowly begun
creeping up! While your numbers used to be well within the limits of ballsy
braggadocio ... today you walked out with 135/85 rolling around in the back of your
mind and you just can't shake it. You still exercise regularly, your cardio is
spot on and you are the one who gladly turns down all of the sodium soaked,
saturated fat favorites at your local bistro.

So what gives? Well the good news is, you're still doing everything right AND while 135/85 isn't what you'd like to post on Facebook ... it's not off the charts either. We used to consider 140/90 the cutoff for what we considered borderline high Systolic (your top number)
and Diastolic (your bottom digits)... bad news is, we've since dropped that
considerably to a cut off of more like 120/80 ... YIKES! I know, I know ... try not
to stress. YEA STRESS ... now that's something we can talk about, but first, take
some solace in the fact that in general, the chance of having high blood pressure increases as you get older.

Before age 55, men have a greater chance of having high blood pressure. Women
are more likely to have high blood pressure after menopause.

While we can't control the fact that we're all getting older and with that
little fact comes the good, the difficult to accept and the downright ridiculous ... we can control our stress.

Blood pressure depends on a combination of two factors:

• How forcefully the heart pumps blood around the body
• How narrowed or relaxed your arteries are

Hypertension occurs when blood is forced through the arteries at an increased pressure and guess what ... STRESS plays a HUGE ROLE in how this will increase your numbers. Now, BEING THE HEALTH AND FITNESS DIVA ... I have an option for you to try. IT worked for me. I was always running a "CHECK HER PULSE AND SEE IF SHE'S ALIVE" ... 108/65ish blood pressure. for most all of my adult life UNTIL ...you guessed it, my early 40s and up it TRIED TO CREEP. Until that is, refusing defeat, I dug my heals in ... did my research and realized that the only thing I was not attending to that could make a difference was My STRESS
LEVEL.

SO, in an attempt to keep my posts shorter and sweet, bottom line, I
researched more and read about and BOUGHT a unit called RESPERATE! A lovely
... "makes you feel euphoric" deep breathing machine that with the melody of what
sounds like Pachelbel's Canon, slowly lowers your breathing rate to 10 breaths
per minute or LESS! It's based on the fact that breathing deeply and mindfully
helps stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system to trigger a relaxation
response throughout the body. Like all exercise, when repeated enough, the body
responds and it's ability to reduce its destructive effects of stress are strengthened.

Your body's ability to lower its blood pressure often follows suit as it falls in line with the parasympathetic parade. If your doctor is concerned and suggests medication, by all means, avail yourself of its benefits. BUT why not (while doing so), also invest in a time-tested exercise that may just give the body a chance to eventually regulate this on its own.

If not, you'll be healthier all the way around by lowering your stress levels ... period!

We'll discuss more on this matter on other Wellness Wednesdays to come, but take it to the bank and cash the check now, STRESS KILLS ...END OF DISCUSSION! RESPERATE did work for me and it brought me right back down to yesterday's reading of 110/72 ... I'll take
it. NO I DO NOT have a deal with the company.

Kinda wish I did cause this sucker works. Use it a few times a week ... lying down ... quiet music, guided deep breathing ... ahhhh. Now that's what I call a tip worth taking.

Resperate can be purchased online, so check out their website by the 'same
name,' for details and if you get the same result, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

I'll leave you with my favorite quote of all, The last sentence ever spoken
by Mattie Stepanek ...

"Choose to inhale, don't breathe simply to exist."
—Mattie J.T. Stepanek (1990-2004), Poet and Peacemaker

Until Tomorrow ...

Power ON,

Candace

CEO and Founder,

Fit Is It, Inc.

www.FitIsItCardio.com

www.CandaceGrasso.blogspot.com