How slow breathing and music work together in our bodies (and not just in our minds) to control blood pressure...
The idea that our breathing affects our blood pressure is really nothing new...
The link between our respiratory and circulatory systems has been known as long as human beings have walked the earth. "Take a deep breath" they always tell you at moments of great stress, panic or anger. Breathing slowly and deeply calms the heart and nerves as surely as eating quiets a growling stomach.
The only thing new is that research has finally proved the connection and discovered how it works. What's more, it has identified the precise patterns of breathing and other conditions that deliver the greatest benefits.
The exact ways that slow breathing works to lower blood pressure are not yet completely understood. But there are a number of observable things going on when we breathe slowly and deeply... all of them good!
Relaxation/dilation
of blood
vessels
Gentle, slow breathing acts like a natural safety valve to relax muscle tension, especially in the chest area, allowing constricted blood vessels to open and relieve pressure on the heart.
"Breathe For Better Blood Pressure"
Slow breathing signals the brain,"
says Joseph Marek, M.D., a
cardiologist and hypertension specialist. "Muscles around blood vessels
relax and blood flows more easily.
Prevention
Magazine
February 2005
It literally takes a load off your chest!
The effects of relaxation alone are usually only temporary. Otherwise we could get the same effects listening to conventional relaxation tapes or even watching TV.
But deep and rhythmic slow breathing, relaxes muscles and connective tissues deep into the diaphragm in a way that no amount of passive relaxation can do.
Still, there is more to slow breathing than relaxation alone...
Slow
breathing affects our blood chemistry
Dr. David Anderson, a researcher with the National Institutes of Health and a proponent of slow breathing, states:
Slow,
deep breathing does relax and
dilate
blood vessels temporarily, but that's not enough to explain a lasting
drop in blood pressure...
Dr. Anderson explains that we tend to breathe quickly and shallowly when under stress, a chronic condition for many. We may even hold our breath without being aware of it. This "inhibitory breathing", as he calls it, contributes significantly to hypertension and other stress-related diseases.
It does this by destabilizing the levels of gases such as oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitric oxide, making our blood more acidic. This makes the kidneys less efficient at pumping out sodium, which in turn raises blood pressure.
Breathing naturally plays a major role in regulating gases in our blood. According to Dr. Anderson, slow breathing acts to rebalance our blood chemistry thus relieving hypertension.
Dr. Anderson is currently conducting the largest ever study on slow breathing, sponsored by the National Institute on Aging. The results will be published on this website as soon as they are available.
Nitric
oxide:
the missing link
to natural blood pressure
control?
Yet another intriguing explanation for the effects of slow breathing is emerging. And his could be the most powerful of all.
New research shows that both slow breathing and music, both together and separately, stimulate the release of nitric oxide into the bloodstream.
Nitric oxide, produced by our cells, is an invisible gas that plays a crucial role in regulating blood flow by constricting or dilating blood vessels. It also helps the immune system to fight infections and tumors and is a neurotransmitter in the brain, among many other things.
Nitric oxide is abundant in the nasal airways, which is an important reason for inhaling through the nose (except when high exertion demands more air).
Dr. Oz, Oprah's celebrity doctor, writes:
Inhaling deeply
brings a chemical called nitric oxide from the back of your nose and
your sinuses into your lungs. This short-lived gas dilates the air passages in your
lungs and does the same to the blood vessels.
Music produces nitric oxide too:
In a study published in December 2008 by the Center for Preventive Cardiology at Maryland University, listening to relaxing music expanded blood vessels by an average 26%.
Expanding blood vessels obviously reduces blood pressure but it also helps to prevent the build up of blood clots and the dangerous cholesterol, LDL. Study participants showed significant reductions in both blood pressure and LDL levels.
Micheal Miller, the leader of the Maryland study explains:
We were looking for cheaper,
non-pharmacological aids to help us improve our patients’
heart health, and we think this is the prescription.
The report is available to read in our Clinical Results and Articles pages.
The
"Second
Heart"
Phenomenon
The diaphragm plays an obvious role in respiration but it also plays an important role in circulation. When doing abdominal breathing - more correctly called "diaphragmatic breathing" - the breath is drawn deeply toward the abdomen by expanding and contracting the diaphragm.
This expansion and contraction acts as a membrane pump, helping to circulate a surprising amount of blood, expecially venous blood through abdominal organs and up to the thorax. In this way the diaphragm relieves some of the load on the heart, an action that has led to it being called the "second heart".
Pharmaceutical companies are always looking for new ways to mimic these same processes that occur safely and naturally through slow breathing and listening to music!