Five Smart Ways to Take the Pressure Off
By Michael Roizen, M.D., and Mehmet Oz, M.D. There's no doubt that carbon monoxide is worth worrying about. But there's something that causes 120 times more deaths a year that many people don't pay attention to: high blood pressure (yes, it causes 60,000 deaths a year!).
If you're already eating a healthy, produce-heavy diet and are maintaining a regular exercise program -- the heavy hitters in reducing blood pressure without a prescription -- then add these easy pressure tamers to your life, too:
1. Turn it down. In one assembly plant, the louder the noise got, the higher the workers' pressure rose. Simply using earplugs dropped systolic blood pressure (the top number) by 5 mm Hg. Work in a quiet place? Great. Now keep your iPod low, too.
2. Forgive. When people conjured up a frustrating situation, their blood pressure went up. And it stayed up in people who also couldn't fork over any forgiveness.
3. Indulge. A massage can drop blood pressure (for a little while); in one study, it took pressure from 125/76 down to a healthier 115/70.
4. Look at the half-full side. People who are more hopeful, have a sense of self-worth and enjoy life also have lower blood pressures than pessimistic people.
5. Sleep! People who got five or fewer hours of sleep a night in a period of about two years were twice as likely to end up with high blood pressure as people who slept seven to eight hours.
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The YOU Docs, Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen, are authors of "YOU: On a Diet." Want more? See "The Dr. Oz Show" on TV (check local listings). To submit questions, go to www.RealAge.com. (c) 2010 Michael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc. The YOU Docs -- Mike Roizen and Mehmet Oz -- are authors of the best-selling "YOU: The Owner's Manual" and "YOU: On a Diet." To submit questions and find ways to grow younger and healthier, go to www.RealAge.com, the docs' online home.
Read more about By Michael Roizen, M.D., and Mehmet Oz, M.D. at ArcaMax.com.
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