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By integrating
acupuncture and Oriental medicine into your heart healthy lifestyle,
you can dramatically reduce your risk of heart disease.
Heart disease includes conditions affecting the heart, such as coronary
heart disease, heart attacks, congestive heart failure, and congenital
heart disease. Despite dramatic medical advances over the past fifty
years, heart disease remains a leading cause of death globally and the
number one cause of death in the United States.
Taking small steps to improve your health can reduce your risk for
heart disease by as much as eighty percent. Steps to prevention include
managing high blood pressure, quitting smoking, maintaining a healthy
weight, reducing stress and improved sleep - all of which can be helped
with acupuncture.
1. Manage High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure makes the heart work harder, increasing its oxygen
demands and contributing to angina. This excessive pressure can lead to
an enlarged heart (cardiomegaly), as well as damage to blood vessels in
the kidneys and brain. It increases the risk of heart attacks, stroke
and kidney disease.
Acupuncture has been found to be particularly helpful in lowering blood
pressure. By applying acupuncture needles at specific sites along the
wrist, inside the forearm or in the leg, researchers at the Susan
Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of
California, Irvine, were able to stimulate the release of opioids,
which decreases the heart’s activity and thus its need for oxygen.
This, in turn, lowers blood pressure.
2. Quit Smoking
Most people associate cigarette smoking with breathing problems and
lung cancer. But did you know that smoking is also a major cause of
coronary artery disease? In fact, about twenty percent of all deaths
from heart disease are directly related to cigarette smoking.
Acupuncture has shown to be an effective treatment for smoking.
Acupuncture treatments for smoking cessation focus on jitters,
cravings, irritability, and restlessness; symptoms that people commonly
complain about when they quit. It also aids in relaxation and
detoxification.
3. Maintain a Healthy Weight
Obesity is associated with diabetes, high blood pressure and coronary
artery disease, all of which increase the risk of developing heart
disease, but studies have shown that excess body weight itself (and not
just the associated medical conditions) can also lead to heart failure.
Even if you are entirely healthy otherwise, being overweight still
places you at a greater risk of developing heart failure.
Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine are an excellent adjunctive tool when
it comes to losing weight. They can help to energize the body, maximize
the absorption of nutrients, regulate elimination, control overeating,
suppress the appetite, and reduce anxiety.
4. Reduce Stress
Stress is a normal part of life. But if left unmanaged, stress can lead
to emotional, psychological, and even physical problems, including
heart disease, high blood pressure, chest pains, or irregular heart
beats. Medical researchers aren't sure exactly how stress increases the
risk of heart disease. Stress itself might be a risk factor, or it
could be that high levels of stress make other risk factors worse. For
example, if you are under stress, your blood pressure goes up, you may
overeat, you may exercise less, and you may be more likely to smoke.
Numerous studies have demonstrated the substantial benefits of
acupuncture in the treatment of stress, anxiety and mental health. In
addition to acupuncture, Oriental medicine offers a whole gamut of
tools and techniques that can be integrated into your life to keep
stress in check. These tools include Tui Na, Qi Gong exercises, herbal
medicine, dietary therapy, meditations and acupressure that you can
administer at home.
5. Improve Sleep
Poor sleep has been linked with high blood pressure, atherosclerosis,
heart failure, heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, and obesity.
Researchers have shown that getting at least eight hours of sleep is
needed for good heart health and getting less than eight hours of sleep
can put you at a greater risk for developing heart disease.
Acupuncture has shown great success treating a wide array of sleep
problems without any of the side effects of prescription or
over-the-counter sleep aids. The acupuncture treatments for problems
sleeping focus on the root disharmony within the body that is causing
the insomnia. Therefore, those who use acupuncture for insomnia achieve
not only better sleep, but also an overall improvement of physical and
mental health.
Contact an acupuncturist in your area for a consultation during Heart Health Awareness Month to
see how acupuncture and Oriental medicine can assist you with your
heart health and help you to live a long, healthy life.
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Related Articles:
Study Shows Acupuncture Significantly Lowers Blood Pressure
Blood Pressure Lowered by Acupuncture
Study Shows Acupuncture Effective for Weight Loss
Cholesterol Control with Chinese Medicine
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