Quote:
Originally Posted by gindie
I just ordered the product after seeing a USA Today article and hearing about good things that Mayo and Johns Hopkins had to say.
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I looked into this at a patient's request not long ago. The available evidence is insufficient to draw sound conclusions.
I would add two observations: first, there is a plausible biologic reason why this approach might lower blood pressure (it decreases what is called autonomic tone, the tendency to constrict blood vessels and increase heart rate and force) so I would not dismiss it out of hand and second, there is NO evidence that lowering blood pressure in this way decreases the risk of high blood pressure (in contrast to medication which has been convincingly shown to decrease strokes, kidney failure and heart failure, and possibly heart attacks); it is possible that there are other mechanisms at work.
Have you considered practicing meditation (not necessarily spiritual-based)? It may work through similar mechanisms, is free, has no known risk, and probably has other benefits in terms of well-being, stress reduction and so on. Instead of working by reducing already-released stress chemicals, it works in part be preventing their release in the first place through retraining your response to the various stimuli -- you learn to observe them from a comfortable distance rather than automatically "reacting" to them. But here, too, this is theoretical rather than proven (and only you can judge the wellbeing claim). The Dummies book by Bodian is a good place to start.
Just a thought.