The NHS Choices website gives some great advice on how to help reduce high blood pressure, such as;
- losing weight if you need to
- exercising regularly
- eating a healthy diet
- cutting back if you drink a lot of alcohol
- stopping smoking
- cutting down on salt and caffeine
However, this is the same advice that has been given out for years and the rates of high blood pressure are still rising. Some estimates I have seen are predicting that high blood pressure rates will be at 50% by 2025 so clearly this advice is not making much difference.
A high blood pressure diagnosis from your doctor can be frightening and overwhelming and can leave you feeling out of control. None of which will help the blood pressure situation, in fact it will probably exacerbate it. For many people the blood pressure medications they are put on can have significant side effects, and let’s face it, most people are not comfortable with having to take medication for the rest of their life.
So is there an alternative?
For the last ten years we have been using what we have now developed into the Hypnotension programme (yes that’s Hypnotension, not hypertension). The difference with this programme is that, although it works with the usual aggravators like weight, exercise, healthy eating and salt etc., it does not just tell you what not to do… Instead, we help you change the beliefs behind the behaviours, enabling a change in lifestyle that hopefully is easy to maintain and is achievable in the long-term.
If we did this alone it would have a significant change. However, the Hypnotension programme is far more than that. The Hypnotension programme looks for and resolves any issues that could be causing your sympathetic nervous system to keep your body on “red alert”, which we know causes blood pressure to rise.
Often these issues can not only cause the blood pressure to rise but they can keep it there permanently or until the issue is resolved. There are many things that can cause this such as stress, anxiety, guilt, loss of control and many more. From existing research, the medical profession understand that these risk factors exist but they simply do not have the time to resolve them on an individual basis.
Again, the NHS choices website suggests that “Relaxation therapy and exercise can reduce blood pressure.” but this does not go far enough.
This is where the Hypnotension programme is unique. The protocol leads the practitioner and the client through a process of identifying and resolving issues on a client-by-client basis, something the NHS just simply does not have the resources to do, especially in the current climate.
