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Post Date: Wednesday, February 5, 2020 |
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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.
By
integrating acupuncture and Oriental medicine into your heart healthy
lifestyle, you can dramatically reduce your risk of heart disease.
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, which decreases the heart’s activity
and thus its need for oxygen. This, in turn, lowers blood pressure.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
Ask us
about on Acupuncture treatments at the Sport Centre and our In- Home Services.
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