http://www.severehypertension.net/ en 2008-03-14T19:30:01+00:00 http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/meditation-impacts-blood-pressure/ http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/meditation-impacts-blood-pressure/#When:19:30:01Z Transcendental Meditation is an effective treatment for controlling high blood pressure with the added benefit of bypassing possible side effects and hazards of anti-hypertension drugs, according to a new meta-analysis conducted at the University of Kentucky. The study appears in the March issue of the American Journal of Hypertension. The meta-analysis evaluated nine randomized, controlled trials using Transcendental Meditation as a primary intervention for hypertensive patients. The practice of Transcendental Meditation was associated with approximate reductions of 4.7 mm systolic blood pressure and 3.2 mm diastolic blood pressure. Severe Hypertension News 2008-03-14T19:30:01+00:00 http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/stress-high-blood-pressure-tied-to-birthweight/ http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/stress-high-blood-pressure-tied-to-birthweight/#When:14:51:00Z Pregnant women with both high stress levels and high blood pressure may be at increased risk of having an underweight baby, a study suggests. What’s more, researchers found, the combination of high stress and elevated blood pressure was twice as common among African-American women versus white women. They say the findings may help explain why black women are at particular risk of having a low-birthweight baby. In the study, which appears in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, researchers followed 170 white and African-American women who had their blood pressure and stress levels measured at different points during pregnancy. Severe Hypertension News 2008-02-08T14:51:00+00:00 http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/severe-hypertension-silent-killer-still-on-the-loose/ http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/severe-hypertension-silent-killer-still-on-the-loose/#When:19:35:00Z High blood pressure may be one of the top killers in the country, but you??™d never know it by the way we??™re behaving, say scientists attending the annual congress of the Society for Critical Care Medicine (SCCM). ???Research shows that some 73 million people in the U.S. have high blood pressure, yet many of them don??™t even know it. And among those that do, a large number are not taking the medications they need to control it,” says Dr. Christopher Granger, a cardiologist at Duke University Medical Center. ???We??™ve discovered that these patients are getting highly variable treatment. Moreover, we also found out that we aren??™t doing a very good job following up with these folks once they leave the hospital,??? he adds. Granger and colleagues at nearly two dozen institutions around the country created a special registry to find out what happens to patients with acute, severe hypertension ??“ those with blood pressure readings above 160/110 ??“ when they come to an emergency department or critical care setting for treatment. Severe Hypertension News 2008-01-31T19:35:00+00:00 http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/diabetes-and-hypertension-in-severe-obesity/ http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/diabetes-and-hypertension-in-severe-obesity/#When:22:02:00Z Objective To evaluate the preoperative relationships of hypertension and diabetes mellitus in severe obesity and the effects of gastric bypass (GBP)-induced weight loss. Summary Background Data Severe obesity is associated with multiple comorbidities, particularly hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus, that may affect life expectancy. Severe Hypertension News 2008-01-22T22:02:00+00:00 http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/theories-of-stress/ http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/theories-of-stress/#When:02:29:00Z There are several theoretical positions devised for examining and understanding stress and stress-related disorders. Brantley and Thomason (1995) categorized them into three groups: response theories, stimulus theories, and interaction (or transaction) theories. Given the distinction made earlier between stress as a stimulus and as a response, this system serves as a useful way to present the various theories and associated research. Response Theories and Research Because chronic stress responses involve actual physiological changes to body systems and organs, a good bit of attention has been paid to acute physiological stress responses and how they might possibly lead to subsequent chronic stress responses (McEwen and Stellar, 1993). Models of Stress, Theories of Stress 2008-01-10T02:29:00+00:00 http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/stimulus-theories-and-research/ http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/stimulus-theories-and-research/#When:02:25:00Z Remaining consistent with the usage of the term ‘stress’ described in physics, some investigators have focused on stress as a stimulus. Most notable among researchers employing this approach were Holmes and Rahe (1967). These investigators devised a list of major life events known as the Social Readjustment Rating Scale. Intuitively selecting ‘death of a spouse’ as the barometer of the most stressful life event, this instrument consisted of 43 items measuring distinct life changes that were self-reported over a specified period of time, typically one year. Each item was assigned what Holmes and Rahe called a Life Change Unit score based upon the item’s relative severity with reference to ‘death of a spouse.’ Research employing the Social Readjustment Rating Scale has demonstrated an association between the number of significant stressful life events and incidence of a number of psychological disorders and medical diseases (Brown and Harris, 1989; Horowitz et al.,1977). Models of Stress, Theories of Stress 2008-01-10T02:25:00+00:00 http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/interaction-transactional-theories-and-research/ http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/interaction-transactional-theories-and-research/#When:02:24:00Z Although some theoretical perspectives have focused on stress as a stimulus and others have focused on stress as a response, most modern conceptualizations of stress can be considered interactive or transactional in nature. Transactional theories incorporate the importance of both stressors and stress responses in explaining the linkage between stress and illness or disease. Additionally, transactional theories of stress suggest that stress responses can serve as new stressors that elicit more intense stress responses. For example, if an individual responds to interpersonal conflict (a stressor) by drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes (an acute behavioral stress response), these behavioral responses may become new stressors that warrant additional stress responses. Models of Stress, Theories of Stress 2008-01-10T02:24:00+00:00 http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/modifiable-social-variables/ http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/modifiable-social-variables/#When:02:23:00Z A number of social parameters have also been identified that influence the nature of the stressor??“stress response association. Most notably among these variables is the influence of one’s social network and the support an individual receives from it. Strong social support networks are associated with lesser risk for a wide variety of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and cancer (Uchino et al., 1996). The onset of chronic diseases, at times resulting in fatal outcomes, is quite prevalent following the loss of significant sources of social support, like the loss of a spouse. In order to examine the role of this type of stress??“stress response relation, several investigators have taken these questions into the laboratory. Laboratory investigations of social support have demonstrated that the magnitude of an acute stress response can be significantly reduced by simply having a supportive friend present during the stress presentation (Kamarck, Annunziato, and Amateau, 1995; Uchino, Cacioppo, and Kiecolt-Glaser, 1996).  Models of Stress, Individual Differences in Stress Responses 2008-01-10T02:23:00+00:00 http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/individual-differences-in-stress-responses/ http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/individual-differences-in-stress-responses/#When:02:23:00Z Regardless of whether researchers approach their field of study from a stimulus, response, or transactional perspective, there is a general recognition that individual differences exist in how individuals respond to stressful situations (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984; McEwen, 1998). A striking example of this appeared on television during Hurricane Andrew in which the high winds leveled two neighbors’ homes with no loss of life. A news reporter interviewed the middle-aged fathers from both families who were standing in front of slabs of concrete that were once their respective Palm Beach houses. One man was crying profusely, exclaiming that he had lost everything he had worked for all his life, while the other calmly expressed his thanks that everyone in his family was safe, even the dog.  Models of Stress, Individual Differences in Stress Responses 2008-01-10T02:23:00+00:00 http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/modifiable-psychological-variables/ http://www.severehypertension.net/hbp/more/modifiable-psychological-variables/#When:02:22:00Z In addition to the several demographic or developmental factors that influence the magnitude and patterning of the acute physiological stress response, numerous psychological variables have been shown to affect stress responses that are presumably learned throughout life and there-fore more amenable to change. Foremost among these variables is a group of behaviors that might best be referred to as coping skills. We all know people who seem to possess the ability to cope with life’s most challenging stressors (like becoming quadriplegic or losing the family home in a hurricane) without apparent distress; we also know others who experience extreme distress if they are five minutes late for an appointment.  Models of Stress, Individual Differences in Stress Responses 2008-01-10T02:22:00+00:00