Hypertension Education Program - Research Paper Example

Critical appraisal and evaluation evidence Hypertension is a chronic medical condition that interferes with the flow of blood since it results in an increased pressure of the blood flowing in the arteries. A number of factors cause this condition thereby making it an effect of poor lifestyles. Hypertension occurs in stages but is more prevalent in the elderly and the overweight whose arteries are thus constricted. Poor lifestyles results in uncontrolled weight gain, weight gain is caused by increased underlying fat that the body reserves below the skin. As the fat piles, it narrows the blood vessels specifically the arteries. Narrower arteries constrict the flow of blood thus causing higher pressure of the bold eventually bursting the blood vessels leading to internal bleedings. Hypertension is linked to shortened life expectancy and causes a number of other associated chronic conditions such as chronic kidney disease, heart failures and stroke among other opportunistic infections. Uncontrolled hypertension is a heightened level of the increased blood pressure that mainly occurs in adults. Being a lifestyle condition, hypertension requires strict lifestyle regimen to control and manage. With effective management, it is possible to contain the condition or even treat it completely. The poor management results from heckles lifestyle which includes excessive consumption of alcohol and unregulated diet. According to Hemmelgarn, McAllister FA &Myers (June 2005), hypertension contributes to more than a thousand deaths annually in the United States of America alone. These deaths do not arise directly from the actual hypertension but from other related chronic conditions such as kidney infections and heart failures. Controlling the condition therefore requires one to engage in activities that lower blood pressure. One such activity is meditation. According to Ostchega et al (2007), therapeutic mediation begins with effective understanding of oneself. This implies that one understands himself or herself and aware of the conditions he or she is suffering from. This prevents shocks and aftershocks that result from stress and related complications. During meditations, the body activities reduce to near minimal. At such times, the body requires little energy to maintain the basic life activities such as breathing. This makes the heart beat at the optimum rate supplying the right amount of energy capable of sustain the activities. People with hypertension do not require unnecessary agitations. When agitated, the body produces an increased amount of adrenalin, which compels the heart to beat faster to supply an increased amount of energy to the body tissues. Meditations on the other hand train the brain to handle varied situations and compel rational reactions. Ration reaction infers to controlled reaction that induce the brain to send the constant amount of blood to the body tissues even under anxieties. In such people, their bodies do not produce adrenaline, the fight or flight hormone that results in higher demand for energy by the tissues under such circumstances (Law, Wald & Morris, 2003). Yoga is one training program that aid people with uncontrolled hypertension meditate. Meditation is a process that not everyone does; yoga on the other hand makes the process professional thus training everyone to. Yoga trains breathing and posture thereby taming the body’s energy consumption. Unlike standard care of treatment meditation does not use any additional external substance to burn body calories and fat. It is also closely linked to dietary in that during meditation, the body requires little energy. At such time, people do not eat any food or drink any liquids, this compels the body to use the internal energy produced from recycling the stored energy that lies under the skin as fat. This process therefore directly contributes to the expansion of the blood vessels such as arteries. Balancing body energy demands is one key component of meditation that aids in controlling the blood flow in the body. Human body is made up of tissues a group of which makes up body organ. Every organ performs specific functions in the body, the legs and the arms perform most of the physical body functions, the muscles in these parts require a lot of energy to perform their roles. During meditation however, these body parts take some time off and remains docile. This balances the energy consumption in the body thereby reducing significantly the amount of energy that the body requires for normal functioning. The body energy requirement further influences the pressure of blood flow within the vessels. It regulates the heart beat thereby regulating the amount of blood flowing within the tissues. The reduced amount of blood in the vessels keeps the arteries open to accommodate the blood thus containing the condition. This is therefore the first step towards managing hypertension. Relaxation performs similarly to meditation only that relaxation includes other secondary body activities. Relaxation is a process in which the body calms down, this is a time in which the body minimizes its activities leaving the basic life sustenance activities such as breathing and little selective secondary activities. Relaxation is relative and different people relax differently, this therefore implies that different people use different amount of energy during relaxation. While others take short walks in cool weather for relaxation, a couple other derive such privileges from small talks with friends. Besides the energy that the body consumes to sustain breathing, the body consumes substantial amount of energy to sustain the talks or the walks that different people refer to as relaxation. During relaxation, it is advisable that one does not consume any food substance and may a little amount of water to keep the body moisturized. This helps prevent dehydration, which may compound the effects of hypertension especially in advanced stages. This restricts the body to consuming the energy stored in the energy reserve under the skin. Relaxation is therefore one of the key means of making the body burn the excessive fats under the skin thereby opening the blood vessels allowing them to contain an increased amount of blood without stretching to the blood vessels to the point of bursting. Additionally, relaxation improves the socialization skills of individuals. People with poor social skills react poorly to negative situations. Reactions that compel the body to produce an increased amount of the adrenaline hormone result in the heart beating faster which further risks the life of such patients since it forces an increased amount of blood to flow through the narrowed blood vessels. It is therefore paramount that people with hypertension learn effective interaction skills, through interactions people learn both virtues and vices from others some of which may include understanding how people talk and share different views. This makes people immune to provocative talks that may compel the body to react by producing higher level of adrenaline hormones. This makes such patients immune to the fluctuating blood volumes that flow within the vessels thereby reducing the chances of the patient suffering from a heart attack. Diet teaching treatment is the most important of the therapeutic treatments to uncontrolled hypertension. This seeks to regulate the amount of food that such patients consume and the activities that they engage in too. While it is important for people to eat, consumption of certain foods result in weight gain which aggravates the condition of such patients. The diet teaching therefore ensures that such patients take in the right amount of effective food that the body uses in its daily operations without storing some as fat under the skin (Rainforth et al, 2007). People suffering from hypertension suffer from other related diseases such as kidney failures, it thus becomes of essence that such people do not consume any substances that interferes with the operations of such body parts. This teaching bans the consumption of alcohol and smoking, these two impair the functionality of both the kidneys and the lungs to important organs in the process of removing toxins from the body. Besides consuming the right amount of the right food, the dietary teaching program advises physical exercise as a means of burning down the excess calories and fat underlying the skin. However, during exercise the body requires an increased amount of energy a factor that may compel the heart to beat faster thus increasing the blood pressure (Williams et al, 2004). The therapy thus tailor makes exercise programs relevant for the varying degrees of physical fitness among people making such programs less strenuous to the body especially for novice trainers. Effective intake of appropriate food and the involvement in adequate physical exercise burns the fat resulting in a lean body with vasodilated blood vessels. References Hemmelgarn BR, McAllister FA, Myers MG et al. (June 2005). "The 2005 Canadian Hypertension Education Program recommendations for the management of hypertension: part 1- blood pressure measurement, diagnosis and assessment of risk". Canadian Journal of Cardiology 21 (8): 645–56. Law M, Wald N & Morris J (2003). "Lowering blood pressure to prevent myocardial infarction and stroke: a new preventive strategy". Health Technol Assess 7 (31): 1–94. Ostchega Y, Dillon CF, Hughes JP, Carroll M, Yoon S (July 2007). "Trends in hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control in older U.S. adults: data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1988 to 2004". Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 55 (7): 1056–65. Rainforth MV, Schneider RH, Nidich SI, Gaylord-King C, Salerno JW, Anderson JW (December 2007). "Stress Reduction Programs in Patients with Elevated Blood Pressure: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis". Curr. Hypertens. Rep. 9 (6): 520–8. Williams, B; Poulter, NR, Brown, MJ, Davis, M, McInnes, GT, Potter, JF, Sever, PS, McG Thom, S, British Hypertension, Society (2004). "Guidelines for management of hypertension: report of the fourth working party of the British Hypertension Society, 2004-BHS IV". Journal of Human Hypertension 18 (3): 139–85. Read More