Archive for July, 2008

How Different Conditions Can Effect Your Blood Pressure

The Effect Of Sleep

Sleep causes a fall in blood pressure. The maximum depth occurs about two hours after falling asleep. In sound, untroubled slumber a pressure of 130/80 might dip to 100/70. It once was thought that this drop in pressure was the cause of sleep, the reasoning being that a lower pressure delivers less blood to the brain resulting in mental sluggishness and hence sleep. Now it is known that this blood pressure decline is the result, not the cause, of sleep. As morning approaches, the blood pressure drifts slowly upward as the subject begins the awakening process. Any interference with sound sleep causes the blood pressure to rise.

Effect Of Dreaming

Interestingly enough, dreaming about exercise may evoke a blood pressure response similar to that which would be observed if the individual actually were exercising. A good example is that of a person dreaming he is climbing the Washington Monument. Although sound asleep and involved in no physical activity, except perhaps for involuntary muscular twitches, blood pressure approaches levels that would be "read" if he actually were climbing the monument.

Although in deep sleep with a pressure o£ 100/70, the intrusion of a physically active dream raises the pressure to 180/100, when in real life climbing the monument might bring the reading to 200/104. The old teaching was that a dream is completed in a split second, that an event in reality requiring half an hour can be compressed in a dream into a fraction of a second.

 
Doctors recently have discovered that this is erroneous. A dream takes about as long to accomplish as the actual physical act would require. A dream involving prolonged exercise or prolonged anxiety has a prolonged effect on blood pressure.

 
The clinical importance of this observation is only lately being appreciated. If a patient has a known illness or has an incipient illness which is not recognized because he feels well and has not had a physical examination recently, this may explode into a full-blown setback during the blood pressure elevation of a dream. One hears of patients who die in their sleep, or who develop a coronary, stroke, acute breathlessness, or palpitations while sleeping. In the latter group, the patient may be able to tell of an "active" dream, which produced high blood pressure long enough to cause trouble.

By affording relaxation and release from tension, physical fitness may decrease the tendency to "active" dreams and promote greater elasticity of the arteries—or at least retard the inevitable "hardening of the arteries" which happens to almost everyone. There is less need to dream about physical exercise for those who are able to achieve this satisfaction while awake.

 
The Effects Of Eating

For fifteen to forty-five minutes following a meal, blood pressure normally rises. This response is temporary. A pressure of 130/80 may climb 10 to 30 mm. of mercury by virtue of a full stomach.

 
Nationality

Nationality makes a difference, too. Chinese, for example, are hypertensive at 125/70, while North Americans can get by at 140/90. The  British have significantly higher readings than Egyptians.

The Environment

People in hot climates average lower pressures than inhabitants of cooler locales. In temperate zones where temperature fluctuates, blood pressures are lower in summer and higher in winter. Moving from one climate to another has an effect. If an Egyptian moves to Britain, his blood pressure rises, but not to the same level as the average Briton. And if a Londoner moves to Cairo, his pressure falls, but it still is slightly higher than that of the average Egyptian.

The Posture

Blood pressure is widest when observed in the reclining subject. It closes slightly on sitting, and is narrowest when standing. A pressure of 130/70 while lying down might become 120/80 on standing. This change varies greatly from person to person and is most exaggerated in obese persons.

 
The Bladder

Curiously enough and for no good reason, the urinary bladder influences blood pressure. Pressure is lowest when the bladder is empty. As the bladder gradually fills, blood pressure rises. Thus a pressure of 130/80 on an empty bladder may reach 160/90 when the bladder is full enough to send messages of "Please empty." During urination, the blood pressure then precipitously drops back to 130/80. People whose bladders are never quite empty may carry a pressure which is slightly higher. After treatment and with the resumption o£ complete bladder emptying the pressure falls to normal levels.

Sitting on a full bladder is not only uncomfortable but bad for the blood pressure.

Tags: blood pressure, health, conditions effect blood pressure

The Anugraha Reiki

Anugraha Reiki is one of the many forms of the popular Reiki system of healing. Reiki has its origins traced back to Japan where the practice was developed by a Tendai Budhhist named Mikao Usui in 1922. He was said to have discovered the technique after a 21-day retreat on Mount Kurama.

After undergoing meditation, fasting and prayer during the retreat, Usiu claimed to have received some mystical revelation and was handed down the knowledge as well as the spiritual power for healing.

Reiki has been known to be fairly easy and simple to use. Everyone is said to be able to employ the system to achieve spiritual healing of self as well as others. Teaching the system usually involves three parts which are better known as degrees. The first degree usually teaches the basic theories and procedures with using Reiki energy.

This energy is said to pass through a channel in the body which can be opened by way of four "attunements" given by the Reiki master to a student. The first degree of training also involves the learning of certain hand placements that allow the Reiki energy to heal people.

The second degree of the Reiki training involves the use of the Reiki symbols and how they can be used to enhance healing. Students are also taught how to provide distant healing. This will allow people to be able to heal others without being physically present. The third degree of the Reiki training involves making the student become a Reiki master. As a Reiki master, a person may now be able to attune others to Reiki and teach the system to others.

Different forms of Reiki now exist and each one of them provides different ways of providing spiritual healing. One of them is the Anugraha Reiki which is a mystical healing art that originated in India. The word "Anugraha" means Grace, which is considered as one of the five functions of the Divine that ultimately leads to Liberation or "Mukti". Anugraha can also refer to the Power of Revelation. On another level, the word can also relate to Mercy.

Just like the Japanese form of Reiki, the first level of Anugraha Reiki focuses on self healing, self awareness, replenishment and perfecting relationship. A Diksha or attunement is given to help activate seldom used parts of the brain. A simple yet advanced spiritual practice is taught to help transform a person’s consciousness and result to deep states of awareness within 30 days.

The second level of the Anugraha Reiki focuses on healing others. During this period, sacred sounds are being taught that is said to help invoke positive consciousness. An advanced form of meditation is also taught. A type of special mantra used to invoke the presence is taught along with the techniques for doing healing work both through personal and long distance means.

The third degree initiation of Anugraha Reiki involves the teaching of the esoteric use of important Reiki symbols that can be used for different means such as for astral projection, meditation, altering time or space, bridging the worlds of life and death, and easing the transition process. There are two additional master symbols are also revealed. 

For a student to succeed and qualify for the third degree of teaching, he or she should already be relatively clear of his or her own physical and psychological suffering. 

Tags: anugraha reiki, mikao usai, mount kurama, self healing, reiki