Lowering your blood pressure is really as easy as breathing. The trick is you need to breathe slowly. Study after study has proven that slow, conscious breathing exercises, even when only done a few minutes a day can substantially lower blood pressure. Our circulatory and nervous systems work so closely together that when we slow down one, the other acts in unison.
Slow Breathing
Taking 10 or fewer breaths a minute qualifies as breathing slowly. To do this slowly, inhale and count to 3 or 4, then exhale for the same duration. Start with a few minutes a day and eventually see if you can work up to 10 or more. As your breath slows, so will the rest of your body, including your blood pressure which will lower naturally in this relaxed state. Just like when you exercise, the lessons your body, breath and blood pressure learn by breathing slowly will carry over to the rest of the day.
Yoga
Yoga is a place where it is easy to learn and practice slow breathing techniques. An integral part of any yoga practice is teaching the body to move and calm itself by paying attention to pranayama or breath. Yale University School of Medicine research shows people who practice yoga three or more times a week reduce their blood pressure, pulse and their risk of heart disease.
Involuntary Systems
The heart, breathing and blood pressure all work involuntarily. People usually don't spend any time thinking about them and even if we do, we cannot just decide to change our heart rate and thus decrease our blood pressure. But, they do change depending on our breathing. Shallow breathing deprives the body of oxygen. The heart compensates by pumping more blood, which makes our blood pressure higher. The opposites occurs when we stop, pay attention to our bodies and our breath and let everything slow down.
