Pressure Archives - Healthy News

Experts reveal how the pressure of a healthy lifestyle could be having the opposite effect

Over the past few years wellness trends have grown in popularity – from yoga and meditation to gut-friendly foods.

And while being invested in looking after our physical and mental health is a good thing, experts have questioned if the fixation and constant bombardment on self-improvement actually making us happy.

Life coach and NLP practitioner Rob Brennan told FEMAIL: ‘The trend of wanting more, wanting to be happier, wanting to look perfect and to have the perfect life, is ironically creating deep rooted unhappiness and discontent.’

And from cutting out food groups to eat ‘cleanly’ to tucking into protein bars, experts said there are a number of different ways following wellness trends could be damaging your body.

Here FEMAIL reveals the four trends not to follow…

Life coach and NLP practitioner Rob Brennan, from London, told FEMAIL the four different wellness trends which could actually be damaging your health – including eating protein bars (stock image)

1. ‘POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE’…CAN BE TOXIC

According to Rob, a positivity overload, as in pretending everything is ok when it isn’t and trying to ignore life’s ups and downs, can actually have a negative impact on our mental healthy.

This the expert coins as ‘toxic positivity’, which he said has come from ‘hijacking of good mental health advice and suggestions by the uninformed influencers’ as well as magazines, the media and celebrities.

While ‘good vibes only please’ or ‘I choose to surround myself with positive people only as I don’t want to be dragged down’ sound like positive principles, they force us to ignore sadness or pain because it’s unsettling.

He uses the example of telling people it’s okay not to be okay while wearing a new ‘good vibes only’ hoody to illustrate how this can send people mixed messages and put people off discussing difficult matters.

He said: ‘Life is not all good vibes at all, it’s hard, complicated, tiring and has ups and downs all the way from start to finish; pretending it’s all good vibes and silencing ourselves and others with toxic positivity leads to unhappiness, anxiety and pain.

‘I think I’ll get a hoody made “good vibes only” on the front then “toxic positivity – making people feed bad for feeling sad” on the back, I think it’ll sell well once people get it.’

No one is positive all the time it’s not normal to be so, everyone has trials and struggles and this should be normalised.

The life coach explained that everyone struggles sometimes but when people feel on the outside or not normal because they are sad, they don’t necessarily get the help that they need.

Rob said: ‘Whilst society and social media remains riddled with toxic positivity, the clear message to those who aren’t okay is that it is very much not okay and that no one wants to hear about it if you aren’t.’

2. INSTA-INSPO… ISN’T REALISTIC

Unpacking wellness further, Rob described how many people can feel inadequate when confronted with images of what ‘wellness’ and ‘happiness’ looks like.

He said: ‘These images are simply unattainable to the vast majority and they are created in entirely false situations where reality is a distant consideration.’

‘It can take hours to create the right the shot, whether it be the perfect plate of food or position on a yoga mat, when in reality some people may not have the time to engage in a full yoga session first thing or the money to buy in the ‘best health foods’.

What people don’t see is the deleted shots that weren’t right or what they look like unfiltered, or what they eat 90 per cent of the time.

Rob wants to remind people that wellness ‘is not associated with actual happiness and health but with the perception of it, and these two things are very different.’

He warns that sharing pictures of ‘healthy lifestyle’, whether it be food, exercise, or taking time for yourself are heading towards toxic territory because it isn’t the norm and often unattainable for most people juggling busy lifestyles, and so they may only ever feel sad and inadequate when they try to incorporate wellness into their lifestyle.

It’s not just the pressure of leading an active, healthy lifestyle that can be detrimental to overall wellness but nutrition can also have a negative impact.

3. ‘CLEAN EATING’…COULD BE DEPRIVING YOUR BODY OF NUTRIENTS

Jordan Storey, a nutritionist and personal trainer, explained: ‘Wellness trend “clean eating” – bland chicken and broccoli type training diet focusing on food as fuel can shift our perception of eating as one of life’s pleasures towards seeing it as a chore or with guilt.’

Jordan, who was a former bodybuilding, explained how he has trailed many diets within his 15 years of experience.

He explained: ‘People tend to fall out of love with food easily and even create a negative feeling towards the food they eat, which can impact their mental wellbeing.’

Jordan revealed that people may be missing out on the vital vitamins that their bodies need if they are following wellness trends.

In addition, by eating what you think you are supposed to eat takes the fun out of food.

He said: ‘My quote “Add love back into your food” simply meaning you should enjoy the foods you are cooking and eating, and not only will your body thank you for it but your whole mindset will change too.’

4. HIGH PROTEIN SNACKS…ARE PACKED FULL OF SUGAR

In addition, wellness food trends such as ‘high protein snacks’ are all over social media.

These can include high protein yoghurts, puddings and drinks claiming to be packed with protein and low calorie.

However Jordan described how they are usually high in sugar and so will spike insulin levels.

In addition, the protein content they use doesn’t always come from a full complete protein source such as milk protein.

He said: ‘Can I also just note once you spike your insulin levels they do have to come back down which then they will crash leaving you wanting even more sugar to help stable your blood sugars.

‘I am not saying to avoid these totally as that wouldn’t be a healthy lifestyle.

‘I do believe in the 80/20 lifestyle rule…however if you do crave something sweet you might as well just enjoy your favourite chocolate bar than go for these.

‘The high protein is definitely used in the title to make you buy these products.

‘A burger from McDonalds is much higher in protein than these puddings but they do not claim its a high protein burger.’

Why people with low blood pressure must limit their beetroot consumption

From increasing digestive health to decreasing swelling, beetroots are recognised for their myriad health and fitness rewards. That is owing to the actuality that beets are packed with essential minerals and vitamins like folate, vitamin B9, potassium, iron, manganese, copper, vitamin C, and plant compounds together with several well being-selling properties. Agreeing, Shweta Shah, a movie star nutritionist and founder at Eatfit24/7 additional that beetroot or chukandar is also low in calories and excess fat. “Further, feeding on beets improves athletic performance by enhancing oxygen use and endurance. Beets are a great resource of fiber, which advantages your digestive wellbeing and lessens the danger of several long-term health circumstances. Beets comprise nitrates, which strengthen blood movement to the brain and make improvements to cognitive operate,” she instructed indianexpress.com.

Nevertheless, the professional additional that beetroots include a higher concentration of nitrates, which help reduced blood stress levels. “As these types of, while beetroots are healthful, feeding on them can be unsafe to people suffering from very low blood force because beetroot lowers blood stress even much more. On the other hand, it is fantastic for people with high blood force. Also, beetroots have high nitrate content and may trigger nitrate poisoning in infants, so it should be averted in infants aged 3 months or down below,” she explained to indianexpress.com.

According to a 2017 study posted in the Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology, dietary nitrate assists dilate blood vessels to minimize blood force, which is a major variable in building a coronary heart assault. In simple fact, the research mentioned that a glass of beetroot juice could substantially lessen as well as lower heart assault hazard.

Concurring with the findings, Dr Pradeep Mahindrakar, MD Pathology, Lab Director, Micron Metropolis Health care Pvt Ltd, Panvel- Navi Mumbai, beforehand informed indianexpress.com, “A everyday glass of beetroot juice could be one particular way to get inorganic nitrate into our diet regime to support to interrupt hazardous irritation, and raise concentrations of nitric oxide. Consequently, it can aid avert coronary heart assault.”

Lovneet Batra, a nutritionist, also took to Instagram to share a number of added benefits of ingesting beets.

Lessen blood stress: Beetroots can enable reduced a person’s blood stress. Beets by natural means consist of massive portions of nitrates, which the overall body converts into nitric oxide. “This compound dilates the blood vessels, which enhances the blood movement and lowers in general blood stress,” she wrote.

Cuts down swelling: As for each the nutritionist, beetroot incorporates anti-inflammatory compounds identified as betalains that inhibit particular signaling pathways that perform a job in inflammatory conditions.

Diabetic helpful: Beets have an antioxidant referred to as alpha-lipoic acid. “This compound may support lower glucose amounts and boost insulin sensitivity,” wrote Lovneet.

Increases digestive wellbeing: Beets are a great supply of fiber. “Fibre bypasses digestion and travels to the colon, where by it feeds helpful gut microbes and adds bulk to stools. This can endorse digestive health,” browse Lovneet’s article.

What is the greatest way to eat them, and at what time?

“Beetroots are ideal consumed as salads you can boil them or grate them. They are also a great ingredient in wraps, sandwiches, and dips along with some yoghurt. You can even juice them up and have it devoid of adding any sugars. You can include them in greens or even roast them,” Shah prompt.

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Northwest doctors say: Keep blood pressure in check with healthy lifestyle, testing at home

Because it draws zero attention to itself, high blood pressure — the technical term is hypertension — seems to be the easiest to shrug off of all ongoing health conditions in American adults.

It’s symptomless. It’s sneaky. A trivial paper cut will cause you more pain and suffering than this important aspect of your health.

Nearly half of all American adults have high blood pressure, according to the American Heart Association, and many don’t even know it.

But hypertension doesn’t stay symptomless forever, according to Dr. Noreen Nazir, a preventive cardiologist at Oregon Health & Science University.

“In the early stages, you can have elevated numbers but no sustained symptoms,” Nazir said. “The body is trying to compensate. It can do this for a time but you may be on your way to developing symptoms and developing negative outcomes later on.”

Avoid ‘Holiday Heart’

The holiday season is when we tend to eat and drink with abandon. Doctors have a name for seasonally troubled cardiovascular systems: “holiday heart.” If you’re trying to keep your blood pressure in check despite holiday treats and peer pressure, try these tips:

Before you hit that party, snack healthily and include protein. You’ll be less inclined to gorge.
At the party, start with a glass of water. Delay and reduce alcohol.
Keep exercising. In addition to keeping your blood pressure better regulated, it’ll reduce stress and keep your spirits bright.
Stick with your meds. If you tend to forget, get a weekly pill organizer.
Be careful with over-the-counter cold and flu meds, which can raise blood pressure. Read labels.

According to the American Heart Association, chronic hypertension — that is, blood pressure that stays too high for too long — increases one’s risk of heart attack, stroke and a host of other health problems, from heart and kidney disease to vision loss and sexual dysfunction.

“Most people experience very little symptoms until it’s too late,” said Dr. Richard Segal, an internal medicine specialist at Kaiser Permanente in Salem, Ore.

Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death for adults in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Stroke is No. 5.

“Worldwide, raised blood pressure is estimated to cause 7.5 million deaths, about 12.8 percent of the total of all deaths,” according to the World Health Organization.

That’s why it’s important to get screened, understand what your numbers mean and come up with a plan if you need one.

“If you have risk factors you want to mitigate them,” Nazir said. “And if you have hypertension, you want to get it under control. You don’t want it to get worse.”

Physics vs. fast food

High blood pressure is really a simple physics problem, Nazir said. It happens when too much fluid is forced through constricted blood vessels.

Age and genetics are two reasons why healthy blood vessels may constrict over time, but our own behavior is usually the bigger factor. Smoking, an unhealthy diet, more than a little alcohol and lack of exercise are chief culprits. They all contribute to constricted, stiffened blood vessels as well as the buildup of plaque, which further blocks the way.

“Smoking is the No. 1 thing,” Segal said. “The nicotine in tobacco is a major factor in narrowing the blood vessels and letting plaque build up.”

Sugar, fat and alcohol are also culprits, Nazir said. Sodium is the most infamous blood-pressure raiser of all.

“Salt is everywhere,” she said. “It is easy to overdo and it has a lot of impact, as it causes the body to retain more fluid and the heart to pump more fluid.”

Industrial and commercial foods have everything to do with this, according to the CDC, which notes that sodium in restaurant and processed foods “contributes to high rates of blood pressure, heart attack and stroke.”

Still, Kaiser’s Segal cautioned against freaking out about hidden salt. If you take the trouble to read labels, make smart food choices and stay out of the drive-thru lane, he said, your sodium intake shouldn’t be much of a problem.

“And could you please make that with no salt or as little salt as possible?” is the way to make a polite nuisance of yourself in restaurants. Why not? You are paying for your food. Your hypertensive dining companions likely will admire your gumption, and even follow your lead.

Always exercise

Exercise is the best prescription for, well, just about everything, Segal said.

In terms of blood pressure, aerobic exercise strengthens the heart muscle as well as the elasticity of blood vessels. While it causes a temporary spike in blood pressure, exercise also promotes a healthier, more efficient, more resilient cardiovascular system overall.

Even obese people can benefit in myriad ways from getting moving, Segal said. In addition to a direct effect on blood pressure, moderate exercise promotes weight loss, stronger muscles and better moods.

And that’s important, Nazir said, because chronic stress is another blood pressure booster.

Walking, jogging, hiking, swimming and dancing are all great examples of aerobic exercise. The American Heart Association recommends that we all try for at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise, five days per week. If that’s new to you, start slowly and build toward it. If 30 minutes at once is too much, break it into 15- or 10-minute chunks.

(If you already have heart issues or have had a heart attack, check with your doctor first.)

Test yourself

Unhealthy habits aren’t the only reason why nearly half of all Americans have high blood pressure. The definition of “high” has also changed.

“We recognize, medically, that it’s healthier to have lower blood pressure,” Segal said. “We are watching our guidelines continuously drop.”

In 2017, the marker for detecting, managing and treating hypertension was lowered from 140/90 to 130/80. That swept many millions more people into a newly expanded group that ought to be testing and managing their blood pressure.

The new guideline stemmed from numerous clinical studies that showed that achieving lowered blood pressure goals significantly reduced the rate of “heart events” and death, according to the American Heart Association.

But because doctor’s offices tend to give people the willies and cause what’s known as White Coat Syndrome (anxiety that produces high blood-pressure readings), testing yourself in the comfort of your home will give you more meaningful results, Segal said.

Today’s over-the-counter arm cuffs are reliable and affordable, Segal said. He doesn’t recommend finger or watch-style wrist blood pressure readers, which are not accurate enough, he said.

When to test? Other than waiting half an hour or more after coffee — that’s a guaranteed spike — there’s no wrong answer.

“I always say the best time is whenever you can,” Nazir said.

Many people check right after waking in the morning but before eating or drinking anything. Then they become dismayed to discover that, despite still feeling groggy, their blood pressure is surprisingly high.

That’s thanks to your body’s natural release of the stress hormone cortisol, which helps you rev up in the morning and typically drives a blood-pressure spike, Nazir said.

Be aware of that dynamic, Segal and Nazir both said, but don’t let it alarm you. Test at various times during the day and you’ll likely be surprised at how much blood pressure varies. At night, when your day is winding down, you might just be surprised and comforted to see how low it goes.

More information is always better, Nazir said. Whenever you test, do it three times. Your digital reader can probably calculate the average for you.

“The important thing is the average,” Segal said.

Take the Mindful Way to Lower Blood Pressure

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

(HealthDay)

TUESDAY, Nov. 8, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Mindfulness is a generations-previous apply that’s turn out to be stylish in the latest decades — and a new study now states it can assistance your coronary heart overall health.

Education in mindfulness can support people better control their significant blood stress by assisting them stick to healthy way of living changes, a new scientific trial reports.

An 8-7 days customized mindfulness system aided individuals reduced their systolic blood strain by just about 6 factors through a 6-thirty day period adhere to-up time period, researchers observed.

That was significantly superior than the 1.4-level reduction that transpired in persons undergoing standard blood force care, researchers stated all through a presentation Sunday at the American Coronary heart Association’s annual conference, in Chicago. Such research is deemed preliminary until posted in a peer-reviewed journal.

The benefits could be suitable to a patient’s health and fitness, given that preceding studies have located that a 5-place fall in systolic force interprets to a 10{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} reduced danger of coronary heart assault and stroke, claimed lead researcher Eric Loucks, director of the Mindfulness Middle at Brown College.

“If we can train individuals in mindfulness techniques and then use those abilities to people’s associations with the issues that we know affect blood strain — like physical action or diet regime or antihypertensive treatment adherence or liquor usage — we may well be in a position to raise the effects” of their prescribed blood stress management prepare, Loucks mentioned.

For illustration, in this research contributors armed with mindfulness schooling tended to work out extra and eat improved, he mentioned.

About 46{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} of Us residents have higher blood force, but only about 50 {bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} of them have it below regulate, Loucks mentioned.

Loucks and his colleagues recruited about 100 persons with elevated and untreated blood tension to attend weekly team training sessions in mindfulness. These individuals also went to an all-day mindfulness retreat.

Mindfulness training improves people’s self-recognition of their individual views, feelings and physical sensations, supporting them fork out focus to their responses and regulate their feelings, Loucks reported.

In this occasion, mindfulness will help individuals understand and accept how they truly feel after they make great possibilities that make improvements to their blood force, he claimed.

“Just about most people feels excellent immediately after bodily exercise, frequently for several hours, and dietary possibilities can make a massive effects on how we really feel on the system and the head. For case in point, some individuals, when they consume a thing sweet, they get a sugar substantial and then a sugar crash,” Loucks claimed. “So we just observe that, with nonjudgmental, curious awareness, and then act in skillfully in reaction to what we’re detecting.”

The researchers then when compared how effectively the individuals controlled their blood force for 6 months to another team of 100 people that ended up supplied the typical treatment: a household blood tension keep an eye on, education on taking care of blood stress and entry to a medical professional.

“We noticed really good reductions in blood force in excess of six months of abide by-up as opposed to the handle group,” Loucks stated.

Further more assessment discovered that people today in the mindfulness team ended up extra most likely to try to eat coronary heart-healthful food items, exercise far more and indulge less normally in sedentary habits, Loucks said. They also documented decrease ranges of worry.

“I’d like to see this replicated by groups other than us, with for a longer period follow-up time and much more generalizable participant samples,” Loucks claimed. “If that ended up to come about and the benefits held, it could be an desirable method to aid regulate the blood tension of about fifty percent of Individuals who have hypertension.”

This sort of mindfulness teaching could support methods that have by now been confirmed to assist handle blood strain, stated Dr. Amit Khera, director of the preventive cardiology application at UT Southwestern in Dallas.

“We require complementary strategies to enable reduce blood strain,” Khera mentioned. “Similarly importantly, we require approaches to help folks adopt the life style routines that permit them to enable decreased their blood tension.”

The 6-position blood stress reduction viewed in the mindfulness sufferers “is clinically significant, and it is meaningful,” added Dr. Janani Rangaswami, director of the cardiorenal software at George Washington College in Washington, D.C.

“This mindfulness-primarily based approach, in addition to typical of treatment with pharmacotherapy, is a actually welcome addition to the hypertension literature,” Rangaswami said.

Sources: Eric Loucks, PhD, director, Mindfulness Center, Brown College, Providence, R.I. Amit Khera, MD, director, preventive cardiology system, UT Southwestern, Dallas Janani Rangaswami, MD, director, cardiorenal system, George Washington College, Washington, D.C. presentation, American Coronary heart Association annual conference, Chicago, Nov. 6, 2022