Lower Blood Pressure Naturally - With a Good Marriage?

A new (March 20, 2008) study shows that a good, happy marriage is good for your blood pressure. But it also shows that a bad, stressful marriage can be worse for your blood pressure than being single. So getting into (and staying in) a good marriage could be a key to lowering blood pressure naturally.

Earlier studies have shown that married people, in general tend to have lower blood pressures and be healthier than single people. The new study puts the relationship into a somewhat clearer perspective; it's not marriage in general but happy marriage, specifically, that is associated with the lower blood pressure.

The study, performed by Julianne Holt-Lunstad, an assistant psychology professor at Brigham Young University, was reported online by the Annals of Behavioral Medicine. There have been very few studies of blood pressures that focussed on the quality of the marriage instead of just on the fact that the person was married.

The study used a unique format. It involved 204 married people and 99 single adults, mostly Caucasian. Volunteers for the study wore special devices that measured and recorded their blood pressure at random times over 24 hours. In addition, the married participants filled out questionnaires about their marriages.

The study revealed that the more marital satisfaction and good adjustment to marriage that spouses reported, the lower average blood pressure they had over the 24 hour test period. This was especially notable during the daytime. Apparently being in a happy marriage led to lower blood pressure naturally.

Those with low scores in marital satisfaction and adjustment had higher average blood pressures than did single people. During the daytime portion of the study their average systolic pressure (the upper number in a reading of blood pressure) was approximately five points higher. Enough to enter a range that is considered a warning sign.

From the point of view of lowering blood pressure naturally then, it is better to be in a good marriage. And it would be better to be single than to be in a bad, stressful marriage.

The findings in this study are generally in line with other studies that have pointed out the relationship between your state of mind and your blood pressure. If you are relaxed, happy and unstressed, your blood pressure will be lower. Being tense, unhappy and stressed will have the opposite effect.

To lower your blood pressure naturally, you could take up yoga or transcendental meditation, to achieve inner peace and tranquility. Or you could take the saying, "A man is about as happy as he makes up his mind to be." to heart and start thinking positively, counting your blessings instead of your problems.

Or you could get into a good marriage, or stay in the one you have and/or work to improve the one you have. There are, of course, many other benefits to being in a good marriage. Now you might just add lowering blood pressure naturally to the list of those benefits...

For more information on how to lower blood pressure naturally and avoid heart attacks, follow the links below...

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