Caring for your Heart & Managing Blood Pressure

Lisa Chadsey
Aug 2, 2023
5 min read

Updated: Apr 24, 2024

Caring for your Heart & Managing Blood Pressure

So now that we’re talking about our beautiful, strong, and ever present heart. Let's explore about what it looks like to care for that beautiful beating organ. health and body. Now a lot of you have heard the phrase “high blood pressure,” and we know that this is not a good thing. But we don’t know the depth of what this means for our body.

Well here is what is crazy, “nearly half of Americans ages 20 years and up – or more than 122 million people – have high blood pressure, according to a 2023 report from the American Heart Association.” (Article 5.) That is mind-blowing. I had no idea that this impacts so many people. That’s why it’s time to get curious and to get informed.

What is blood pressure?

So when blood flows through your veins and arteries, it's a result of your heart and all of it’s hard work. Blood pressure is what results from the blood in your arteries pushing against the arterial wall as blood is carried from your heart to other organs and parts of your body. A normal blood pressure level is less than 120/80 mmHg. (Article 2.)

But what do these two numbers mean? Your blood pressure is recorded with these two factors:

Systolic blood pressure (the first number) – this indicates how much pressure your blood is exerting against your artery walls when the heart contracts. (Article 1.)
Diastolic blood pressure (the second number) – indicates how much pressure your blood is exerting against your artery walls while the heart muscle is resting between contractions. (Article 1.)

If you have high blood pressure this can result long-term in damage to key organs in your body. It can impact your eyes, brain, kidneys, and your heart; All of the parts of you that need to work in tandem to keep you healthy!

Image 1.

What is Hypertension?

So what happens when you have high blood pressure for long periods of time? This leads to strain and results in what doctors label as hypertension. This hypertension over long periods of time leads to detrimental conditions that can affect your longevity. Below is a little more explanation of the different levels of blood pressure.

Creating Awareness - 5 Blood Pressure Ranges

Normal
- systolic: less than 120 mm Hg
- diastolic: less than 80 mm Hg
Elevated (At risk)
- systolic: 120–139 mm Hg
- diastolic: 80–89 mm Hg
Hypertension Stage 1
- systolic: 140 mm Hg or higher
- diastolic: 90 mm Hg or higher
- “Can increase risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, or ASCVD, such as heart attack or stroke.” (Article 1)
Hypertension Stage 2
- systolic: 140 mm Hg or higher consistently
- diastolic: 90 mm Hg or higher consistently
- Your doctors will likely prescribe medications and changes in your lifestyle at this point.
Hypertensive crisis (Consult your doctor immediately)
- “This stage of high blood pressure requires medical attention. If your blood pressure readings suddenly exceed 180/120 mm Hg, wait five minutes and then test your blood pressure again. If your readings are still unusually high, contact your health care professional immediately.” (Article 1.)

Image 2.

What this can result in

Referenced from Article 2.

Pain in your chest, especially around your heart.
Heart failure - this is when your heart can’t pump like it needs to and supply oxygen to your organs.
Heart attack - this occurs when your heart’s blood supply is blocked and without the supply of oxygen in that blood, the heart begins to die. (This is where time is essential, the heart sustains more damage the longer the heart is without oxygen.)

How can I reduce my blood pressure?

This is where I get so excited! You can take steps to help your heart and care for your body today. Here is what the medical professionals recommend.

Referenced from Article 2.

Getting at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week (this looks like 30 minutes of exercise a day, for five days a week.) I recommend aerobic activity with this.
Eating a healthy diet, including limiting sodium (salt), sugar, smoking, and alcohol.
Keeping a healthy weight (talk with your doctor about what this should be.)
Managing stress levels by taking time to rest, and doing what brings you happiness.

How can Light Therapy help?

It helps with blood flow by benefiting your blood vessels and arteries. When you sit down to relax into a light therapy session the lights, especially blue light, help your body naturally dilate the blood vessels and reduce the pressure that is being applied to the arterial walls. This increases circulation and lets your blood flow so your heart and organs experience less strain.

During a test performed with blue light therapy, the results “found that 30 minutes of whole-body blue light significantly lowered systolic blood pressure — the pressure in blood vessels as the heart contracts — by 8 millimeters of mercury.” (Article 3.)

What does the science say?

In a study in 2005 where infrared lights were used “through a program of 30 minute infrared light therapy sessions 3 times per week. The study concluded that infrared light therapy dilated blood vessels and reduced the volume of their inner lining, thus increasing circulation to promote healthy blood pressure.” (Reference 1.)

And if you want to drop even deeper into the science, then let's talk about what is happening with Nitric Oxide. This is present throughout the body and is synthesized within the body naturally. When the Nitric Oxide is irradiated by UVR and blue light, in this case within a light therapy session, it results in mobilization of Nitric Oxide in the bloodstream which effectively lowers blood pressure. (Article 4.)

With love and compassion for your heart and wonderful selves! I’m here for you anytime.

With Love,

~Lisa Chadsey

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If you want to learn more about Light Therapy & my Light Therapy work, you can follow me with the links below, or email me at Lisa@lightmattersinfo.com - thank you for reading!

Here are the articles referenced above:

Article 1. https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/understanding-blood-pressure-readings

Article 2. https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/about.htm

Article 3. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323636#Blue-light-benefits

Article 4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34536586/

Article 5. https://healthpolicy.usc.edu/evidence-base/many-americans-wrongly-assume-they-understand-what-normal-blood-pressure-is-and-that-false-confidence-can-be-deadly/

Reference 1. Becky Edwards, M.D., Heather Kort D.O, Faculty Staff Advisor: Dr. John Foxworth, PharmD. A Study of the Health Benefits of Far Infrared Sauna Therapy – Conducted by the University of Missouri, Kansas City, 2005.

Image 1. https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/the-facts-about-high-blood-pressure/what-is-high-blood-pressure

Image 2. https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/understanding-blood-pressure-readings

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