KAJAMA.COM NEWSLETTER

by Kavitha M. Chinnaiyan, MD

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

Last month, the American Heart Association, along with numerous other societies, released the updated guidelines for diagnosing and treating high blood pressure (hypertension). Examining the evidence from many studies, the guideline committee found that the harmful effects of hypertension begin at much lower levels than what we had previously thought.

Previously, only blood pressure values of greater than 140/90 mmHg were called hypertension. The new guidelines suggest that blood pressure values greater than 130/80 mmHg are too high, and that we diagnose them as such.

With this shift in how we define high blood pressure, nearly half of all adults in the US are going to be hypertensive, particularly among individuals under forty-five years of age. Three times as many men and twice as many women will now fall under the "hypertensive" category. By no means do the guidelines suggest that we start treating everyone with medications. In fact, lifestyle changes are strongly recommended as the first step in all individuals with hypertension.

For me, as an integrative cardiologist, the question is this—why are so many young people walking around with high blood pressure? To cue into this, we need to look at the various ways in which our blood pressure becomes a problem; only then can we start to put in place the various ways to address it.

What is Blood Pressure?
The heart pumps blood out into the big arteries, which carry it to the rest of the body. Blood flowing in the arteries of the body exerts a pressure on the artery walls. This is known as blood pressure, and it has two components—systolic and diastolic. Systolic blood pressure is the amount of pressure exerted on the arteries while the heart is actively pumping blood into them. Diastolic blood pressure is the amount of pressure on the artery walls in between heart beats.

Blood pressure varies throughout the day, based on exercise, eating, emotional reactions, stress, sleeping, and other factors. It is highest in the early morning and lowest at night, and is highly responsive to everything going on in our bodies, minds, and lives.

What Causes High Blood Pressure?
"Essential" or "idiopathic" hypertension is the most common form of the disease, accounting for 95% of all cases where we can't pinpoint to one factor as being the cause for it. This form of hypertension is usually the result of a whole host of factors, including age, race, gender, smoking, stress, excessive body weight, excessive alcohol intake, poor eating habits, and a lack of physical activity.

"Secondary" hypertension afflicts the remaining 5% of individuals, where high blood pressure is a direct result of some other problem. Thyroid or adrenal gland disorders, artery and kidney disorders, sleep disorders (particularly sleep apnea), and certain tumors that release blood pressure-altering chemicals are the most common ones.

Stress and Hypertension
When we are stressed, our bodies produce a host of hormones to cope with the physiological processes that are stimulated to deal with the situation. The adrenal glands produce adrenaline and cortisol, which increase heart rate and constrict blood vessels to increase blood flow to the muscles of the legs and arms and decrease it in the digestive system. Digestion slows down and senses become more heightened. These acute processes make up what we call the "fight or flight" response. When the stress stimulus subsides, the hormones dissipate and we return to normal.

The stress response is a very useful one, and is a brilliant adaptation of our bodies to deal with imminent threats. However, this response doesn't differentiate between a real threat and an imagined one. Whether we are facing a real physical threat (such as a potential car crash) or a mental one (like what we should say or should have said to the coworker we dislike), the stress response takes over.

While a normal stress response is one that peaks and comes down in a few hours, an abnormal one is sustained over days (and sometimes, for weeks). If we tend to simmer over things, it is likely that we have the latter kind of abnormal stress responses. If we are the kind that can't relax because we are constantly worried about how are perceived or how everyone around us must behave, stress becomes our chronic companion.

While research is still underway to determine the link between stress and hypertension, there is a strong suggestion that chronic stress damages our arteries, triggers an ongoing inflammatory response, and leads to heart disease and other chronic illnesses. As we might expect, constant stress interferes with healing, delaying recovery after a heart attack, procedures, or surgeries, and significantly impairs our quality of life quite.

If we look at our modern lives, it should come as no surprise that chronic stress is a huge factor for many. When we live in a world where the rat race is the norm, we come to accept the constant rushing, jarring interactions with others, lack of quiet time, eating on the go, and being on the edge as normal phenomena. This is especially true if everybody around us is living a hectic, stressful life. It is no wonder then that hypertension will be diagnosed more frequently in young individuals.

In fact, this revelation speaks volumes about what we have come to value. The new guidelines should come as a wake-up call for us as a society, because they point to the non-serving ways in which we live, sacrificing what is good in favor of instant gratification or the tremendous pressure to "get somewhere."

A wake-up call is one that gives us an opportunity to cultivate the intention to change these non-serving patterns and to cultivate new ones that foster our journey toward health and happiness. And what this takes is a deep and loving commitment to ourselves, where we become willing to do whatever it takes to regain our sense of wellbeing while opening to joy, sweetness, and harmonious relationships with others.

In my book, The Heart of Wellness, I describe the nuances of the mind-body relationship as we know it, not only from the standpoint of modern medicine but also from the deeply holistic perspectives of Ayurveda, Yoga, and Vedanta. What is our purpose as human beings treading this unique planet for the very limited time we have here? What is the cause of our suffering, whether or not it is related to disease? Can we find joy and inner bliss even when afflicted with incurable disease? These are some of the themes discussed in the book, along with a detailed Bliss Prescription to regain our understanding of our inherent blissful nature.

Whether it is hypertension or any other chronic illness caused by an imbalanced lifestyle, some of the fundamental remedies remain the same. And they have to do with a total reset of our lives, as outlined below.

1. Maintain a regular schedule. By eating and sleeping at the same time every day, we bring our neuro-hormonal pathways into a state of balance. Working with our naturally occurring circadian rhythms ensures that our metabolism and regenerative functions are working optimally. Go to bed by 10 PM, wake up by 6 AM. Don't skip meals.
2. Bring digestion to balance. One of the key elements of a holistic lifestyle is to bring the digestive system back into balance. Each of us has different digestive issues based on our unique body-mind properties and previously ingrained habits. One size doesn't fit all. Take the Blissful Gut Quiz on my website to receive a personalized plan to balance your digestion.
3. Meditate. Meditation has a very powerful effect on our neuro-hormonal pathways and the stress response. Many studies have demonstrated the potent effect of meditation on lowering blood pressure, the inflammatory response, and the risk of chronic illness. It has also demonstrated a potent anti-aging effect by working on our genetic material. You can enroll in my free Bliss Meditation Course, with ongoing support to maintain the practice.

While there are other lifestyle changes that can further our journey into wellness and bliss, the above steps are the most important. Making these three changes forces us to slow down and prioritize our health and wellness, bringing mindfulness into our daily activities and clearing our perspective about ourselves and the world. Our emotional resilience begins to strengthen while our bodies become radiant and supple.

Now, more than ever, it is important for us to turn our lives around since the old patterns are clearly not working to promote health in our society. It is critically important that we change ourselves so that our children can model their behavior after ours to find different ways to deal with the stressors that will come their way.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2018. All rights reserved.

Do you believe in numerology? Yesterday, a man told me that if I add up my birth date numbers, I'll get number 11, which means that I have special psychic powers and can feel people's energies and heal them. It has always been hard for me to be around people because it is so exhausting, but I've never felt like I can heal people or tell what is wrong with them. I work in customer service in the medical field and my job is too draining and emotional for me. I am going to school to become an accountant so I can hide in the small room away from everyone and drown myself in numbers. I was born on December 21, 1985. Thank you for your amazing website and all the wonderful work you do.

Tania

Susyn:

I do believe in numerology; in fact, I believe we are influenced by all sorts of forces that most of us are not aware of. Just as you are influenced astrologically by the time and place you were born, your birth date contains information regarding your unique gifts, personality traits and life path.

As an 11, you would indeed possess special psychic powers and be able to pick up on the energy of the people around you. Eleven is a very spiritual number that suggests the ability to do two or more things at once, just as being born on the cusp of two signs (as you were) would give you a dual nature and add versatility to all you do.

Being an 11 may also explain your sensitivity to the feelings of others. This could be causing you to feel drained by the people you come into contact with and be fueling your desire to withdraw from the world by switching to a career that would keep you from working directly with the public.

However, I don't believe that changing careers will resolve the emotional exhaustion you are experiencing. Though your current job seems frustrating, switching to accounting won't resolve the deeper issues you're struggling with, for you will still have to come into contact with other people on a regular basis.

As you were born on the cusp between Sagittarius and Capricorn, astrologically speaking you would do well as an accountant and thrive in any career that involves sorting or organizing. Though you would definitely be better suited to a career in accounting than the medical field, you need to work on how you interact with the world in general.

For one thing, you will have to acknowledge and begin to put your psychic gifts to good use. Part of this will involve learning how to protect yourself from going into energetic overload when you are around other people. At some point, your innate healing and psychic gifts will also push for expression.

One of the best things you can do to rectify your imbalance is adopt a regular meditation practice, for regular quiet time will naturally bring your divine gifts to the surface. During this time, it would be helpful to visualize a bubble or shield of light around yourself for added protection. Doing this each morning will make it easier to fend off the intense energies you are exposed to each day.

Now that you are aware of the reason for the uneasiness you feel around people, you can protect yourself by setting up stronger psychic boundaries. Many of us who are sensitive to energy have had to build up an invisible barrier to keep from being drained. Once you establish this barrier, you should feel more energized and comfortable around people.

*****

Oceania:

Numerology, astrology, and tarot are systems that help us define what is happening within us by projecting it onto outside symbols upon which we can study and reflect. Numbers are universal energies represented by written symbols. For example, as a circle, zero can represent potential, wholeness, or the entire Universe.

Standing alone, the number one is symbolic of the individual. It could also represent the creative manifestation of zeroís potential. The number two is the perfect symbol for relationship or duality. Three can represent a couple plus that something extra known as synergy in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Three can also represent the family: mother, father and child. I delight in discovering symbolism in numerals. For example, my address is 2112. I like the symmetry of this number and choose to see it as two individuals protected on either side by the power of the couple.

In traditional numerology, one keeps adding digits together until a single digit is reached. Your birthday adds up to an 11, which can be further reduced to two, since 1 + 1 = 2. The number two in the tarot is the receptive Priestess who has extraordinary intuitive gifts. If you are interested in developing your intuition and healing abilities, you might draw upon the power of the Priestess for help.

Numerology can be applied to words by assigning a number to each letter of the alphabet. A = 1, B = 2, etc. After reaching 9, you begin with 1 again. Letís look at your name: TANIA = 2 + 1 + 5 + 9 + 1 = 18, which reduces to 1 + 8 = 9. In the tarot, the number 9 is the Hermit, who is unafraid of being alone and not easily pulled off course by outside influences. The Hermit exercises her free will to choose a path of integrity and stay on course.

For you, the message here is to choose a career that suits your unique personality and desires. If you end up working as an accountant, you might create your own numerical or bookkeeping system. Instead of drowning yourself in numbers, you could learn to float and swim!

Humans thrive on meaning; we are meaning-makers. As Harvard professor Tal Ben-Shahar says: Happiness lies at the intersection between pleasure and meaning. Whether at work or at home, the goal is to engage in activities that are both personally significant and enjoyable.

Iím not convinced that adding up numbers in a birth date means much in reality, but it is fun to search for ways that our numerology could symbolize something positive. Symbols are powerful because they condense and hold the energy of something greater, so I think we should use them to our advantage whenever possible!

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.