Hypertension and You.

This week we’re going to change the focus from breast health on to other areas that affect your health, specifically hypertension (or high blood pressure). 

Obviously, high blood pressure is not a good thing.

Let me help you understand why.  Think of your blood vessels as a garden hose.  When your heart pumps, there is a bolus (a large ball of fluid) that comes through your arteries every second or so. That whole big volume of blood that’s in the ventricle goes out almost at one time.  It’s kind of like the Tom and Jerry cartoons that you see where the mouse gets caught in the hose and there’s a bulge in the hose where he's hiding from the cat. That happens every time your heart pumps.  That bulge of fluid goes out through the arteries and it stretches them in the process.

It doesn’t take much of a thought process to figure out that as you increase the pressure it increases the stretching of the artery walls.  They are made of little elastic fibers.  As you stretch them too much those elastic fibers begin to break.  Then the body repairs it with a patch that we call cholesterol or plaque.  Cholesterol, calcium and other substances such as fibrin, are part of that patch.  That’s how that whole process of hardening of the arteries occurs.  You get too much stress, you get damage, and then you get the patch.  Now that patch doesn’t flex and the rest of the arterial wall has to flex even more.  It becomes a vicious cycle.  You can see how that creates a perpetual damage problem ongoing. 

So, we can see that keeping your blood pressure under control is important in order not to damage the arteries so that the arteries can function with their natural stretch properties every time that bolus of blood comes out of the ventricle.  It’s also important in order to not damage organs like your kidneys, your brain, etc. 

There are some natural things you can do to keep blood pressure under control.  The simplest one is stay out of stress.  I’ve already mentioned briefly that stress causes disease, and in fact chronic stress is a major cause of hypertension.  If you’re interested in supplements, magnesium has been shown to reduce blood pressure significantly.  There are a number of other natural things that have benefit.  Garlic is another supplement that can help prevent or treat hypertension. Even though garlic will make you smell, it could save your life.

The bottom line: keeping our blood pressure low is very important, especially for the cardiovascular system. I’ll be talking more about cardiovascular health in the coming weeks on this blog and on my podcasts, so stay tuned! 

5 Unusual (And Easy) Ways To Prevent Breast Cancer

1. Don’t wear a bra.

No, that doesn’t mean you need to go outside and burn your bras. But you should probably wear it less than you think. Bras tend to raise the temperature of the breasts, and cancer thrives in higher temperatures than normal. Bras also restrict the natural flow of oxygen and nutrients to the tissues, and don’t allow the normal lymph-pumping action of natural breast movement. (See number 4). 

2. Breathe

Well, you’re probably already doing this. But take a few minutes to breathe differently every day, and you’ll notice a world of difference. Deep, slow breaths from your abdomen will oxygenate your system, keeping your cells happy and avoiding the oxygen-starved environment that fosters the growth of cancer cells. Learn more about breathing techniques here. 

3. Don’t wear antiperspirants

“Eww gross”, you’re probably saying to yourself. Not wearing antiperspirants doesn’t automatically mean smelling like a horse, but it does mean staying away from the potentially cancer-causing aluminum that’s an ingredient in most products. (See here for my previous post on this). 

4. Exercise

Remember when I mentioned the “lymph-pumping action” your breasts have in natural movement? If you don’t move a lot, they won’t do their job. The lymphatic system is a crucial component in the body’s immune response, and lymph (the disease fighting fluid in the system) isn’t pumped through your body like blood, but rather by the movement of your muscles.  Some lymph nodes reside in your armpits (where a good deal of women end up having breast cancer) and when you “bounce” you’re naturally pumping lymph from there into the rest of your body. And, of course, exercise will generally increase quality of life and allow you to live longer. 

5. Stop being so stressed out!

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 85% of all illness is caused by stress. Stop and think about that... then think about how often you live with that stress. Unfortunately, it’s next to impossible to live in today’s world without stress, but it is possible to find ways to deflect it or release it. One way is simply to find the time to do whatever it takes to get some rest and quiet (two essential ingredients to stress relief). Another way is to just say NO to all the commitments that clamor for your time. Be wise about how you manage your time, and you’ll find your stress levels will decrease. 

So there you have it, five easy ways to prevent yourself from getting breast cancer that don’t cost you a penny, and might even save you some money! 

Drugs & chemo: not always the right choice.

This summer, the New York Times wrote an article about the drug Avastin, a drug sold by the company Genentech and used by many doctors to treat breast cancer. In the article, however, the New York Times notes that the drug “promotes life only by a few months, if that,” and that “some new studies suggest the drug might be less effective against cancer than the Food and Drug Administration had understood when the agency approved its uses.” 

Unfortunately, the sad truth is that drug companies usually know those things long in advance before it is disclosed. It’s about the money. I hate to be that honest and simplistic, but that’s the bottom line.  

I went to a breast cancer seminar probably 5-6 years ago.  Of course there were a lot of drug companies there. They had set up the booths and they were sponsoring it.  But the statistics at that time were that, if women who had recurrent breast cancer took chemo and radiation (in other words, traditional treatment provided by pharmaceutical companies) they lived 22 months on the average.  If they didn’t take these drugs they lived 20 months.  That is not statistically significant.  If you ask a statistician, there is no difference in those two, 20 or 22 months.  So you’re talking about women being damaged and nauseated, sick with hair falling out and all kinds of horrible side effects, all the while getting no increase in life that is of statistical significance.

I asked the drug company reps at this seminar, “So why are we giving this?”  They told me, “Oh, well, two months!”  But that’s two months of misery for these poor women. Medicine is supposed to be very scientific and about the patient, but unfortunately the sad truth is that many times it’s not in the best interest of patients.  

That doesn't mean that there isn't hope for a longer life for those who suffer from breast cancer. With a healthy lifestyle, careful decisions about your diet, and some alternative treatments and preventative measures, I've seen many women live far longer than the doctors had given them, with some even experiencing remission.  If you want to learn more, I'll shamelessly plug my book here, but you can also stay tuned to this blog to learn more about different ways to stay healthy without padding the pockets of drug companies.