Blood pressure is a central part of health. In order to meet the need for oxygenated blood to all the body's organs, the blood pressure in the large arteries must be kept at an even level. Blood pressure regulation takes place through a collaboration of the autonomic nervous system, hormones and local self-regulation in the vessel walls.
That's why there are so many factors that can affect blood pressure and manage it. Blood pressure that is too low increases the risk of fainting and falls, and blood pressure that is too high stresses the body. The latter is a much more common problem and upwards of a million Swedes have high blood pressure without knowing it. If you count those who have also already been diagnosed, overall, about a third of the adult population has high blood pressure in Sweden. A problem with hypertension, as it is also called, is that it is usually not noticeable. Sometimes the sufferer may experience headaches, dizziness and nosebleeds, but as a rule the condition is completely imperceptible. If the blood pressure is elevated for a long time, the vessels are damaged and, above all, the kidneys are heavily loaded, which can lead to kidney disease. The risk of heart attack, brain haemorrhage, heart failure and blood clots also increases with high blood pressure, and therefore it is of great importance to keep it at the right level. Mortality thus increases at both extremes and it is actually the blood pressure itself that determines, not the possible underlying diseases.
High blood pressure can, for example, be caused by being overweight, but it is precisely blood pressure that increases mortality. If you can successfully lower it, even if the weight does not come off, you have greatly reduced the risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from it. That's why you should really take high blood pressure seriously and medicate if lifestyle changes and biohacking don't help all the way. Exercising, de-stressing, taking a sauna, taking cold baths, meditating, experiencing desired physical contact and laughing are all known blood pressure-lowering methods. Even a diet rich in fruit, vegetables, legumes, fish, olive oil, berries, nuts and seeds has been shown to lower blood pressure, and it is also important to maintain fluid balance. When it comes to salt, some people are sensitive, so it's worth reducing your intake of sodium chloride found in table salt, sea salt and rock salt as far as possible. Increasing your intake of potassium, magnesium and calcium can also help, and sometimes supplements are warranted to ensure you get enough on a continuous basis. Mineral salt is also available in grocery stores, and in it some of the sodium chloride has been replaced with potassium chloride and magnesium chloride, which kills two birds with one stone. Sodium intake decreases while the amount of potassium and magnesium in the diet increases.
The normal blood pressure
Measuring blood pressure is easy as there are effective and accurate blood pressure monitors for home use. Everyone should have one at home and take a measurement from time to time to quickly pick up a rising blood pressure. Also take the opportunity to ask for a blood pressure measurement whenever you are with a doctor or nurse. They are more than happy to do so, as the knowledge about how important it is to detect high blood pressure early is very widespread in healthcare. You can also often buy for blood pressure measurement if you do blood tests, which can be ordered online. Take care whenever you can, and as I said, it's smart to invest in a blood pressure monitor for private use. The whole family can use it, and why not let relatives, friends and acquaintances take a measurement when they are visiting? Bringing blood pressure monitors to work to give everyone a chance to measure themselves is also often a much-appreciated gesture of goodwill and consideration. Blood pressure is the pressure of the circulating blood against the vessel walls in the arteries and is divided into systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Systolic blood pressure is the highest pressure that occurs in the central vessels when the heart contracts and blood is pumped out of the left side of the heart. When the heart is resting and filling with blood, between each heart contraction, the pressure is at its lowest, which is referred to as the diastolic blood pressure. It is often easier to lower the diastolic blood pressure with medication, but both need to be lowered in hypertension. Normal systolic blood pressure in an adult is about 110-130 mmHg and diastolic pressure about 80 mmHg. A blood pressure higher than 140/90 mmHg on 2-3 different measuring occasions is diagnosed as hypertension. When measuring blood pressure, you should standardize as much as possible in terms of the time and the position you are in. The blood pressure value varies over the course of the day. It is lowest at night, gets higher during the morning hours and daytime and then drops again in the evening. You can choose whether you measure lying down or sitting down, but the important thing is that you do the same every time to get comparable results. A good thing about measuring in a home environment is that you avoid the "white coat effect", i.e. that you often have a slightly higher blood pressure when you meet medical personnel wearing the classic white coat.
RLT (Red Light Therapy) and blood pressure
Blood pressure is largely regulated by blood vessels contracting (vasoconstriction) or widening (vasodilation). The latter is achieved with the help of nitric oxide (NO) as a signal and the more nitric oxide, the more effectively you can lower blood pressure. That's how Viagra was initially discovered, when people were looking for a substance that could increase the amount of nitric oxide in the vessels and thus lower blood pressure. It was successful and as a side effect the blood vessels in and around the genitals were also affected. The result was that the preparation was instead launched as a medicine for male erection problems. Research has shown that RLT can also increase the amount of available nitric oxide in the vessels (1) and it seems to be mainly the near infrared light (NIR) that does the job although the red also seems to be important. In one study, it could be seen that microcirculation increased by 27% during the treatment and rose to a whopping 54% during the 20-minute follow-up period (2). Regarding the effect of RLT on high blood pressure, there are plenty of animal studies showing powerful effects (3, 4). A very interesting study on patients with high blood pressure showed that even the blue light could have a good effect. That light has shorter wavelengths than the red light, but still seems to penetrate deep enough into the body that it affects the nitric oxide content of the blood vessels (5). Perhaps the most effective thing for lowering blood pressure would be the whole spectrum from blue light to NIR? The sun's rays give it to us, so maybe that's why the sun has such amazing blood pressure-lowering properties? Overall, it is well established that RLT can lower the blood pressure of those suffering from hypertension, and at the same time in all probability reduce the risk of a person being affected in the first place (6). Worth mentioning is that everyone with high blood pressure will not get any effect from RLT and needs to focus on the other tools that are available. According to an article, approx. 80% of blood pressure patients will have a reduction in RLT, but around 20% will not notice any difference (7).
- Shinya Yokomizo 1 2, Malte Roessing 3 4, Atsuyo Morita 4, Timo Kopp 3 4, Emiyu Ogawa 5, Wataru Katagiri 6, Susanne Feil 3, Paul L Huang 4, Dmitriy N Atochin 4, Satoshi Kashiwagi 1 FASEB J. Near-infrared II photobiomodulation augments nitric oxide bioavailability via phosphorylation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase. 2022 Sep;36(9):e22490. doi: 10.1096/fj.202101890R.
- Lilach Gavish 1 2, Oshrit Hoffer 3, Neta Rabin 4 5, Moshe Halak 6, Simon Shkilevich 7, Yuval Shayovitz 7, Gal Weizman 7, Ortal Haim 3, Benjamin Gavish 8, S David Gertz 1 2, Zehava Ovadia-Blechman 7 Microcirculatory Response to Photobiomodulation-Why Some Respond and Others Do Not: A Randomized Controlled Study. 2020 Nov;52(9):863-872. doi: 10.1002/lsm.23225. Epub 2020 Feb 17. Lasers Surg Med.
- TF De Moraes 1, JCC Filho 1, JC Oishi 1, L Almeida-Lopes 2, NA Parizotto 3, GJ Rodrigues 4 Lasers Med Sci. Energy-dependent effect trial of photobiomodulation on blood pressure in hypertensive rats. 2020 Jul;35(5):1041-1046. doi: 10.1007/s10103-019-02883-5. Epub 2019 Oct 29.
- Lasers With Sci. Tereza C Buzinari 1 2, Thiago F de Moraes 3, Evelin C Cárnio 4, Luciana A Lopes 5, Helio C Salgado 6, Gerson J Rodrigues 3. Photobiomodulation induces hypotensive effect in spontaneously hypertensive rats. 2020 Apr;35(3):567-572. doi: 10.1007/s10103-019-02849-7. Epub 2019 Aug 8.
- Manuel Stern 1, Melanie Broja 1, Roberto Sansone 1, Michael Gröne 1, Simon S Skene 2, Joerg Liebmann 3, Christoph V Suschek 4, Matthias Born 3 5, Malte Kelm 1, Christian Heiss 1 2 6. Blue light exposure decreases systolic blood pressure, arterial stiffness, and improves endothelial function in humans. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2018 Nov;25(17):1875-1883. doi: 10.1177/2047487318800072. Epub 2018 Sep 10.
- Yevhen L Kovalenko 1, Lesya A Rudenko 2, Oksana K Melekhovets 1, Antonina D Chepeliuk 1, Iurii V Melekhovets 1. Efficiency of hyperuricemia correction by low level laser therapy in the treatment of arterial hypertension. Wiad Lek. 2018;71(7):1310-1315.
- Yoshiharu Umeda BLOOD PRESSURE CONTROLLED BY LOW REACTIVE LEVEL DIODE LASER THERAPY (LLLT). LASER THERAPY/Volume 2 (1990) Issue 2/Article overview
Author: Fredrik Paulún
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