blood pressure

You’ve heard about the world, at least in certain respects, in my last few posts, but how am I doing now after my brush with disaster to usher in the month of November? Hey, as I like to say, I could be worse. I still do get uncomfortable at night when I try to move in bed. This endless muscle stiffness is very slow at going away. But it’s gradually improving. Other than that, I’m fine. I keep monitoring my blood pressure and find it freaky at times. I have an appointment coming up with an electrocardiologist who maybe can sort out the various electrical signals generated by my heart, i.e., the atrial fibrillation arrhythmia, the premature ventricular contractions, the interesting sinus rhythms, etc. Sounds serious, huh? Well I’ve been living with these signal types for many years and I’ve always done well on stress tests in spite of them, so, what me worry? The docs say, “Get your hiking exercise. Very important!” I missed it today. Too much blogging!

Only this time it’s not a metaphysical mind-body, like I have been wont to talk about in the past, it’s a physical mind-body. The Benson-Henry Institute (BHI) for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital offers their relaxation response for quieting our mind and reducing our stress. Tangible benefits such as reduced blood pressure result. Well, this is all well known. There’s also NCCAM, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. But getting back to BHI why don’t I try that relaxation response? Yeah, why don’t I?