Positive Health Online

Abstract

WATANABE and colleagues, Tokyo Women's Medical College, Department of Medicine, Daini Hospital, Japan write that autogenic training, a method of self-hypnosis, lowers the extent of within-day change of systolic blood pressure. @m:METHODS: 10 patients with hypertension or white-coat hypertension were automatically monitored at 30-min intervals for 7 days prior to autogenic training and again for 7 days at 1 or 2 months following the start of autogenic training, practised 3 times daily. @r: Following autogenic training, the circadian double amplitude of systolic blood pressure was 3-17 mm Hg lower; statistically significant reductions of 7-17 mm Hg were seen in 5 patients. These results are seen as provisional statistics, the usefulness of which depends upon replication. However, the overall group reduction in systolic blood pressure by 8 mm Hg on average can be accepted at face value. Diastolic blood pressure was also lowered following autogenic training, but the effect was small, as was the effect of autogenic training upon the MESOR (a rhythm adjusted mean) and acrophase (a measure of the timing of over-all high values recurring each day). @c: Effects of autogenic training upon systolic blood pressure recommends a trial using autogenic training as first-line treatment for patients with an excessive circadian blood pressure amplitude, a condition which, even in the absence of an elevated blood pressure, is associated with a large increased risk of developing ischaemic stroke or nephropathy.

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References

Watanabe Y et al. Chronobiometric assessment of autogenic training effects upon blood pressure and heart rate. Percept Mot Skills 83(3 Pt 2): 1395-410. Dec 1996.