RESPeRATE for Lowering Blood Pressure

Besides making lifestyle changes and taking medications, some people may also find it helpful to use RESPeRATE for lowering their blood pressure. The device helps the user achieve "paced breathing" to relax the muscles around the blood vessels to allow better blood flow and reduce blood pressure. Although the machine doesn't require a prescription, it's important to talk to your healthcare provider before using RESPeRATE to treat your high blood pressure.

 

How Does RESPeRATE Lower Blood Pressure?

RESPeRATE® is a medical device that uses biofeedback to lower blood pressure. It helps the user achieve "paced breathing" with little or no effort. With paced breathing, the slower, deeper breaths activate stretch receptors in the lungs and the heart. In response, certain signals from the nervous system decrease, leading to a relaxation of the smooth muscles that surround small blood vessels. This allows the blood vessels to dilate (open wider), allowing for easier blood flow and lower blood pressure.
 
RESPeRATE is cleared by the FDA to be used along with other high blood pressure treatment (such as medications or diet and exercise) to treat high blood pressure. When used for 15 minutes a day, RESPeRATE provides a sustained (all day long) lowering of blood pressure.
 

How Much Does RESPeRATE Lower Blood Pressure?

RESPeRATE has been evaluated in several different clinical studies.
 In these studies, the device was compared to an audio player with relaxing music, a blood pressure monitoring device (that measures blood pressure), or both. This allowed the researchers to make sure the blood pressure-lowering effects of RESPeRATE were actually due to paced breathing, not to the "placebo effect" or simply to the relaxing sound of RESPeRATE.
 
For people with high blood pressure, these studies have shown that RESPeRATE decreased systolic blood pressure by 13.7 mmHg (compared to 8.9 mmHg for the control group) and lowered diastolic blood pressure by 8.4 mmHg (compared to 4.1 mmHg for the control group) on average. Although this might seem like a small decrease in blood pressure, it is actually quite significant, similar to the decrease in blood pressure seen with many blood pressure medications. Like any high blood pressure treatment, some people may respond to RESPeRATE better than others.
 
(RESPeRATE for Lowering Blood Pressure Continued: Page 2)
Add this article to your Favorites     Email this article     Print
Written by/reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD; Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD;