Okay, but the REASON for breathing technique lowering BP stated here as related to kidney salt regulation seems askew to me. I have ICU nurse-training, and so I understand blood acid /base balance and fluid / electrolyte (sodium / potassium) balance. But the primary reason for pacing and slowing breathing is for its effects on calming down "sympathetic outflow",--or in laymen's terms: the fight-or-flight system that releases stress-chemicals, causing nervousness and higher blood pressure. ---It is this calming, centering, healing peacefullness that you are after when you learn special breathing techniques (like meditation teaches). Well worth it.

Breathing slowly after a lifetime of breathing half breaths is NOT an easy thing to do. For me salt has nothing to do with my blood pressure. I've used limited salt for the last 20 years and even less now.

I'm retired, slim and fit, hike 3 miles a day, rarely put any salt on my food, eat mainly veggies raw, meat and grains. Have a great complexion, great energy, etc etc. I had a stent placed a year ago and naturally take Metoprolol for hi blood pressure. I am off the Plavix after a year's use and want to get off the bp meds too. For the past week I have experimented with the slow breathing and surely, it does lower the blood pressure, but only temporarily. Every emotional thing that happens elevates it at once. If I don't watch breathing 'like a hawk' I'm back to half-breaths. I don't use the machine that was discussed since it limits where you are, but use the counting method or a Mantra which I keep reverting to to stay in full-breaths. I notice while hiking or walking around upright it's easy to take stomach-in and out breaths and keep them full-flow...but sitting at the computer, lying down, reclining, I have to intently keep focus on full breaths. I'm really wondering if the body isn't doing it's natural thing by reverting to half-breathing during quiet time? Any working chores, forget it. It takes one's full attention. I honestly don't know how just 15 minutes a day will help anyone's bp long-term. BP fluctuates so much and is so unstable from moment to moment that I wonder about it's use. I feel like we are still in the 'dark ages' of medicine when it comes to bp reading and control.

Love it!

Deep breathing AT YOUR OWN PACE works! BUT resperate does not! It made me hyperventilate because I was breathing slower than the machine, and I had to try and catch up with it. It stressed me out too. There is NO customer service, after trying 12 times to contact them, finally someone picked up, had no knowledge of the product and said it was not returnable. I'm out $250 and a machine is just catching dust. When I deep breathe, I blow that dust right off it!

To boot, there real pioneers of natural medicine like Dr. John Lee, suggested the meds were worse than the elevated bp. Today Dr Sinatra, Dr Whitaker, and Dr Mercola will all say the same. Some of these meds can actually caused heart attacks. I never felt worse than when I tried calcium channel blockers (lowest dose that they give to pregnant women) and had thunderclap headaches, vomited and my bp elevated to 250/135! Without the meds, I was in the 140's-150's/80-90's range because of severe stress. I am thin, never weighed over 103lbs my whole life, and then when I went into menopause, it all started. Dr Lee also believes bioidentical progesterone will lower bp, cholesterol, and trigylcerides and insulin. If I knew about them when I started menopause, then I would have asked for the hormones (not synthetic - ever! they can cause cancer or heart disease). Now, because they found a blocked renal artery (over 80%) and 38%blockagein a carotid artery, no gynecologist would prescribe progesterone cream. They don't understand there's a difference. I would risk taking the cream rather than another bp med. I tried atenolol (beta blocker) and nadolol (all low doses) and I lost my appetite within 20 mins, couldn't feel my throat and was so hyper for 2 days straight on one dose. I drove my daughter (after a concert) from NYC to NJ and we live in CT! That's how spaced out and hyperactive I became. It didn't lower my bp either :( So I'm still trying all natural things - supplements, vitamins, foods, and exercise (as that is the one thing I was lacking). I do not trust the machines either. My machines (both new lifesource and omron) give me steady readings and yet in some dr's offices, my readings are lower than my machine; and yet, I had a 24 hr monitor from a hospital with an elastic piece under the cuff that was so tight it cut off my circulation, and gave me readings 180-200 while my neurologist's office and my monitor said 120/80. Good luck everyone finding dr's who listen. They do not like it if you are an advocate of your health (and the internet does supply a lot of valuable information - just weed through the bad stuff to get to the good)!

The longer you do the breathing exercises the more lasting they will be, just like any exercise conditioning. You don't have to unlearn shallow breathing. In fact, that is almost impossible. In 3 weeks I have achieved almost 24 hours of lowered BP through deep breathing. I was 135-145/80-90. Don't waste your money on deep breathing machines. There are paced MP3 sound tracks you can buy off the internet inexpensively. Simple sounds of someone breathing in and out set to light music. Best thing is that you can do this anywhere, anytime! Quite frankly surprised that science medicine has not talked about this more...especially since it is free for everyone. Could it be that there is a multi-billion dollar drug industry at stake? MM

I`ve been doing the breathing for about a month, how long does it take to lower the blood pressure and will I be able to go off my medication?

The article and these comments are making so much sense to me. About 4 years ago my BP was found to be 175/110. I am not overweight, stress tests all come back telling me my heart is actually in good shape, admittedly I dont get as much exercise as I should. My doctor immediately put me on salt tablets and an alpha blocker (Ithink thats what its called). This brought me down to around 120/90, but my pressure will move steadily up under certain circumstances, which caused me to do my own research since my doctor tells me there's nothing else that can help - usual diet and exercise advice excluded - apart from increasing the dosage. Just this morning I confirmed that deep breathing has a dramatic impact on my BP - 10 minutes of deep breathing dropped me almost 30 points sys and 10 points dia. That sent me to research and I found this article. My own experience appears 100% aligned with Francois. I have been half breathing for maybe the last 18 years due to a lot of work and other pressures. I also had chronic stress in my childhood and again as a young adult, I suspect making me prone to stress now (mid 50's). Like Francois, while the deep breathing helps dramatically, the real culprit seems to be how my body responds to stress. Stress just blows me out of the water, even relatively mild things will trigger it. I know for a fact that when I am stressed, I slip back in to short shallow breaths, so thats at least part of the issue. I also agree that we are still in the dark ages in understanding high bp. All the tablets do is suppress the symptom of an underlying internal problem, but it doesnt fix the problem. And like Medavinci says, God help you if you should dare question your doctor! I am going to try to find the MP3 breathing soundtracks and see what else I may be able to do about the stress.