Hour-long exercise and hydration may tackle low BP: study

Deesha Bondre | Jul 22, 2019, 18:09 IST
Are you patient of low blood pressure? Here’s an easy remedy that will most definitely work. All you need to do is an hour-long of exercise and stay hydrated. According to a NASA funded study on astronauts. Doing so helps in improving the condition and controlling episodes of fainting or dizziness.
This would be the first study to examine the condition called "orthostatic intolerance" during daily activities when the astronauts returned home.
The research team also found that the exercise routines during space flight, "orthostatic intolerance" during daily activities when the astronauts returned home.
"Doing an hour or more of daily exercise was sufficient to prevent loss of heart muscle, and when it was combined with receiving hydration on their return, the condition was prevented entirely. We expected to see up to two-thirds of the space crew faint. Instead, no one fainted," said cardiologist Dr. Benjamin Levine from UT Southwestern Medical Center.
Patients were diagnosed with a similar condition, known as Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). It is predominantly found in women. The dizziness that it causes is life-changing and can be debilitating.
Dr. Levine has helped one Dallas patient return to a normal life.
This treatment is just one of the ways medicine, heart research, and space travel have connected throughout Dr. Levine's work. The successful moon landing in 1969 was an early influence on his career.
"We put a catheter in an astronaut's heart -- it was former UT Southwestern faculty member Dr. Drew Gaffney -- and sent him into space. It was probably the most expensive right-heart catheterization ever," Dr. Levine reminisced.
"Much of our early research was devoted to understanding why astronauts faint when they return from space. Now, we can prevent it from happening".


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