Researching Ways to Combat Hypertension

'Researching Ways to Combat Hypertension' is the subject of an interview with George Bakris, MD, one of the leaders in the battle over hypertension. The article states 'With hypertension expected to affect fully one third of the world's population by 2015, improving control of this major cause of cardiovascular disease is paramount.' Bakris focuses on optimizing pharmaceutical therapy to maximize hypertension control.

Bakris is quoted as saying that 'There needs to be less rigid planning and more thinking outside the box when it comes to funding research....The NIH is very conservative when handing out research grants....thank God for foundations and other funding sources that encourage this kind of thinking.'

However, there is no mention of therapy by alternative or complementary medicine.

Scientific studies have shown that Qigong is effective for controlling hypertension, either without drugs or in combination with hypertensive drugs at lower dosages. Moreover, qigong is cost effective, and individuals can take responsibility of their own health.

(see: Therapeutic Benefits of Qigong Exercises in Combination with Drugs, by Kenneth M. Sancier PhD, Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (1999) Vol 5, No. 4, pp. 383-389.