High stress leads to high blood pressure. You don’t say.

Stressed out? Boiling mad? About to lose your lid? Chill out, man…relax. Really, it’ll save your life if you do.

Stress management techniques have been shown to reduce hypertension, or high blood pressure (HBP), if learned and practiced regularly. And even more exciting is that reducing stress through effective techniques can reduce the need for blood pressure drugs in elderly people with a special type of HBP called isolated systolic hypertension. Nice. So says a study out of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

High blood pressure, not a disease in itself, but a warning that disease is looming, can lead to such maladies as heart attacks, stroke and kidney failure. Dang–doesn’t it make sense to learn a few stress reduction techniques? I think so. Here are the best:

• Creating mental balance through a special technique called the collapse process (ask me about it, I’ll be glad to explain).
• Meditation (there are many techniques to choose from–all good in my opinion)
• Pranayama (yogic breathing technique)
• Working out (especially hitting the heavy bag)
• Sex

That’s right–learning a few of these powerful techniques can add years to your life by preventing some of today’s most prevalent disorders. And in the case of isolated systolic hypertension, which often afflicts the elderly and is hard to treat with medications, these findings are stupendous.

So don’t delay. Learn some stress management techniques today and you’ll find life a little easier to deal with.