You may be surprised to learn that I’m not a complete fan of National No Smoking Day, in fact to be perfectly honest, as a solution-focused therapist, it irks me somewhat.  Organisers of the first campaign in 1984 (launched on Ash Wednesday, naturally) claimed that 1.3 million smokers refrained on the day, 20,000 of whom stopped smoking permanently.  I have two concerns about this: firstly, where did they get these figures from and how do they know? Equally importantly, how much difference is a one-day awareness initiative going to make to a heavy smoker who thinks they are addicted to nicotine? It’s also extremely unlikely that there is anyone out there that doesn’t know that smoking is unhealthy!

Human nature is a funny thing, you know.  Our subconscious minds respond much better to a positive request than an instruction NOT to do something.  If I tell you that you can’t have a chocolate biscuit, I won’t be too surprised when I find you heading straight for your secret Hob Nob stash (other biscuit brands are available). If you’re under strict instructions not to think of a pink elephant, you’re straight there, aren’t you? In my view, it’s the “No” in “National No Smoking Day” that gets under my skin and I’d rather we focused on encouraging and educating people to lead healthier lives and providing more effective services to help those people who are serious about wanting to stop smoking on an ongoing basis.

It made me smile when I read that journalist Rod Liddle (he of Radio 4 fame) simply said that his one aim on No Smoking Day was to “double my usual intake of nicotine”.

Stopping smoking is easy – it really is – it’s staying stopped that’s the hard part.  I work with clients to address the emotional and psychological issues surrounding cigarettes and how simple modifications in behaviour can lead to major lifestyle changes, including freedom from cigarettes. For ever!

I’ve got over 15 years’ experience of supporting thousands of smokers to quit smoking and I know that there are three significant elements to kicking the habit:

1. The Decision.  Make up your mind that you WILL do it.  You need to want to stop smoking and I mean really really want to do it, not think that you’ll simply give it a go.

2. The Choice.  Give yourself the best chance of success by deciding how you’re going to do it: pills, patches, hypnosis -  what’s the right option for you?  A word of advice, though: willpower doesn’t work.  I’ll talk again in another blog about why willpower often leads to “won’t power”.

3. The Commitment.  Learn how to stay stopped and be a non-smoker for the rest of your life.

The  benefits of kicking a smoking habit into touch are immense, not least in the increased feelings of being in control and a strong sense of well being but we don’t need to be told not to do it. Maybe we should change  National No Smoking Day to ‘Do something healthy day’ or perhaps ‘Smoke as much as you can day’. I wonder whether reverse psychology might work for Rod Liddle?

If you’d like some help in stopping smoking permanently, give me a call on 01273 509 793

Andrew Spence

March 12^th, 2013

An ideal reading would be 115/75. An average reading would be 120/80. The most important number for the under 50’s is the diastolic number and for the over 60’s the most important is the pulse pressure reading. For those of you between age 50 to 59 the systolic reading has more importance.

Do you know your numbers? If not you can get a free blood pressure reading at The Spence Practice in Hove this week. For more information call 01273 509793.

your life!

According to the World Health Organisation, Hypertension (high blood pressure) causes up to a quarter of all deaths worldwide and affects around one in three people. That’s over 16 Million people in the UK, and 50 million people in the USA.

High blood pressure causes 25% of all deaths worldwide …Worryingly, around half of people are unaware that they have high blood pressure, which is why the creators of the Hypnotension programme are urging people to get their blood pressure checked as part of the Blood Pressure Association’s annual ‘Know Your Numbers’ awareness week, 12-18th September.

High Blood Pressure is known as ‘The Silent Killer’ because it is often symptomless and people often don’t realise they have it until it is too late.

Hypnotension co-creator, Rob Woodgate says, “Knowing your blood pressure figures is as important as knowing your weight, and catching a rising blood pressure trend early could save your life.” He adds, “Over 90% of cases of Hypertension have no underlying medical cause, and can be prevented and even reversed with a few simple lifestyle changes.” And over 50% probably don’t know that their blood pressure is high.

Clinical guidelines define a blood pressure reading consistently around 115/75 as ‘ideal’, and hypertension is a blood pressure reading consistently higher than 140/90mmHg.

According to WHO statistics, high blood pressure causes 62% of strokes and 48% of heart disease.

The Hypnotension Programme looks at a variety of lifestyle factors to establish which is likely to be causing or maintaining high blood pressure. These lifestyle factors are then targeted using specific cognitive and hypnotherapeutic techniques to help reduce the clients blood pressure towards more normal levels.

There is a network of specially trained Hypnotension practitioners all over the country who can help you make the lifestyle changes which could help save your life.

I am your local Hypnotension practitioner in the Brighton & Hove area and will be providing free Blood pressure readings at The Spence Practice in Hove during ‘know your numbers week’. For more information call me on 01273 509793.

Andrew Spence

In the UK alone 2.5 million people suffer from type 2 diabetes and nearly one tenth of the entire NHS budget is spent managing diabetes and its complications. That is nearly £9 billion a year spent on this deadly disease, making diabetes and the complications surrounding it one of the most serious health risks to the nation and a financial burden on the health system.

One of the more serious complications of type 2 diabetes is hypertension or high blood pressure. Hypertension affects nearly 70% of patients with diabetes and is twice as likely to occur in people with diabetes as in those without diabetes. With those who suffer from type 2 diabetes the news is even grimmer. It is estimated that 40-50% of all people with type 2 diabetes have arterial hypertension which means a blood pressure greater than 160/95 mm/Hg.

Adults who have both type 2 diabetes and hypertension have a greater chance of developing kidney and coronary heart disease, making it even more imperative that these individuals get their blood pressure checked often. Diabetes Week is the perfect time to check in on that pesky blood pressure.
Although a deadly combination, the news is not all bad. Making minor lifestyle adjustments can make a big difference.

A leading expert in hypertension and diabetes recently stated, “Hypertension and diabetes can significantly increase the risks of heart disease, and having both together can be deadly. Over 90% of cases of hypertension can be helped by simple lifestyle changes, and studies are beginning to show that even type 2 diabetes can be reversed in this way too”.

Many people are turning to programmes like Hypnotension to make those changes in lifestyle. The Hypnotension programme is the result of over 10 years of research and work with hypertension and was developed for those with high blood pressure.

Hypnotension practitioners work closely with patients to determine their individual needs and then develop a specialised treatment for those clients that provide an effective method of controlling high blood pressure.

Whatever the treatment for high blood pressure, it all starts with the knowledge that comes with a blood pressure check. Millions will be getting theirs checked soon during Diabetes Week.

Being physically active is one of the most important things you can do to prevent or control high blood pressure. So much so that one researcher of healthy aging has called exercise the ‘closest thing to the fountain of youth’.

Exercise keeps your blood vessels healthy, which improves blood circulation, and it also eats up blood sugars, lowering the risk of diabetes and helping you lose excess weight.

It can also mop up ‘stress hormones’ such as cortisol, and increases the level of endorphins, which are your body’s ‘feel-good’ chemicals.

This not only has a positive effect on lowering blood pressure but also helps your sleep, mood and energy levels.

It doesn’t take a lot of effort to become physically active. All you need is 30 minutes of moderate-level physical activity on three or more days of the week. Examples of moderate activities are brisk walking, cycling, gardening and housework.

Even office bound people can find ways to build up to moderate activity levels. Parking a few streets away from the office, taking the stairs instead of the lift, and taking a brisk lunchtime stroll are all great ways to build up your activity levels without changing your routines too much.

Studies have shown that people who exercise, on average, live significantly longer than those who don’t, and one study showed that the onset of initial disability in people who exercised was 16 years later than those who didn’t.

Having high blood pressure can leave you feeling uncertain and worried about your future. Making these lifestyle changes can help put you back control and can make a real difference.

Just remember to praise yourself for each positive step you take towards lowering your blood pressure and accept that you’ll make slip-ups along the way. Go easy on yourself, learn from your mistakes, and then move on.

If you lack the desire or motivation for exercise we may be able to help.

Now that you have lost weight, reduced your daily intake of salt and moderated your alcohol intake Rob Woodgate’s (Rob is the co-founder of the hypnotension programme) fourth tip to avoid high blood pressure is to deal with emotional stress.

As part of the ‘fight or flight’ survival mechanism, our blood pressure naturally rises when we are under stress. Unfortunately, the stresses of modern living can’t easily be fought or escaped, leaving us in a constant state of emotional ‘red alert’.

Studies on working men and women in the USA, for example, found that those with most responsibility for running the home had significantly higher blood pressure than those who left it to their partner.

Emotional stress can be caused by many things, and not everyone reacts to the same triggers, so it’s important to discover your own triggers and take steps to reduce them.

Some people are emotionally tougher than others so if you need some professional help to manage the stress in your life listen to Mike’s story and contact us before high blood pressure becomes a significant health risk in your life.

Alcohol has a strong effect on blood pressure, and studies show that the risk of death is higher in men who drink 22 or more units a week and in women who drink 15 or more units per week.

Binge drinking, which is defined as 8 units a day for men and 6 units a day for women, causes dangerous spikes in BP too, so alcohol consumption is safer when drinks are spread over the week.

Like weight loss, studies have that found blood pressure reduces by around 1 mmHg for each unit-per-day decrease in alcohol consumption overall.

If you are overweight, alcohol may be a significant contributory factor; so by reducing your alcohol intake you should also benefit from weight loss too!

Many people use alcohol and/or comfort eating  as a coping mechanism for dealing with stress and other emotions so it may not be easy to make these changes without having alternative strategies in place for dealing with stress. If that is the case for you please contact us; we may be able to help.

In my next blog I will explain why STRESS can be a killer!

Rob Woodgate (co-founder of the Hypnotension programme) shares his second tip on how to avoid hypertension.

Reduce your salt intake

Salt is essential for the health of our bodies. Unfortunately, most of us eat so much that it puts us at risk of stroke, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

Salt causes the body to hold more water than necessary, increasing the volume and pressure in the blood vessels and putting excessive strain on your body.

Studies give mixed results, as some people are more sensitive to salt than others, but generally a measurable risk is seen when a person consumes more than 2g of salt per day, which is far lower than the UK and US recommended upper limit of 6g salt (2.3g sodium) per day.

The secret to reducing salt is to look at the food labels carefully, and to avoid adding extra salt when cooking. If you are worried about food tasting bland, add more herbs and spices, though be careful with spice mixes as these can contain a lot of salt.

According to the World Health Organisation, high blood pressure causes up to a quarter of all deaths worldwide and affects around one in three people. That’s over 16 Million people in the UK, and 50 million people in the USA.

Clinical guidelines define a blood pressure reading consistently around 115/75 as ‘ideal’, and hypertension is a blood pressure reading consistently higher than 140/90mmHg..

The first number in a blood pressure reading, known as the Systolic reading, is the pressure inside arteries when the heart is actively pumping blood through them. The second number, known as the Diastolic reading, is the pressure when the heart relaxes.

High blood pressure can strike at any age, but is more common the older you get. According to the statistics, even if you don’t have high blood pressure by the time you are 55, you still have a 90% chance of developing it later in life.

The good news is that 95% of cases of Hypertension can be prevented and even reversed with a few simple lifestyle changes. Here is Rob’s first tip to help you to take control of your blood pressure.

Lose any excess weight

Being overweight or obese can dramatically increase your chances of getting hypertension, as well as diabetes.

Even a modest amount of weight loss can slash the risk of hypertension by 25-35% and studies have shown that, on average, blood pressure falls by 1mmHg for every Kilogram (2.2 lbs) of excess weight you lose.

This means that if you are 25Kg (4 stone) overweight, you could bring your blood pressure from hypertensive levels back down to normal levels, just by shifting that excess weight.

To find out if you are overweight, simply calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI), which is your weight in Kilograms divided by the square of your height in metres.

If your BMI is over 25 or your waist measurement is greater than 40 inches for men or 35 inches for women, you may be carrying excess weight.

However, it’s not just overweight people that have high blood pressure. I will be posting more tips over the coming days and weeks.

What appears to happen in many cases, is that someone experiences a stressful episode or trauma and the stress chemicals/hormones produced change the physiology of the body and one of the side effects can be high blood pressure. Typically your GP then prescribes medication to help lower your blood pressure and you are labelled as suffering from hypertension and continue to take your medication on an ongoing basis despite the fact that your circumstances may change to such an extent that stress is no longer having such a significant impact on your life.

Also the fact that someone has been diagnosed with this condition means that they worry about having it and its possible negative effects on their health which keeps the blood pressure high; it becomes a vicious circle.

A friend of mine had been taking a drug called Warfarin for over 8 years until he ‘blacked out’ recently, just as he was getting off a train and fell on to the platform and was concussed. Whilst under observation in hospital it was discovered that he didn’t need to be on warfarin and that one of the side effects was that it was probably causing the ‘black outs’ from time to time. Since coming off the drug he has felt so much better, more energetic, more positive and more motivated. The accident could have killed him; yet if it hadn’t happened he would have been none the wiser and possibly taken the drug for the rest of his life.

I met a Doctor a few years ago that believed everyone over the age of 50 should be prescribed a statin whatever their state of health; just as a precautionary measure. On that basis perhaps we should all take anti-depressants to ensure that we don’t get depressed!

If we are really serious about saving and preserving the NHS for future generations we need to find ways of getting people off of long-term medication where possible. Introducing programmes like ‘Hypnotension’ into the NHS could just be one of the solutions.