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Blood Pressure Lowering During the Working Day

Mary A. Southam, PhD; W. Stewart Agras; C. Barr Taylor, MD; Helena C. Kraemer, PhD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1982;39(6):715-717.

Abstract
• Controlled studies have demonstrated that relaxation training can lead to significant in-clinic blood pressure (BP) reductions in patients with essential hypertension. We examined the BP-lowering effect of relaxation training during the working day. Forty-two patients being treated for essential hypertension with diastolic BPs greater than 90 mm Hg were randomized into either a relaxation training program or no treatment. Multiple BP measurements were made during the working hours, using an ambulatory monitoring device, before and after training. Significant work-site differences between groups were evident after treatment both for systolic and diastolic pressures. These results suggest that relaxation therapy leads to a reduction in BP that is evident in the natural environment, providing new evidence that the procedure is a useful adjunct to the treatment of hypertensive patients.

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford (Calif) University.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication Nov 5, 1981.

Read before the National Conference on High Blood Pressure Control, New York, May 4, 1981.

Reprint requests to Laboratory for the Study of Behavioral Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305 (Dr Agras).

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