评论：

这个有点“神奇”，但是我信。我明显感觉练瑜伽后，肺活量增强了。（我没有高血压，感谢父亲的遗传基因。）

Daily 'breath training' can work as well as medicine to reduce high blood pressure

每天“呼吸训练”可以有降压作用 

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/09/20/1123500781/daily-breath-training-can-work-as-well-as-medicine-to-reduce-high-blood-pressure

It's well known that weightlifting can strengthen our biceps and quads. Now, there's accumulating evidence that strengthening the muscles we use to breathe is beneficial too. New research shows that a daily dose of muscle training for the diaphragm and other breathing muscles helps promote heart health and reduces high blood pressure.

众所周知，举重可以增强我们的二头肌和股四头肌。现在，越来越多的证据表明，加强我们用来呼吸的肌肉也是有益的。新的研究表明，每天对横膈膜和其他呼吸肌进行肌肉训练有助于促进心脏健康并降低高血压。【译者注：我没有修改一个字！】

"The muscles we use to breathe atrophy, just like the rest of our muscles tend to do as we get older," explains researcher Daniel Craighead, an integrative physiologist at the University of Colorado Boulder. To test what happens when these muscles are given a good workout, he and his colleagues recruited healthy volunteers ages 18 to 82 to try a daily five-minute technique using a resistance-breathing training device called PowerBreathe. The hand-held machine — one of several on the market — looks like an inhaler. When people breathe into it, the device provides resistance, making it harder to inhale.

科罗拉多大学博尔德分校的综合生理学家、研究员丹尼尔克·雷格黑德（Daniel Craighead）解释说：“我们用来呼吸的肌肉会随着年龄的增长而萎缩，就像我们的其他肌肉一样。”为了测试这些肌肉得到良好锻炼后会发生什么，他和他的同事招募了18 ～ 82 岁的健康志愿者， 使用称为PowerBreathe的阻力呼吸训练设备，每天进行五分钟的技术。这个小器具——市场上的几种类似器具之一——看起来像一个喷雾吸入器【译者注：就像哮喘病人用的那种】。当你呼气时，该装置会有阻力，使吸气更难。【译者注：应该是 使呼气更难】

How it works

如何使用

"We found that doing 30 breaths per day for six weeks lowers systolic blood pressure by about 9 millimeters of mercury," Craighead says. And those reductions are about what could be expected with conventional aerobic exercise, he says — such as walking, running or cycling.

“我们发现，每天做 30 次呼吸，持续六周 将收缩压降低约 9 毫米汞柱，”克雷格黑德（Craighead）说。这些降低与传统有氧运动的效果一样，例如步行、跑步、或骑自行车。

A normal blood pressure reading is less than about 120/80 mmHg, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These days, some health care professionals diagnose patients with high blood pressure if their average reading is consistently 130/80 mmHg or higher, the CDC notes.

正常的血压读数应该低于约 120/80 mmHg， 根据疾病控制和预防中心（CDC ）标准。如今，如果平均血压读数始终为 130/80 mmHg 或更高，一些医疗保健专业人员会诊断为高血压。

The impact of a sustained 9 mmHg reduction in systolic blood pressure (the first number in the ratio) is significant, says Michael Joyner, a physician at the Mayo Clinic who studies how the nervous system regulates blood pressure. "That's the type of reduction you see with a blood pressure drug," Joyner says. Research has shown many common blood pressure medications lead to about a 9 mmHg reduction. The reductions are higher when people combine multiple medications, but a 10 mmHg reduction correlates with a 35% drop in the risk of stroke and a 25% drop in the risk of heart disease.

收缩压（血压读数的第一个数字）持续降低 9 mmHg 的影响是显着的，梅奥诊所（Mayo Clinic）的医生迈克尔·乔伊纳 ( Michael Joyner ) 说。他研究神经系统如何调节血压。 “这就是你用降压药看到的效果，”乔伊纳（Joyner ）说。研究表明许多 常用的血压药物可降低约 9 毫米汞柱。当人们同时使用多种降压药物时，血压降低幅度更大；但降低 10 mmHg 已经显示可以让中风风险降低 35% 和心脏病风险降低 25% 。

The training helps prevent high blood pressure too

训练也有助于预防高血压

"I think it's promising," Joyner says about the prospects of integrating strength training for the respiratory muscles into preventive care. It could be beneficial for people who are unable to do traditional aerobic exercise, he says, and the simplicity is appealing, too, given people can easily use the device at home.

“我认为这很有希望，”乔伊纳( Joyner )谈到将呼吸肌力量训练纳入预防保健的前景时说。对于无法进行传统有氧运动的人来说，这可能是有益的；而且其简单性也很有吸引力，因为人们可以在家中轻松使用这个小器具。

"Taking a deep, resisted, breath offers a new and unconventional way to generate the benefits of exercise and physical activity," Joyner concluded in an editorial that was published alongside a prior study in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

“深呼吸、抗拒性呼吸提供了一种新的、非常规的方式来产生锻炼和体育活动的好处，” 乔伊纳在一篇评论中总结道 ；这个评论与先前的研究一起发表在 《美国心脏协会杂志》。

So, how exactly does breath training lower blood pressure? Craighead points to the role of endothelial cells, which line our blood vessels and promote the production of nitric oxide — a key compound that protects the heart. Nitric oxide helps widen our blood vessels, promoting good blood flow, which prevents the buildup of plaque in arteries. "What we found was that six weeks of IMST [inspiratory-muscle strength training] will increase endothelial function by about 45%," Craighead explains.

那， 到底 呼吸训练是怎么降低压的？克雷格黑德（Craighead） 指出了内皮细胞的作用，内皮细胞排列在我们的血管中，并促进一氧化氮（nitric oxide）的产生——一氧化氮是一种保护心脏的关键化合物。一氧化氮有助于扩大我们的血管，促进良好的血液流动，从而防止动脉斑块的积聚。 “我们发现，六周的吸气肌肉力量训练【IMST 】将使内皮功能增加约 45%，”

Good for all ages, and could help athletes' endurance

适合所有年龄段，有助于运动员增强耐力

It has long been known that deep diaphragmatic breathing — often used during meditation or mindfulness practices — can help lower blood pressure too. Muscle training with the PowerBreathe device works in a similar way, engaging the breathing muscles and promoting the production of nitric oxide. The particular helpfulness of the IMST device, Craighead says, is that it requires less time to get the benefit because the small machine adds the resistance that gives the muscles a good workout. His research is funded by the National Institutes of Health.

人们早就知道深 横膈膜呼吸 - 通常在冥想或正念练习中使用 - 也可以帮助降低血压。使用PowerBreathe设备进行的肌肉训练，以类似的方式工作，使呼吸肌肉参与进来并促进一氧化氮的产生。 克雷格黑德（Craighead）  说，吸气肌肉力量训练【IMST 】设备的特别有用之处，在于它需要更少的时间来获益，因为小器具增加了阻力，使肌肉得到了很好的锻炼。他的研究由美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）资助。

The new study builds on the prior study and adds to the evidence that IMST — which is essentially strength training for the respiratory muscles — is beneficial for adults of all ages. "We were surprised to see how ubiquitously effective IMST is at lowering blood pressure," Craighead says. Before the results came in, he'd suspected that young, healthy adults might not benefit as much. "But we saw robust effects," he says, pointing to a significant decline in blood pressure for participants of all ages. He says the finding suggests IMST could help healthy young people prevent heart disease and the rise in blood pressure that tends to occur with aging.

新研究建立在 先前的研究 ，并增加了证据表明 IMST（本质上是对呼吸肌的力量训练）对所有年龄段的成年人都有益。 “我们很惊讶地看到 IMST 在降压方面是多么普遍有效，” 克雷格黑德（Craighead）说。在结果出来之前，他怀疑年轻、健康的成年人可能不会受益那么多。 “但我们看到了强大的影响，”他说，并指出所有年龄段的参与者的血压都显著下降。他说，这一发现表明 IMST 可以帮助健康的年轻人预防心脏病和随着年龄增长而导致的血压升高。

There may also be benefits for elite cyclists, runners and other endurance athletes, he says, citing data that six weeks of IMST increased aerobic exercise tolerance by 12% in middle-aged and older adults.

他说，对自行车赛手、跑步和其他耐力运动员可能也有好处。他引用了六周的数据，即中老年人的 IMST 将有氧运动耐量提高 12% 。

"So we suspect that IMST consisting of only 30 breaths per day would be very helpful in endurance exercise events," Craighead says. It's a technique that athletes could add to their training regimens. Craighead, whose personal marathon best is 2 hours, 21 minutes, says he has incorporated IMST as part of his own training.

“因此，我们设想每天仅包含 30 次呼吸的 IMST 对耐力运动项目非常有帮助，” 克雷格黑德（Craighead）说。这是运动员可以添加到他们的训练方案中的一种技术。 克雷格黑德（Craighead） 的个人马拉松最好成绩是 2 小时 21 分钟；他说他已经将IMST 作为自己训练的一部分。【译者注：如果你上网搜，运动员已经在用了。】

The technique is not intended to replace exercise, he cautions, or to replace medication for people whose blood pressure is so elevated that they're at high risk of having a heart attack or stroke. Instead, Craighead says, "it would be a good additive intervention for people who are doing other healthy lifestyle approaches already."

他警告说，IMST并不是为了取代运动，也不是让那些血压升高到心脏病或中风风险很高的人停止用药。相反，克雷格黑德（Craighead）说，“对于已经采用其他健康生活方式的人来说，这将是一种很好的附加干预。”

This is the way Theresa D. Hernandez, 61, sees the breathing exercises. She lives in Boulder, has a family history of high blood pressure and participated in the Colorado research. When the study began, she had blood pressure readings near the threshold at which doctors recommend medications.

这就是 61 岁的 特蕾莎·D·埃尔南德斯（Theresa D. Hernandez ）对呼吸练习的看法。她住在博尔德（Boulder），有高血压家族史，并参加了科罗拉多州的研究。当研究开始时，她的血压读数接近医生推荐用药的阈值。

"It was a surprise that something as simple could be so profound in terms of its impact," says Hernandez of the six weeks of breathing exercises. "It took my blood pressure to under the threshold so that I would not need to take medication," she says.

Her blood pressure dropped significantly, and she says she plans to stick with it — five minutes every day.

“令人惊讶的是，如此简单的小器具会有如此巨大的影响，”埃尔南德斯（Hernandez ）在谈到六周的呼吸练习时说。 “现在我的血压低于阈值，这样我就不需要服降压药了，”她说。

她的血压显著下降。她打算坚持下去——每天五分钟。