Blood Pressure Lowering Equipment

RESPeRATE Blood Pressure Lowering Device

The RESPeRATE is an electronic device that helps lower blood pressure by assisting users to pace their breathing. It is produced by US-Israeli company InterCure. According to the company website:

RESPeRATE’s breathing sensor automatically analyzes your individual breathing pattern and creates a personalized melody* composed of two distinct inhale and exhale guiding tones.

Simply listen to the melody through the headphones, and your body’s natural tendency to follow external rhythms will enable you to easily synchronize your breathing to the tones.

By gradually prolonging the exhalation tone to slow your breathing, RESPeRATE leads you to the therapeutic zone of less than 10 breaths per minute.

Within a few minutes, the muscles surrounding the small blood vessels in your body relax, blood flows more freely, and your blood pressure is significantly reduced.

While your breathing returns to normal after each session with RESPeRATE, the beneficial impact on your blood pressure accumulates. Within 3 to 4 weeks, you’ll see a significant, lasting reduction in your blood pressure.

According to an article in USA Today:

It isn't clear how slowing breathing this way lowers blood pressure. "People are working very hard to sort out why," says William Elliott, professor of preventive medicine at Rush Medical College.

...Elliot, who says he is not compensated by the company, started recommending the tool for some of his patients after testing it in a study that he designed. No adverse effects have been reported, but Elliot cautions that the device should not be used to replace entirely the drug treatment prescribed by a patient's doctor.

"Most of the people we have used the machine with have not been able to get off all of their pills," he says, "but if you can get off one pill or lower the dosage, that's good."

John Galbraith Simmons, 57, a New York medical writer and author of "Doctors and Discoveries: Lives That Created Today's Medicine", uses the device for 15 minutes a day to keep his blood pressure down and to relax.

It's "clearly not for everybody," he says. But for him, "the calming effect is the most striking. I will use it sometimes just to decompress."

The Associated Press reported:

In 2002, the Food and Drug Administration cleared the non-prescription sale of a medical device called RESPeRATE, to help lower blood pressure by pacing breathing. The Internet-sold device counts breaths by sensing chest or abdominal movement, and sounds gradually slowing chimes that signal when to inhale and exhale. Users follow the tone until their breathing slows from the usual 16 to 19 breaths a minute to 10 or fewer.

In clinical trials funded by maker InterCure Inc., people who used the slow-breathing device for 15 minutes a day for two months saw their blood pressure drop 10 to 15 points. It's not supposed to be a substitute for diet, exercise or medication, but an addition to standard treatment.

Why slow-breathing works "is still a bit of a black box," says Dr. William J. Elliott of Chicago's Rush University Medical Center, who headed some of that research and was surprised at the effect.

The Washington Post said:

That may look like a Walkman...but the Resperate doesn't pump out pulse-raising songs. It helps lower blood pressure by playing alternating tones to help relax a listener's breathing. A sensor strapped to a patient's chest monitors inhalations and exhalations. The device uses that data to adjust the intervals between the two tones -- one that prompts a user to breathe in and the other to breathe out. The goal: 10 breaths per minute.

A study in this month's Journal of Clinical Hypertension found that using the over-the-counter device for at least 15 minutes daily reduced systolic blood pressure (the force with which blood is pumped out of the heart) enough to lower some users' need for medication.

MedGadget wrote:

Fueled only by web sales, the RESPeRATE blood pressure lowering system is now in 50k homes. Next year, they start appearing in drug stores -- and we predict this drug-free way of combating hypertension will really take off:

Seven clinical studies published in peer-reviewed medical journals have demonstrated that RESPeRATE can lower high blood pressure by an average of 14 points systolic and 8 points diastolic. Because RESPeRATE is not a drug, there are no adverse side effects or drug interactions.

According to a comprehensive review at the Compu-KISS website:

Since my blood pressure is in the normal range, I don’t have to use the RESPeRATE solely for reducing my blood pressure. I found, however, that I like using the RESPeRATE just for its relaxation qualities. My husband, who has slightly elevated blood pressure, also tried out the RESPeRATE. After several weeks’ use, both of our blood pressure readings were lowered by several points.

The RESPeRATE is easy to use, and well designed. The belt and cords fit right inside the machine. The comfortable headphones fit nicely around the outside of the compact unit. RESPeRATE even comes with its own little carrying case.

It is a documented fact that simply controlling high blood pressure leads to substantial reductions in the risk of cardiovascular disease, like stroke, congestive heart failure and heart attack. Many people will find the RESPeRATE a valuable tool in staying healthier by wisely managing their blood pressure.
 

* Get the Latest Price on the RESPeRATE Blood Pressure Lowering Device.
 

June 5th, 2007
Updated: November 8th, 2007
 

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