Two Simple Movements Can Reduce Dizziness When Standing Up, Study Finds (gizmodo.com) 32
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Researchers in Canada say they've come up with two simple physical techniques to help prevent a common cause of dizziness and fainting. In a small trial, they found that these maneuvers, which involve nothing more than moving your lower limbs, could effectively reduce the symptoms of initial orthostatic hypotension (IOH), a condition that temporarily leaves people light headed when they stand up. [...] Though many people can experience IOH without ever registering it as a big problem, some sufferers can have repeated or severe enough episodes of IOH that it routinely affects their daily functioning. Study author Satish Raj, a heart rhythm cardiologist at the University of Calgary, and his colleagues have often seen these sorts of patients at their dysautonomia and fainting clinic. And they wondered if there was something more they could offer these patients besides lifestyle changes like drinking more water or medications.
As he explains it, when people stand up, blood flow normally shifts downward to below our chest. But in IOH, this change seems to be accompanied by a reflex, triggered by the activation of muscles as we stand up, that causes blood vessels to open widely -- and it's this combination that then causes the rapid but temporary drop in blood pressure. Based on Raj's team's earlier work, as well as other research, they hypothesized that people with IOH could short-circuit this process by activating the reflex early or by tensing the lower limb muscles as they stood, somewhat mitigating the blood pressure drop.
To test this out, they recruited 22 volunteers with IOH to try out both of the techniques they developed. One method involved pre-activating the muscles behind the reflex from a sitting position, done simply by raising the knees one at a time for up to 30 seconds. The other asked people to stand and then tense up their lower limbs, by crossing their legs and clenching their thighs and butt. As a control, the volunteers would also stand up normally. Compared to the control condition, on measures of both the volunteers' circulation and their self-reported symptoms, people's IOH improved after doing either technique. And Raj's patients in the clinic have anecdotally reported similar success after adopting the strategies. The team's findings were published Wednesday in the journal Heart Rhythm.
As he explains it, when people stand up, blood flow normally shifts downward to below our chest. But in IOH, this change seems to be accompanied by a reflex, triggered by the activation of muscles as we stand up, that causes blood vessels to open widely -- and it's this combination that then causes the rapid but temporary drop in blood pressure. Based on Raj's team's earlier work, as well as other research, they hypothesized that people with IOH could short-circuit this process by activating the reflex early or by tensing the lower limb muscles as they stood, somewhat mitigating the blood pressure drop.
To test this out, they recruited 22 volunteers with IOH to try out both of the techniques they developed. One method involved pre-activating the muscles behind the reflex from a sitting position, done simply by raising the knees one at a time for up to 30 seconds. The other asked people to stand and then tense up their lower limbs, by crossing their legs and clenching their thighs and butt. As a control, the volunteers would also stand up normally. Compared to the control condition, on measures of both the volunteers' circulation and their self-reported symptoms, people's IOH improved after doing either technique. And Raj's patients in the clinic have anecdotally reported similar success after adopting the strategies. The team's findings were published Wednesday in the journal Heart Rhythm.
Marijuana (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
Stand up, then cross your legs? (Score:2)
I'd be a lot more likely to fall over from doing that than from IOH.
The did research to find out what we already know? (Score:2)
You tense your muscles before standing up, or else.
Re: (Score:1)
No it is a problem (Score:3)
I've blacked out so bad I fell over once.
Re: No it is a problem (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:No it is a problem (Score:4, Insightful)
It's a big problem if you're on heart medications, too. Most of my drugs have a sticker that say "May cause dizziness" which I never really understood - I always associated dizziness as meaning vertigo (and I had a viral infection that messes with your inner ear making the whole world spin), so I always thought that.
No, I realized what they really meant was the lightheadedness you get if you do change body position suddenly. I've since learned that when getting up from things like my bed, to do so gradually and not jump out of the bed - the latter would cause it.
Yeah, it's over in a few seconds, but why risk collapsing.
I've even told my doctor about that - I was asked and they discontinued my use of a nitro patch because I said if I jumped out of the chair, I'd get lightheaded, but if I rose slowly and deliberately I was fine.
It's also an issue if bend over - like to reach for something on a lower shelf at the store - then standing back up.
Have you tried the counting method? (Score:2)
If I remember correctly it goes like this:
One Tequila,
Two Tequila,
Three Tequila,
Floor.
ok, now do this (Score:3)
Re:ok, now do this (Score:4, Funny)
You have to balance your drinking. Some drinks tend to cause clockwise spinning, others counter-clockwise. Drink them in balance and no spins!
For reasons that are not yet clear, different people get different spin directions, so you'll have to make a few practical observations, but it doesn't sound like you'll be too upset about that :-)
Tried the exercises this morning (Score:4, Interesting)
I definitely have a tendency for low BP. This is based on tests while in hospital, first for a broken arm, then treatment for throat cancer. I used to smoke, and tended to get high BP, so I was on pills for that. I gave up smoking when I was in hospital for the throat surgery. The doctors at the hospital were quite sure I did not need medication for high BP. I got nicotine patches.
Before all that, when I went for a routine blood pressure test, the nurse told me not to cross my legs, because it would put my BP up, so it seems sitting cross-legged might actually be a good posture, if low BP is the problem.
An interesting speculation is that stretching your limbs after heavy sleep might actually do some good. You may have noticed cats doing it. Cats have an advantage over humans, in that they walk on all fours, which is inherently more stable than walking on two legs. I think the walking upright feature is still a work in progress, in terms of human evolution. My frequent bad back is evidence of that.
Anyway, I took note of the findings of the article, and I managed to get up and about without holding on to stuff like I usually do.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Though I have suffered a few brown-outs over many years, the lower limb exercises never occurred to me as a useful precaution. I found the article useful in pointing out a simple bit of physio, which I am going to employ in the future.
I agree that the article over-complicated the description. There appeared to be an excess of invented acronyms, where simple words would do. Having said that, I would note that this kind of exercise was never recommended by doctors, nurses or physiotherapists while I was in ho
I have this frequently, and this is what works... (Score:5, Interesting)
I have not only dizziness but also acute headaches when I stand up from my long stints working in a desk, due to what my local doctor has described has "tensional migraines". I assume these are exactly the hypotension described in this article. What works for me is very similar to what is described, but includes not moving limbs but tensioning them. It was told to me by a friend as a joke of sorts, as this is apparently a technique used by jet fighter pilots when under high G forces from maneuvering, and they do it to increase or reset normal blood flow to the head:
- when standing up and feeling this, simply exert a lot of muscle tension on the lower limbs, including thighs, as if literally trying to poop for about 5-10 seconds
This small "exercise" resolves the migraine immediately, almost all of the time. There are scenarios where the headache has been lingering while already seated, so more persistent, and these aren't as easily solved with the exercise. But for every single acute headache I get when hastily standing up and releasing blood pressure to legs, the leg tensioning action resolves the headache.
Low Blood Pressure (Score:2)
But, I've also fallen over (unusually). I have put it down to low blood pressure, better than high?
I'm the wrong side of getting old now have not spun out for a long time
Re: (Score:2)
skeletal muscle pump (Score:1)
Looks like someone's discovered the skeletal muscle pump [wikipedia.org].
Practical (Score:2)
Good information for some circumstances - say you're sitting a long time, it would make sense to take that extra minute 'stretching' if you're prone to this. It's probably a godsend for those people.
But no, personally, most of the time I'm not going to take a full minute farting around every time I need to stand.
Lower limbs (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
How dare you assume that people with lower limbs all have legs! What about all of those people who have lower limbs in addition to legs or lower limbs and no legs at all? What about all of the lower limb legs that identify as arms? You have just dehumanized all of those people and limbs with your backward non-inclusive thinking!
I will now be gathering all of the PC police and we will crusade for the lower limbed non-leg humanoids and animals to be included in our language and we will cancel you into the
I suffer from this (Score:1)
I suffer from this. It is simply from standing up really quickly. I've never passed out from it, but many times I have to steady myself and my vision goes like TV static for a few seconds. Then, I'm fine.
Re: (Score:1)
easier approach that works for me (Score:1)
I have always found (Score:1)
I have always found a small increase in the amount of salt in my diet does the trick.
So that's what it is! (Score:1)
My ex-wife used to have this in her 20s. I always thought it odd since it's not thought of as a young person thing. It was never very scary, but troubling nonetheless. Sounds like she may have outgrown it.