This video will help you to relax when having your blood pressure taken at the
doctor's and it's especially helpful if you have white coat syndrome, if you have
a fear of going to the doctors or if you have a social anxiety. Hello my name is
Clare and welcome to Generation Calm where you can learn to reduce your
stress and anxiety naturally in your own time so that your mind and body feel
great. So we're going to be talking briefly about what is white coat
syndrome but keep watching until the end because I'm going to give you three tips
that you can use to relax when you next have your blood pressure taken at the
doctor's. So I recently wrote a blog post about white coat syndrome and it's when
your blood pressure is uncharacteristically high when you go to
a clinical setting to go and get your blood pressure checked even when in a
normal setting your blood pressure is absolutely normal and that's because the
stress and anxiety that you feel when going to the doctor's it makes sure your
blood pressure spike, it also makes other things you know like your heart
rate spike too but when it comes to blood pressure the numbers are
everything. High blood pressure has no symptoms so the doctor can only go by
what numbers he's seeing and if every time you come into the doctor's surgery
you have high blood pressure they're going to start thinking that you have
high blood pressure or hypertension. So it's named white coat hypertension or
white coat syndrome because normally a lot of doctors will wear a white coat.
But it doesn't necessarily mean that it's the white coats that make you
anxious it is the clinical setting itself. Now some people might have high
blood pressure readings at a doctor's compared to at home for other reasons. It
may be that they have a social anxiety and that means that they get anxious
about talking to the doctors or being around other people. It might be that
someone has a health anxiety and so they're worried they're going to get bad
news when they go to the clinic. It might be something completely random
like you've ridden your bike to the doctor's and so your heart rate is up and your
blood pressure's up. So if you suspect that you have white coat syndrome and
that means that your blood pressure only gets super-high when you're in a
clinical setting whereas it's normal at home then I encourage you to talk to
your doctor about having a 24-hour monitor. If that's not possible
try and get yourself an at home blood pressure monitor and if that's still not
possible then try an in-store Public blood pressure monitor. The only trouble
with those is that maybe the cuff's gonna be too big and if you get anxious going
to the doctors you might get anxious being inside a store public publicly
having your blood pressure taken. This gives a more accurate reading of what
your blood pressure is normally and not just what it's like when you're
interacting with nursing staff. And thirdly if you do have to rely on a
clinic to have your blood pressure taken then I recommend that you use the
guidelines that are put out there by the American Heart Association. So they
recommend that you make sure you've hadnno caffeine and you haven't smoked for
at least 30 minutes prior to your appointment make sure to keep your
cuffed arm rested on a table and keep it about heart level. Keep your feet flat
and planted on the ground keep your back straight and make sure that you don't
talk to the physician. Now I encourage you to ask them to retake it in a
minutes time and even if possible maybe towards the end of the appointment so
that you get a comparison reading of before and after. And there are other
things you can do to help yourself when you are having a blood pressure taken at
the doctors and one of those is taking a book with you or listening to some music,
making sure you get there early so that you're not feeling rushed and you have
time for your for your blood pressure to come down naturally. And that also gives
you the opportunity to try out some relaxation techniques and I've
got three that you should try for your next visit to the doctor's. The first one
is the mindfulness technique called the 5 4 3 2 1.
When you look for five things in environment that you can look at. And
then notice 4 things that you can hear. Three things that you can feel 2
things that you can smell and one thing that you can taste. Now this is designed
to keep you focused on the present moment what's going on around you what's
going on inside of you and to take you away from those intrusive thoughts that
can happen when you go to the clinical settings. So the second technique that
you can try while in a doctor's surgery to bring down your blood pressure is a
breathing technique. You breathe in for 4 counts, you hold it for one and then
breathe out for six counts. If you can't remember the numbers don't worry about
it always breathe out for longer then you breathe in. This really helps you to
put yourself back in control and create that calm for yourself and it's amazing
how quickly a breathing technique can bring down your blood pressure. And
finally repeat a positive word or phrase - some people call that a mantra. Something
like 'I am at peace' or 'I am safe', 'I am healthy strong and full of vitality'.
Repeat this to yourself silently in your head as your blood pressure is being
taken. And join me next week as I upload 5 5-minute meditations for 5 days next
week and they're all designed to help reduce your blood blood pressure and put
you in control of starting your stress management program. Thanks for watching.