Exercise with good hydration can attack at a low BP

Suffering from low blood pressure? Do one hour or more of daily exercise and stay hydrated to improve the condition and control a series of fainting or dizziness, concludes a NASA-funded astronaut study.

The study is the first to examine the condition called "orthostatic intolerance" during the daily activities of returning astronauts to the home.

The researchers found that exercise regimens during a space flight, followed by saline injections after landing, were sufficient to prevent the disease from occurring.

"Doing an hour or more of daily exercise was enough to prevent the loss of heart muscle, and when it was badociated with hydration on their return, the disease was totally avoided." We expected to see up to two-thirds of Instead, no one fainted, "said cardiologist Benjamin Levine of UT Southwestern Medical Center.

A similar syndrome is also diagnosed in patients, namely postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mainly in women. The vertigo it causes changes your life and can be debilitating.

Levine helped a Dallas patient return to normal life.

For the study, published in the journal Circulation, researchers used a small blood pressure cuff from astronauts to measure blood pressure and each heartbeat.

These measurements were taken for several 24-hour periods before, during, and after six months of space flight. Twelve astronauts were involved – eight men and four women.

This treatment is only one of the links between medicine, cardiac research and space travel during Dr. Levine's work. The success of his landing on the moon in 1969 had an early influence on his career.

This early interest led Levine to embark on space research in the field of cardiology. He started working with the space shuttle program in 1991.

"We put a catheter in the heart of an astronaut – it was the former faculty member of UT Southwestern, Drew Gaffney – and sent him off. in space.This was probably the most expensive right heart catheterization of all time, "recalled Levine.

"Much of our early research was focused on understanding why astronauts faint when they come back from space, and now we can prevent that from happening."