1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,760 Prepare to have your health questions answered here on Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions 2 00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:12,080 with Dr. Todd Binkley, owner of Binkley Healing Center in downtown Ventura. 3 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:14,480 Now, here's Dr. Todd. 4 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:15,480 Good afternoon. 5 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:21,160 I'm Dr. Todd Binkley, board certified non-force doctor of chiropractic and practitioner of 6 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:22,320 functional medicine. 7 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:25,160 February is Heart Disease Month. 8 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:31,720 We talked last week about how to reduce plaque formation, a simple way to think of the three 9 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:37,660 most important ways to prevent heart disease and keeping in mind that heart disease is 10 00:00:37,660 --> 00:00:42,360 the number one cause of death in America and around the world. 11 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:51,700 Three things to remember, keep the pipes clear, keep the pressure low, and keep the pump strong. 12 00:00:51,700 --> 00:00:57,440 So we talked a lot about how to keep the pipes clear by reducing and reversing plaque formation. 13 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:02,440 Next week, we'll get to how to keep the pressure low in this show. 14 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:06,560 But first, I mentioned last week a couple of great studies and I want to make sure to 15 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:09,640 have time to get to those now. 16 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:11,180 Listen to this headline. 17 00:01:11,180 --> 00:01:16,120 Why are we letting insurers dictate patient care? 18 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:20,740 Prior authorization is wreaking havoc on patient health. 19 00:01:20,740 --> 00:01:25,400 This is an article that just came out in the medical literature written by Barbara Jung, 20 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:28,000 MD, and Deborah Dazeer, MD. 21 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:30,000 Jung is a gastroenterologist. 22 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:33,040 Dazeer, Dr. Dazeer is a rheumatologist. 23 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:34,280 Here's what they say. 24 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:40,080 When patients are suffering from life-threatening illnesses or debilitating health conditions, 25 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:46,040 the only thing that should matter is delivering appropriate evidence-based treatments in a 26 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:48,960 timely manner. 27 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:54,560 Before that, patients rightly turn to us, their trusted physicians, for expert guidance 28 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:57,200 on the best course of action. 29 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:02,440 Yet all too often, insurers insert themselves into the equation. 30 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:08,880 As a result, restrictive policies like prior authorization can interfere with patient care 31 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:13,040 and lead to dangerous and painful outcomes. 32 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:15,520 Listeners to this show will have heard me talk about this a lot. 33 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:18,240 I am a practitioner of functional medicine. 34 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:24,800 I'm sorry I don't quote take any insurance because they don't actually pay anything for 35 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:27,400 the services that I offer, unfortunately. 36 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:32,440 With one proviso, if you can get your insurance doctor to order the tests I need, then your 37 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:33,960 insurance will pay for the tests. 38 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:40,120 But for my expertise, for my consultations, for my review of your tests and recommendations, 39 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:41,320 you do have to pay out of pocket. 40 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:46,560 But it's less expensive than you might imagine, especially when you factor in the angst of 41 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:50,000 waiting and deductibles and copays, etc. 42 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:55,760 I recommend, while we're on the subject, that everyone get a high deductible plan with a 43 00:02:55,760 --> 00:03:01,000 medical savings account or a health savings account and spend that money on your health 44 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:05,960 instead of waiting until you're forced to spend it on disease treatment. 45 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:12,080 Functional medicine is the process of identifying earlier signs of stress on all of your organs 46 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:19,800 and tissues so that you can reverse disease that's beginning or prevent it from happening 47 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:27,240 in the first place, as contrasted with conventional medicine practice by 99.9% of doctors, which 48 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:30,120 is just treating disease that you already have. 49 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:32,440 So this article goes on. 50 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:38,080 As you already likely know, prior authorization allows insurers to review doctor's orders 51 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:42,240 and decide whether they will cover prescribed services. 52 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:46,720 Such policies were initially established to help reduce health care costs by controlling 53 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:53,320 patient access to more expensive or investigative medications, treatments, and therapies. 54 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:59,680 But insurers have taken it too far, overruling physicians' recommendations and defaulting 55 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:08,600 to rejection of routine, evidence-based, and often life-saving care to prevent any expenditures. 56 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:16,000 Today, prior authorization has become one of the most widespread challenges in medicine, 57 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:23,160 drastically impacting our two specialties, gastroenterology and rheumatology. 58 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:29,640 Again, this is an article in the medical literature written by Barbara Jung, MD, and Deborah Dyett 59 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:37,800 Dazir, MD, a gastroenterologist and rheumatologist, lamenting the extreme restrictions that insurance 60 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:43,200 companies impose on their ability to do their job. 61 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:48,080 Each of these doctors goes on to present an example of how this affects their practice 62 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:49,080 in real life. 63 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:52,680 She says, to fully understand what this means to our patients, consider a case of a patient 64 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:57,300 that I have who takes a medication to manage Crohn disease. 65 00:04:57,300 --> 00:05:03,240 This patient typically suffers from breakthrough symptoms before her next infusion is due, 66 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:07,860 so we asked for authorization from her insurer to increase her dose. 67 00:05:07,860 --> 00:05:12,760 The insurance company required several letters to document and justify this change, which 68 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:18,640 resulted in a one-and-a-half-month delay before she could access the medication she needed 69 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:22,100 to effectively manage her disease. 70 00:05:22,100 --> 00:05:27,800 This patient is 44 years old and works as a gardener, so while she waited for prior authorization 71 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:33,800 and continued to experience GI gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal symptoms, pain in her 72 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:38,920 gut, pain in her muscles, her condition impacted her ability to perform her job and enjoy her 73 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:39,920 life. 74 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:47,520 That experience is the antithesis of patient-oriented care, yet it's representative of all too many 75 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:52,520 gastrointestinal patient experiences nationwide. 76 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:57,240 The rheumatologist author of this article goes on to describe a patient who has systemic 77 00:05:57,240 --> 00:05:59,280 lupus erythematosus. 78 00:05:59,280 --> 00:06:02,960 This is an autoimmune condition that causes multiple symptoms. 79 00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:09,600 A 62-year-old patient who, after taking medication for 10 years, experienced flare-ups that exacerbated 80 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:13,040 her incurable rheumatic disease. 81 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:18,600 During the medication was no longer working, the rheumatologist switched her to FDA-approved 82 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:23,680 treatment that her insurance company denied because the patient didn't have a specific 83 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:27,720 antibody test required for that particular medication. 84 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:33,340 So now the patient's on an inferior medication that provides less benefits and is enduring 85 00:06:33,340 --> 00:06:40,720 multiple rounds of more dangerous treatments just to keep her pain under control. 86 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:47,240 Quoting the authors, continuing with this article, the state of play for prior authorization 87 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:52,720 puts the insurer, not the physician, in the driver's seat for patient care, and that is 88 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:57,560 wreaking havoc on patient safety and well-being. 89 00:06:57,560 --> 00:06:59,360 I'm going to say that again. 90 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:04,960 This is two physicians practicing in the real world, talking about their experiences about 91 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:08,360 why insurance is wreaking havoc on patient care. 92 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:15,440 The state of play for prior authorization puts the insurer, not the doctor, in the driver's 93 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:22,920 seat for patient care, and that is wreaking havoc on patient safety and well-being. 94 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:26,400 The article continues, unfortunately these examples are just a drop in the bucket of 95 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:29,400 frustrating insurance barriers. 96 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:36,940 According to a 2022 American Medical Association survey, virtually all physicians report prior 97 00:07:36,940 --> 00:07:41,280 authorization delays to access necessary care for their patients. 98 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:46,800 Four out of five doctors report that burdensome, lengthy prior authorization processes sometimes 99 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:52,120 or often lead to patients abandoning their prescribed treatment. 100 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:57,000 Additionally, one-third of physicians reported that the process has led to a serious adverse 101 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:02,920 health event for patients, events including extreme pain by not being able to receive 102 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:09,720 the right medication or hospitalization to a flare-up of an inflammatory bowel disease. 103 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:16,080 Recently, the article goes on, a Kaiser Family Foundation report found that approximately 104 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:22,600 60% of insured adults experience issues when using their insurance coverage. 105 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:27,920 This includes 16% who face problems with prior authorization, particularly among Medicaid 106 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:33,800 recipients, high needs patients, those needing emergency services, and diabetes and mental 107 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:35,180 health patients. 108 00:08:35,180 --> 00:08:42,280 These figures underscore the serious threat that prior authorization poses to patient 109 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:43,420 outcomes. 110 00:08:43,420 --> 00:08:47,920 This is particularly true for patients struggling with rheumatic diseases like arthritis, which 111 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:54,360 is a leading cause of disability in the U.S., as well as a range of gastrointestinal diseases 112 00:08:54,360 --> 00:09:00,660 such as Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and colon cancer, the second most common cause 113 00:09:00,660 --> 00:09:03,520 of cancer death in the U.S. 114 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:09,080 For these vulnerable patients, delaying or denying access to care often leads to the 115 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:12,040 disease getting worse. 116 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:14,200 If you've just tuned in, these are not my words. 117 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:19,160 I've been reading a article that just came out in the major medical press by Barbara 118 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:28,320 Young, MD, president of the American Gastroenterological Association, and Deborah Diet DeSere, MD, 119 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:31,520 president of the American College of Rheumatology. 120 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:36,280 They can't say things like this in the article, but if you didn't catch it, that last part 121 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:43,560 clearly has implications for severe pain for these patients and even early risk of death 122 00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:48,880 from lack of access to insurance coverage, insurance that you've paid good money for, 123 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:55,640 and it's just frustrating for me as well, but it's the reality of the situation. 124 00:09:55,640 --> 00:10:02,040 If you want to get something other than what most medical insurance offers, there's no 125 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:03,640 such thing as health insurance. 126 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:04,640 It's medical insurance. 127 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:06,480 It doesn't cover anything to keep you healthy. 128 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:07,960 It only covers medical treatment. 129 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:08,960 You've heard me say this before. 130 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:10,840 I'm never going to stop saying it. 131 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:12,820 There's no such thing as medical insurance. 132 00:10:12,820 --> 00:10:17,640 If you want to restore health, if you want a fighting chance, if you want to give your 133 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:23,000 body a fighting chance to discover a condition early enough that you can completely eliminate 134 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:28,720 it or discover it early enough that you can reverse it or to identify earlier stresses 135 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:35,240 on your various parts of your organs and systems that can usually be fixed, even in severe 136 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:42,680 cases, oftentimes there's a way to provide adequate nutrients for your body to heal itself 137 00:10:42,680 --> 00:10:46,200 like it was designed. 138 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:47,420 I'm Dr. Todd Binkley. 139 00:10:47,420 --> 00:10:53,640 You're listening to Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions to Almost Any Health Challenge. 140 00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:58,360 Here's another study I'm really excited to tell you about that just came out in the mainstream 141 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:04,600 medical literature about the importance of vitamin D. I tell all of my patients, people 142 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:10,280 who I don't even test, who just want to find out how to stay healthier, there's three things 143 00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:15,200 everyone can do to give your body a fighting chance to stay healthy. 144 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:20,960 And that is to take three supplements that most people, thousands of people that I've 145 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:25,040 tested, tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people, my colleagues have 146 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:26,880 tested around the country. 147 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:31,880 These three things are always deficient and people don't realize that until they test 148 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:36,340 vitamin D, fish oil, and minerals. 149 00:11:36,340 --> 00:11:40,760 So you need to take a good multivitamin, which is a long conversation. 150 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:42,880 It's on some of my previous episodes. 151 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:47,680 One a day multivitamins are useless, a good multivitamin has to be at least three or four 152 00:11:47,680 --> 00:11:51,120 capsules to have minerals in it that your body can absorb. 153 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:57,080 Fish oil, fish oil is really important to control inflammation, to help with all kinds 154 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:01,600 of joint conditions and a whole host of other things that involve inflammation throughout 155 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:02,600 your body. 156 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:08,020 But if you pressed me, put a gun to my head and said, okay, I just want one pill, what's 157 00:12:08,020 --> 00:12:10,860 one vitamin that I could take that would improve my health? 158 00:12:10,860 --> 00:12:17,600 That's an easy answer, vitamin D. Vitamin D is mostly important for your immune system. 159 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:24,120 People know it more for bone health, a few other things, but it's really important for 160 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:26,240 basically every part of your body. 161 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:27,420 So I love this study. 162 00:12:27,420 --> 00:12:33,520 This is February, this is cardiovascular disease awareness month, so says me. 163 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:36,440 And here's a study in young people. 164 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:45,760 It's a study from Spain, 177 healthy sedentary adults, ages 18 to 25 years old, 65% women. 165 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:49,880 They're all white people from Granada, Spain. 166 00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:56,080 They were non-smokers, they led a sedentary lifestyle and did not have any history of 167 00:12:56,080 --> 00:12:58,320 chronic disease or cardiovascular disease. 168 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:03,320 And so they did a whole bunch of measurements on them and they tested their vitamin D levels. 169 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:05,120 And here's a really important takeaway too. 170 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:12,200 I'm always telling people if you hear slam pieces on nutrients that say, oh, this vitamin 171 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:15,240 doesn't work for this and this vitamin doesn't work for that. 172 00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:19,880 Well, it's usually because they don't use enough or proper forms of the nutrients to 173 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:21,960 achieve the desired effect. 174 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:26,160 And so this is kind of an interesting illustration of that as well. 175 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:31,640 So their measurements were your vitamin D level was declared deficient if it was less 176 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:35,360 than 20 and it was declared normal if it was above 30. 177 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:38,320 Well, that's still way too low. 178 00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:42,720 The healthy range for vitamin D is between 50 and 90. 179 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:48,040 When you do the standard vitamin D test, there are three major types of vitamin D tests. 180 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:51,520 But if you just go to any doctor and say, I want my vitamin D levels checked, they're 181 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:56,240 going to do the 25 OH vitamin D serum concentration. 182 00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:57,880 That is the standard vitamin D test. 183 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:04,720 And the number and don't say, don't ask them if it's OK, ask them what the number is. 184 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:09,120 You want your vitamin D level to be between 50 and 90. 185 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:15,800 But this test only measured difference between people whose vitamin D was less than 20 or 186 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:17,400 30 or above. 187 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:22,300 And this is interesting because the normal level for vitamin D on most lab tests used 188 00:14:22,300 --> 00:14:26,160 to be 20 and they've only recently raised it to 30. 189 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:30,800 A few years from now, they'll eventually figure out that you should raise it. 190 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:33,400 The normal range should be between 50 and 90. 191 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:36,040 But the standard practice of medicine does not do that yet. 192 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:40,240 But this is a really interesting study because it compares just that range between 20 and 193 00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:41,240 30. 194 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:48,800 So the people with vitamin D levels below 20 had higher fat mass index, higher body 195 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:57,160 mass index, higher systolic blood pressure, higher serum glucose and higher insulin and 196 00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:00,480 higher insulin glucose ratio. 197 00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:06,120 They also used a model of insulin resistance, a measure, a way to measure risk of diabetes, 198 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:09,720 which was also higher with the lower vitamin D level. 199 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:16,480 And again, it was only a little bit lower than the what everyone should be getting and 200 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:20,720 is super easy to get with one single little supplement. 201 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:29,760 The takeaway results go on to mention that markers for serum glutamyl transferases and 202 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:35,460 alkaline phosphatase, these are two standard liver inflammation markers, which are often 203 00:15:35,460 --> 00:15:40,120 increased when people have diabetes, but also increased when people have any stress on their 204 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:46,640 liver or their pancreas were elevated in the people with slightly lower vitamin D levels, 205 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:50,400 as well as an anti-inflammatory marker into LUCN4. 206 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:58,200 So body mass index, waist hip ratio, fat mass index, blood pressure, levels of glucose, 207 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:04,780 insulin, triglycerides and liver markers were higher in all the participants with vitamin 208 00:16:04,780 --> 00:16:10,680 D deficiency versus those with what they called normal vitamin D levels. 209 00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:17,400 And again, they called vitamin D deficiency less than 20 and normal vitamin D above 30. 210 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:23,000 Imagine what the results would have been if they had actual functional levels of vitamin 211 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:27,040 D, which are between 50 and 90. 212 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:32,280 And just in case you haven't heard me talk about this before or any other functional medicine 213 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:38,240 practitioner, no one gets that level of vitamin D in their bloodstream from sun exposure. 214 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:43,080 Walking around in the garden in short pants and short sleeves will never give you a vitamin 215 00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:44,960 D level of 50 to 90. 216 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:51,160 The only way to achieve functional, healthy levels of vitamin D is to take supplements. 217 00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:56,160 Yes, our bodies are designed to make vitamin D from the sun, but you have to expose your 218 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:59,800 entire torso to the skin several days a week. 219 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:03,960 And even that only works in the summer in Southern California. 220 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:05,360 So that's the short way. 221 00:17:05,360 --> 00:17:07,240 If you want to know more, email me. 222 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:13,320 But basically everyone needs to, all adults need to supplement around 5,000 units of vitamin 223 00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:20,480 D a day if you want to have a healthy immune system and prevent your risk of heart disease, 224 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:24,600 the number one cause of death in America and around the world. 225 00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:29,460 So what can you do to prevent or reduce your risk of heart disease? 226 00:17:29,460 --> 00:17:33,400 This is a continuation of what I started talking about last week. 227 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,820 I like to explain it in three simple ways. 228 00:17:36,820 --> 00:17:43,200 Keep the pipes clear, keep the pressure low, and keep the pump strong. 229 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:48,520 This is from a lecture I've done many, many times over the past, I don't know, 20 years 230 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:55,720 probably at Community Memorial Hospital at St. John's Hospital at several service clubs 231 00:17:55,720 --> 00:18:02,000 around Ventura County, people seem to find it really effective because it keeps it simple. 232 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:05,780 Keep the pipes clear, keep the pressure low, keep the pump strong. 233 00:18:05,780 --> 00:18:09,560 Last week we talked about many, many ways to keep the pipes clear. 234 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:12,180 That's the thing that most people focus on. 235 00:18:12,180 --> 00:18:16,040 Most people think the only way to do that is to lower your cholesterol levels. 236 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:20,080 That is not true, refer to last week's episode to hear more about that. 237 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:23,880 But it is really, really important and people do ignore this all the time. 238 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:28,680 It's really important to keep the pressure low. 239 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:35,200 The only way you know if you're keeping your blood pressure low is to check it. 240 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:43,620 If you have any family history of heart disease, if you have any stress in your life, check 241 00:18:43,620 --> 00:18:44,720 your own pulse. 242 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:52,440 If you have rapid heart rate, ask your spouse, ask your family members, do you seem like 243 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:55,120 a high stress person or someone who is under stress? 244 00:18:55,120 --> 00:19:00,240 If any of those things are true, then you should spend 40 bucks at your local pharmacy 245 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:07,280 or on Amazon on a blood pressure monitor to use at home. 246 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:11,360 OMRON, O-M-R-O-N is the standard. 247 00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:16,240 They're probably not the only good one, but they're widely available, they work. 248 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:23,040 I continually compare the results of the easily push one button OMRON blood pressure cuff 249 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:31,600 I use in my own office with the more standard old style stethoscope and sphygmometer that 250 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:32,600 doctors use. 251 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:37,140 It doesn't really matter, an OMRON blood pressure cuff works just fine as long as it's one that 252 00:19:37,140 --> 00:19:38,320 goes around your arm. 253 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:39,840 Don't get the ones that go around your wrist. 254 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:43,280 They're okay for certain circumstances and easier to use. 255 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:48,440 You want a regular blood pressure cuff that goes around your arm. 256 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:49,440 OMRON is a good one. 257 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:50,440 There's probably other good ones. 258 00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:51,440 Just get one. 259 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:56,680 The nice thing about them is if you're willing to take a few minutes to program them, set 260 00:19:56,680 --> 00:20:02,040 the time and the date, then they'll even check, they'll keep a log of all your readings for 261 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:03,040 you. 262 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:08,880 But if you're like me and you don't feel like messing with anything that's a pain to program, 263 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:10,300 just write down your own numbers. 264 00:20:10,300 --> 00:20:16,640 Just take your blood pressure every day for a few weeks and write down the numbers and 265 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:18,440 take it at different times of the day. 266 00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:22,840 Take it at 10 o'clock in the morning and 4 o'clock in the afternoon and right before 267 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:23,980 bed. 268 00:20:23,980 --> 00:20:29,120 It is normal for your blood pressure to be high first thing in the morning. 269 00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:35,720 When you wake up, part of the reason you wake up when you wake up is because your adrenal 270 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:41,920 glands pump out a hit of cortisol to make you go from sleeping to waking and that will 271 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:43,280 increase your blood pressure. 272 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:45,720 Temporarily, it's a normal thing. 273 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:47,480 It's nothing to be worried about. 274 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:52,240 But it is good to measure your levels at different times throughout the day and write the numbers 275 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:53,240 down. 276 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:57,240 It does not matter what one blood pressure reading is. 277 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:03,120 If it's really high one time or three times in a week, it doesn't matter. 278 00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:04,120 Don't worry about it. 279 00:21:04,120 --> 00:21:06,440 Your blood pressure goes up and down all the time. 280 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:10,360 What matters is the average for a week. 281 00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:12,160 That's why you want to keep a log. 282 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:16,720 If you have any risk factors or even if you've just never checked and you have stress, then 283 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:20,440 you should monitor your own blood pressure. 284 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:24,920 Get a blood pressure monitor, check it yourself, write the numbers down every day. 285 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:27,200 And then here's the most important thing. 286 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:33,320 Ignore any readings that you're worried about and instead get the average for a week. 287 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:39,360 So at the end of a week, you've got 30 readings because you checked it three times a day plus 288 00:21:39,360 --> 00:21:40,360 a few extra times. 289 00:21:40,360 --> 00:21:45,560 Or if you've got 10 readings, however many numbers you have written down, add up all 290 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:50,720 of those numbers and divide by the number of entries that you have. 291 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:54,040 And there you've got your average blood pressure for a week. 292 00:21:54,040 --> 00:22:00,220 Your average blood pressure for one seven day period is what really matters. 293 00:22:00,220 --> 00:22:01,400 It goes up and down all the time. 294 00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:09,320 But if your average is below 130 over 80, then you don't have high blood pressure. 295 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:13,280 And there are conditions where people have low blood pressure too and that's important, 296 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:14,880 but it's just much less frequent. 297 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:16,800 So call me if you have low blood pressure. 298 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:19,280 That is usually an adrenal issue. 299 00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:21,260 I've helped lots of people with low blood pressure. 300 00:22:21,260 --> 00:22:25,640 If you faint, feel like fainting when you stand up, then you probably have low blood 301 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:26,640 pressure. 302 00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:29,400 But most people are worried about high blood pressure. 303 00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:32,800 That is one of the main contributors to heart disease. 304 00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:34,760 So you want to keep the pressure low. 305 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:41,480 And the way to do that is by first knowing what your pressure is and not what it is one 306 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:45,600 day to, you know, just again, I can't stress enough. 307 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:47,240 Don't worry about one high reading. 308 00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:56,080 Do the average for a week because then you can gain awareness and control and make changes. 309 00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:59,800 I'm Dr. Todd Bankley talking about how to prevent heart disease. 310 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:04,420 And one of the main changes you can make to reduce your blood pressure is just to notice 311 00:23:04,420 --> 00:23:09,580 when you're stressed and checking your blood pressure is one way to do that. 312 00:23:09,580 --> 00:23:11,880 But sometimes you become aware of it in other ways. 313 00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:16,560 And anytime you're stressed, a simple thing that anyone can do is simply lie on the floor, 314 00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:17,640 not in bed. 315 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:23,120 You need to be on a firm surface, but lie on the floor or a table with a mat, just something 316 00:23:23,120 --> 00:23:24,120 firm. 317 00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:25,120 A bed is too squishy. 318 00:23:25,120 --> 00:23:26,120 A bed is too squishy. 319 00:23:26,120 --> 00:23:29,680 You need a firm surface for your muscles in your ribs to push against. 320 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:34,440 And simply lie on the floor and take deep, long, deep breaths. 321 00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:39,940 Deep breath in, hold, deep breath out, hold and repeat. 322 00:23:39,940 --> 00:23:45,040 And by that, I mean, inhale to a count of four or six or eight. 323 00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:47,600 Breathe in as slowly as you can. 324 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:53,360 Hold for a count of one or two and then breathe out to the same count that you breathe in. 325 00:23:53,360 --> 00:23:59,480 For example, breathe in to a count of six, hold for a count of one or two, breathe out 326 00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:01,880 for a count of six or longer. 327 00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:09,720 Try to make the exhalation take longer than the inhalation whilst lying on a firm surface. 328 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:14,920 This is profoundly relaxing and you can check your blood pressure before and after doing 329 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:15,920 this. 330 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:22,200 And if you do it for 10 or 15 minutes, you'll see when you have a high blood pressure reading, 331 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:27,280 you can lower it by 10, 15, sometimes 30 points. 332 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:28,280 I'm Dr. Todd Binkley. 333 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:31,240 You've been listening to Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions. 334 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:35,200 I look forward to the opportunity to help you prevent heart disease. 335 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:37,680 Email me anytime with your questions. 336 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:41,360 Tune in next Friday at 4 p.m. 337 00:24:41,360 --> 00:24:43,920 Have a fantastic weekend. 338 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:49,440 You've been listening to Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions with Dr. Todd Binkley. 339 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:53,960 If you have a health question you want discussed on the show, email your health questions to 340 00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:58,520 drbinkley at binkleyhealingcenter.com. 341 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:03,200 Take advantage of this opportunity to ask questions for yourself and for your loved 342 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:06,200 ones because our health matters. 343 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:14,240 Join him next Friday at 4 p.m. for Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions right here on 98.3 The Word, 344 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:21,240 KDAR.