Hypertension and cardiovascular disease is our number one cause of death. Blood vessel diameter is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system. When we activate sympathetic neurons they release the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, which causes blood vessels to constrict. The blood vessels have muscles in the tunica intuma which tighten when the sympathetic neurons release norepinephrine on to their surface. This contraction of the muscles of the blood vessels causes the blood vessels to have smaller diameter and raises their pressure. If we have excess of firing of the sympathetic neurons they develop hypertrophy of the muscles in the blood vessels and chronic constriction of the blood vessels. This results in hypertension and loss of blood flow to areas involved. If the area with decreased blood flow is the brain we see senile dementia and strokes. If the area with decreased blood flow is the heart we see heart attacks.

Traditionally this problem has been treated by focusing on effects rather than cause. For example diuretics are given to lower blood pressure but they do not relieve constrictive blood vessels. Beta-blockers are given to prevent the sympathetic neurotransmitter norepinephrine from causing the constriction of blood vessels. This helps normalize blood pressure but further imbalances the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system and aggravates other aspects of health. Dietary changes are helpful in preventing plaquing in the chronically constrictive blood vessels. However exercise and meditation seem to not only be effective, but also to approach treatment of the cause of the problem.

The imbalances of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system is the main cause of hypertension and cardiovascular disease. The sympathetic nervous system is stimulated by the intermediolateral cell column, IML, of the spinal cord. The IML is activated by muscle tension. If I began to constrict my biceps repeatedly, by lifting a weight, soon I will see blood vessels standing up my arm. This is because contracting a muscle stimulates muscle spindles which fire to the spinal cord and activate the IML. The IML release is neurotransmitters to stimulate the sympathetic nervous system and constrict blood vessels. Here we can see the problem with high blood pressure is overactivity of the IML. There are two main causes of overactivity of the IML. One cause is muscle tension. Most people are tense in their anterior shoulders which we see with a shoulder rolled forward posture. The second cause is loss of parasympathetic inhibition of IML. The medulla of the brainstem is involved with inhibition of the IML ref. The medulla is stimulated primarily by cortex, cerebellum and the medial longitudinal fasciculus. With their sedentary lifestyles we have lost much of the input into these pathways that activate medulla. In fact the greatest input into these pathways will come from rich activity of the cervical spine and eyes. The biggest input into the thalamo cortical centers is from dorsal column pathways from the cervical spine. The biggest input into the cerebellum is the vestibular balancing mechanism and muscle spindle activation of spinal cerebellar pathways. The medial longitudinal fasciculus richly stimulates the medulla as it coordinates eye activity and upper cervical motion.

Therefore control of blood pressure and prophylactic prevention of vascular problems needs to be centered around rich medullary activation. There are four main aspects of this. The first is maintaining proper balance of both sides of the brain and cerebellum. The second is maintaining normal couple motion of upper cervical segments. Loss of the normal cervical motion will result in loss of input to the higher neurological centers. This is analogous to running an eight cylinder car on seven cylinders. The third is rich activation of eyes and upper spinal segments by looking around and tracking a lot. The fourth is activation of posterior muscles of the upper body to inhibit chronicity of firing of the anterior muscles of the upper body. The best way to coordinate the last three activity is walking with good posture, shoulders back, and looking around a lot.