Let’s not sugarcoat it; both low blood pressure and high blood pressure are bad for you. With either, you can experience an inability to focus, dizziness, heart disease, and other health problems. You want to find a way to stabilize your blood pressure in the Goldilocks zone–just right.
Controlling blood pressure is especially important when it comes to heart disease, which is the leading cause of death for men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States. There used to be a significant gap between men and women in the incidence of heart disease, but that gap has closed over the past few decades and now women die of heart disease as frequently as men.
In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, I brought on an expert to talk about Zona Plus. Mackay Rippey serves on the Medical Advisory Board of Zona Health. He explains how the biofeedback device helps you train your own body to change your blood pressure, using isometric exercise. In this kind of muscle contraction, the muscle is tensed and working, but not actively shortening or lengthening. The Zona Plus looks like a joystick from a fighter airplane with a little digital screen on top. That screen gives you immediate feedback.
Let's jump right into some of the biochemistry that I found with Zona, Mackay says:
“I started with the hand grip. So, 30% is the magic Goldilocks percentage for your grip. So, you need to calculate what your grip strength is in the morning. It can vary from day to day and the optimal is 30%. Now, if you think you can calculate 30% just by knowing what you're feeling, you're sadly mistaken. That's why it helps to have a biofeedback device that tells you, "You're at 30%. Oh, and, by the way, you have to hold it for two minutes." So, if you think you can do that for two minutes, you need a feedback device. It just makes your life a lot easier.”
We discuss the effects of pre-hypertension and hypertension on your health, how to manage your blood pressure and how to keep your cardiovascular system functioning properly. We also get into nitric oxide, endothelial cells and red blood cells.
Eighty percent of Zona Plus users lower their blood pressure back to normal because Zona makes biofeedback so accessible. It leads to greater cognitive function, clears toxins from your body and more. Consider this hand-held device your cardio biohack. We also talk about the additional supplements you can take to pair with the Zona for faster and better results.
And for those of you who may think it’s too early in your life for Zona Plus, that you’ll use it when you’re older, Mackay says to remember this: “Now's the time to start ‘exercising,’ your endothelial cells so that they continue to function well as you increase your age so you're not only living longer, but you're living well as well.”
Mackay sees the impact of blood pressure across many areas of health:
- He co-founded Beyond Protocols, an education accelerator for Functional Medicine practitioners.
- He formulates supplements for cardiovascular health that reduce blood pressure.
- He’s operated Mackay Rippey Acupuncture for more than 30 years.
- He hosts Lyme Ninja Radio, a podcast focused on the challenges and treatment of Lyme disease.
- And, he’s got a passion for nutrigenomic research.
Join us for this important conversation on heart disease, healthy hearts, the blood pressure rollercoaster and some key elements to creating a long healthy life.
Note for listeners: I previously interviewed Zona’s CEO, Mark Young. Learn more about Zona’s company history and how the device was developed in episode #601: Get a Grip on Your Blood Pressure
Enjoy! And get more resources at Dave.Asprey/podcasts.
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