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How to Lower Your Blood Pressure


Pressure

High Blood Pressure (HBP) or hypertension is a serious health condition that should not be underestimated. It is actually a dangerous, life-threatening disease. It puts one's life at risk of developing such cardiovascular problems as stroke, heart failure, angina pectoris, or coronary heart disease.

High blood pressure is common among Americans. Based on statistics, one in three American male or female is affected. Although this condition is often asymptomatic, it can damage the heart in the long run.

One way of knowing whether you have high blood pressure is by monitoring your blood pressure especially while at rest. It is during this time when the condition reveals itself because of the abnormal systolic and diastolic counts.

Sadly, high blood pressure or hypertension is untreatable but highly manageable. A person who suffers from it thus has to make major changes in his or her lifestyle to keep the blood pressure normal and safeguard the heart from serious malfunction.

Determining Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is determined through measuring the systolic (when the heart beats as it pumps blood), and diastolic (when the heart is at rest) pressures. Blood pressure is often written in a way that the systolic comes before the diastolic pressures. For example, the systolic count is 110 while the diastolic count is 70. Therefore, the blood pressure is 110/70 mmHg (millimeters of mercury).

For adults, the normal systolic count ranges from 120 and below while the normal diastolic count is 80 and below. If your systolic pressure reaches beyond 120-139, and your diastolic reaches 80-89, you are already in prehypertensive stage. Those who have high blood pressure however already collect systolic pressure of 140-159 and diastolic pressure of 90-99. A blood pressure than these number will give you stage 2 hypertension.

Causes of High Blood Pressure

The American Heart Association confirms that high blood pressure per se has no specific cause but usually, the condition is detected among people who are obese. There are several possible factors though which trigger high blood pressure or hypertension including the following:

Obesity. Obviously, greater mass means increased blood production to carry oxygen and nutrients throughout the body, thus adding more pressure on arterial walls.

Low physical activity raises heart beat rate, subsequently compelling the heart to pump more blood as it contracts.

Smoking has harmful chemicals that are detrimental to the arteries.

Sodium. Each person is allowed to take only .4 mg. Excessive sodium intake leads to water retention and high blood pressure. This is because sodium or salt is a powerful fluid absorbent.

Potassium deficit often results in increased level of sodium.

Stress affects blood pressure as it elevates blood pressure. Remember that stress is the body's natural fight or flight response when necessary. When the body is always in this mode, the heart is forced to pump blood faster.

Aging is also a huge factor. Although there are younger people who develop hypertension or high blood pressure, the condition is most common in older individuals.

High blood pressure is also found to be hereditary.

Other underlying health condition like thyroid or hormonal disorders, kidney problems, adrenal gland disorder, and certain drug and contraceptive consumption, among others also cause high blood pressure.

 

How to Lower Your High Blood Pressure Naturally

Remember that high blood pressure is a lifetime disease but this does not mean that you should let it consume you. There are a lot of things that you can do to keep the complications at bay as well as keep your blood pressure normal.

Regular checkup is paramount for high blood pressure sufferers. Having your condition checked with a doctor's assistance will help you determine which level are you at. Your doctor may also recommend certain medications to address the problem accordingly.

Take supplements that are blood pressure-friendly. Suggestively, patients with high blood pressure are advised to take CoQ10 (Coenzyme Q10) which is known for its ability to lower blood pressure. Studies have been conduction in 83 people with hypertension for 12 weeks. During those times, patients were administered CoQ10 and showed significant decline in the systolic and diastolic pressures.

Take garlic whether naturally or as a supplement. Garlic is one of the most powerful medicinal food that reduces high blood pressure. Include it in your recipes often or fry it with peanuts and enjoy it as is. However, you should still ask your doctor before adopting it as a natural remedy as it works like aspirin. It can cause blood thinning, thus losing the ability to clot.

Fish oil or omega-3 fatty acids are known to lower the cholesterol level and reduce high blood pressure because of fish oil's EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docohexaenoic acid) contents.

Take vitamin B, specifically Folic acid to increase red blood cells. This is mostly advisable for people who are affected by high blood pressure but could not stop smoking.

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