High blood pressure-also known as hypertension or “the
silent killer”-affects 1 in 3 adult all over th world, or roughly 67 million
people, and that number only continues to grow. 90-95% of cases are known as
primary hypertension, which is hypertension with no underlying medical cause.
The small left-over percentage is caused by conditions such as kidney disease.
But what is this mysterious silent killer?
Blood and its circulation are vital to sustain life. They
supply crucial nutrients and oxygen to all the cells and organs in our body.
They also remove waste and carbon dioxide. When the heart beats it creates
pressure that pushes blood through your arteries and veins. This pressure, if
you haven’t guessed, is our blood pressure. Two forces pump the blood through
our bodies, the first being created by the heart pumping blood out into the
arteries, and the second occurs when the heart rests between beats and blood is
drawn back into the muscle. When your blood pressure rises, damage can occur
that upsets this system.
If you have hypertension, your heart has to work extra hard
to pump blood through the body. And while healthy arteries are made of
semi-flexible muscle, the force of high blood pressure will lead to
overstretching their walls. This overstretching can lead to tiny tears in blood
vessels (known as vascular scarring) that leaves tissue that catch things such
as cholesterol/plaque, and other blood cells. Building off of the latter, this
leads to an increased risk of blood clots. The walls will also become weakened
over time. Tissue damage from being oxygen depleted occurs in parts of the
arteries on the other side of a blockage or build-up of plaque, depriving it of
fresh oxygenated blood, and heart attacks and strokes are the result if the
pressure becomes too high.
Before starting drug therapy, try lifestyle changes and some
home remedies for high blood pressure. Not surprisingly, things such as diet
and exercise play a big role in lowering blood pressure, so always keep those
two things at the forefront of your mind. Medications can be harsh, and while
best avoided if possible, if you are on them, know that natural remedies can
interfere with their functioning
1. Cut the Salt
Salt is not the problem when it comes to high blood
pressure, per say, but rather its chemical component sodium. A little bit is
fine, but too much sodium disrupts the balance of fluid in the body. To “flush”
the excess salt from your system, water is drawn from surrounding tissues. The
higher volume of liquid results in the heart working harder to pump the
blood-hence, high blood pressure. Sure we use a lot of table salt on our foods,
but still, that amount isn’t enough to account for the rise in blood pressure.
Actually, only 6% of our salt consumption comes from the table shaker. The vast
amounts of salt we consume daily (on average 1-2 generous teaspoons) couldn’t
possibly be caused by the salt we sprinkle on our food alone. No you have to
dig a little bit more to get to the source-processed foods. Such an
extraordinary quantity of excess salt is added into processed foods it’s easy
to stray over the healthy limit of sodium intake.
The utmost maximum daily limited is listed at 2,300
milligrams-even less for African men, and anyone over the age of 51. If you
fall into one of those categories, you should only consume less than ½ teaspoon
a day. Even foods that are labeled low-fat or low in sugar can still contain a
boatload of sodium.
Intensive research has shown that the more salt you eat, the
more you need. If you eat less salt, you only need to add less to your food or
have less in your food, to be satisfied with a smaller amount.
2. Drink Coconut Water
Coconut water is found inside the shell of green, unripe
coconuts that retains its natural benefits in organic and raw form. It contains
potassium and magnesium, both of which relate to regular muscle function, and
of course, the heart is a big giant muscle. While there have been some limited
studies on the effect of coconut water on hypertension, many people report
anecdotally that it has helped lower blood pressure. In studies, it seemed to
particularly affect systolic blood pressure, or the force that takes place when
the heart pumps blood away from it. If you don’t have a problem with coconut
water, it may prove to be a solid remedy for you.
Drink 8 ounces 1-2 times daily. Morning is ideal if you
drink it once a day, while morning and night works well if you opt to drink it
twice a day.
3. Fabulous Fish Oil
Of course this is on here! You may roll your eyes because
you’ve seen it everywhere, but fish oil and its bountiful omega-3 fatty acids
are a beautiful thing when it comes to your heart. While studies have been
wishy-washy on whether or not it actually reduces the risk of heart attacks or
strokes, it has been viewed as successful when it comes to lowering blood
pressure, while also reducing triglycerides and increasing HDL (“good”)
cholesterol. Heart transplant patients have been given fish oil to reduce the
risk of hypertension following a transplant.
4 Exercise
Along with diet, exercise should really be number one on
this list. Nothing can replace what exercise does for the body, and in a
society where we are becoming increasingly sedentary, it can take a bit more
effort to get out and get moving-but it’s worth it, especially if you have high
blood pressure. The heart is a muscle, and it will grow stronger with exercise.
It becomes easier to pump blood and takes less effort, keeping your heart in
better condition and lowering how much force it exerts on your arteries, thus
lowering blood pressure. Exercise is, in many cases, all that you need to get
your blood pressure back on track. The top number in a blood pressure reading
indicates systolic blood pressure, which is created by the heart pumping blood
away from it. Exercise can lower this reading by an average of 4 to 9
millimeters of mercury (a unit of pressure), which is easily as much as some
prescription blood pressure medications. A pleasant side effect of exercise is
weight loss, which also does your heart and arteries a great favor.
Try and get in at 30 minutes of exercise a day. You don’t
have to run marathon-even simple chores like scrubbing the floors are good.
Anything that gets your heart rate up and increases your rate of respiration.
Make this a habit. You only get the benefits of exercise as long as you
exercise.
5. Go For Garlic
Garlic is one of those home remedy staples. It is rich in
beneficial constituents that address a wide range of ailments, once of which
happens to be hypertension. There is just one little catch though. Allicin, the
organosulphur-sulfur containing- compound responsible for several of garlic’s
health benefits, doesn’t fare as well in the human body when garlic is eaten
raw. Allicin is relatively unstable, and is typically deactivated when it comes
in contact with a substance with a pH lower than 3, such as our stomach acid.
However, when taken in tablet form, there is a guaranteed Allicin yield that
ensures you get the proper amount to have solid results when it comes to
lowering blood pressure. Be sure when getting the tablets that there is a
release of Allicin in a significant, standardized amount-in several studies
involved with blood pressure, 1.8 milligrams per dose lowered blood pressure by
10% within 12 weeks.
6. Melon in the Morning
Every morning, be faithful to watermelon. Often times
watermelon as viewed as a strictly summer fruit, but it can also help lower blood pressure. An
organic compound called citrulline, an a-amino acid, was first isolated in 1914
from watermelon. Once ingested, the body can convert citrulline to the amino
acid L-arginine, which is a precursor to nitric oxide. To translate,
citrulline-found in watermelon- is converted into arginine-essentially a
chemical building block-which leads to the production of nitric oxide. Nitric
oxide talks to various cells and systems in your body that regulates, among
other things, how hard your blood gets pumped through your entire body-also
known as vascular systematic resistance. It will widen blood vessels, which
lowers vascular resistance, which ultimately lowers blood pressure. Imagine
trying to pump a certain volume of liquid through a small opening versus a
wider opening. The wider opening will allow it to flow smoothly and easily-it’s
the same with blood cells!
Every morning eat your melon on an empty stomach. If you
have a home blood pressure device, monitor yourself and observe the changes.
7. Ginger-Cardamom Tea
A study done in December of 2009 published in the Indian
Journal of Biochemistry & Biophysics gave a group of participants 1
teaspoon of cardamom powder daily for several weeks. The results showed a
significant reduction in blood pressure. While further research is needed to
pinpoint exactly why it seems to help, it has still proven itself a useful home
remedy for high blood pressure. Combined with ginger and cinnamon, both warming
spices that improve circulation, you can make a lovely tea to help your heart get
healthy. Interestingly enough, black tea seems to improve blood pressure in
some instances. This is most likely due to the heavy concentration of
flavonoid, however if you have blood pressure that leans towards the more
severe side of the scale; the caffeine may do more harm than good.
Understanding Blood Pressure Reading
When the nurse wraps the cuff around your upper arm and then
announces two seemingly random numbers, what’s going on? Two forces pump the
blood through our bodies, the first being created by the heart contracts and
pumps blood out into the arteries, and the second occurs when the heart rests
between beats and the heart muscle is refilling with blood. These two forces
are known as systole and diastole respectively, and are the numbers you see on
a blood pressure reading. The systolic pressure is the top number (or the first
one read) and is the higher number, and the second number is diastolic, and is
the lower number. So the next time you get your blood pressure read, remember
the first number is referring the force of blood being pumped away, and the
second number is the heart at rest refilling with blood. The systolic number
should be less than 120, while the diastolic number should be less than 80.
Anything higher and you enter pre-hypertension and hypertension.
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