What Causes High Blood Pressure

Posts Tagged ‘High Blood Pressure’

With the recent well-publicized problems that have been associated with certain prescription drugs, and the trend to take more proactive care of our own bodies, there has been an ever-increasing move to identify more natural ways to relieve health problems. This is also true when someone has been diagnosed with high blood pressure. But, is there evidence of a natural medicine high blood pressure relief option?
Today in most industrialized countries a large part of the population will have elevated blood pressure. This is particularly true in those who are past middle age, and indulge in a number of the factors that increase the risk of high blood pressure, like smoking, eating diets high in fat or high in salt and suffer from a lack of exercise.
Some medical researchers believe that the number of people who will be suffering with high blood presure in 2025 will be close to 1.56 billion, with most of the growth happening in countries as they become “westernized”.
In many cases high blood pressure is caused by the body’s blood vessels becoming clogged. Unfortunately this clogging can put stress on to a person’s heart which makes it beat harder in order to push the blood around the body. Eventually if left untreated a person may find himself or herself either having a heart attack, a stroke or kidney failure may occur.
There are a variety of different natural medicines available usually provided to you as supplements through a local herbal practitioner or you may go to a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner instead. You may even find that your doctor is able to suggest natural medicines for high blood pressure, which may suitable for you to use.
However, wherever you source the product from it is important that you discuss the approach you are considering adopting with your doctor before proceeding. They will be able to identify any interactions the product may have with any medication you may already be taking.
There are a number of natural approaches and preparations that have researched and used for hundreds of years to help relieve high blood pressure, these include; garlic, passion flower, lemon balm, valerian, hawthorn and gingko biloba.
Continue reading to discover more natural methods to help relieve high blood pressure and sign up for your free newsletter.
There have been several different randomized controlled trials using garlic supplements. In 3 of these trials it was found that systolic blood pressure was significantly lowered and in 4 it was shown that the diastolic blood pressure had lowered significantly. The researchers concluded that garlic powder could potentially be used in a clinical setting to help relieve mild high blood pressure.
In general the main aim for any high blood pressure treatment would be to reduce the elevated blood pressure to healthy levels to stop further damage to the body, and to develop a plan that keeps the blood pressure levels at those levels. Many natural substances may help to alleviate high blood pressure, but if there is a need to lower hypertension swiftly to stop further damage then often the most appropriate approach is through prescription medication.
Once the blood pressure is under control, then a person may want to consider natural alternatives to the blood pressure medication and discuss their wishes with their doctors.
So, no one natural medicine high blood pressure relief option is going to be a cure-all. It is important that a person’s lifestyle is assessed for high risk factors, and they these are the areas that are focused on to alleviate future problems.

If you have high blood pressure you are at risk for a heart attack or stroke. The amount of risk depends on how high your blood pressure is and how long it has been this way. Here is a range of blood pressures and how they rate:

Normal   120/80
Border    120/90 to 160/94
Mild     140/95 to 160/104
Moderate  140/105 to 180/114
Severe    160 plus/115 plus

Regardless what your blood pressure is, it is best to always watch your diet and become informed as to how you can maintain good health though out your body.

If you have high blood pressure, here is a high blood pressure recipe using natural products and foods. This recipe will not only help your high blood pressure but will improve your immune system.

High blood pressure responds well to natural remedies and methods. Many Alternative Practitioners recommend not using drugs for high blood pressure because they can be more dangerous to your health than the high blood pressure. High blood pressure drug side effects create an increase risk of heart disease.

A High Blood Pressure Recipe for Long Life

Here is a recipe to follow to lower your high blood pressure.

Use a good mineral supplement

Use Arjuna daily for good cardiovascular health

Exercise and lose weight

Reduce the fat you eat

Eat more fiber

Take a good fish oil supplement

Mineral Supplement for a high blood pressure recipe

The minerals calcium, potassium and magnesium have all been found to keep blood pressure low. These minerals and many more come from eating fruits and vegetables of all colors. Also drink fruit and vegetables juices alone or combined to get a strong dose of minerals that shoot quickly into your blood stream.

Eat as many fruits and vegetables in the morning until noontime. This helps your body to get rid of toxins that affect your overall health.

Add these foods to your diet for minerals: bananas, figs, cantaloupe, apricots, avocados, cherries, grapes, mangos, beans, and sunflower seeds.

Exercise and Weight loss for a high blood pressure recipe

If you are overweight than losing weight and getting it into your ideal weight gives you the most benefits for lowing your blood pressure. Get into a daily exercise pattern. A treadmill or daily brisk walk will give you great benefits for lowering blood pressure.

Diet for a high blood pressure recipe

Here are some of the things that you should add or eliminate from your diet.

Reduce that amount of fat that you eat. By eating less meat you decrease the amount of fat you eat. Also eating less dairy products will decrease the amount of fat your body has to process.

Eat more fiber. You can get fiber from fruits and vegetables and bran. Eat a vegetable salad with your lunch and dinner.

Add a good fish oil supplement

Use the India herb called Arjuna. This herb is good for your complete cardiovascular system. It an inexpensive herb and it makes plenty of sense to use it.

Master this high blood pressure recipe and watch your blood pressure go down. Once you get it down, refine this recipe for more results and better health.

Blood pressure is a measure of the force that the blood applies to the walls of the arteries as it flows through them. It’s normal for blood pressure to increase when you exert yourself, or when you feel stressed or anxious. But if your blood pressure is consistently higher than normal at rest, this is high blood pressure, also known as hypertension.

High blood pressure (hbp) or hypertension means high pressure (tension) in the arteries. Arteries are vessels that carry blood from the pumping heart to all the tissues and organs of the body. High blood pressure does not mean excessive emotional tension, although emotional tension and stress can temporarily increase blood pressure.

Blood pressure is the force of your blood pushing against the walls of your arteries. Each time your heart beats, it pumps out blood into the arteries. Your blood pressure is highest when your heart beats, pumping the blood. This is called systolic pressure. When your heart is at rest, between beats, your blood pressure falls. This is the diastolic pressure.

The most commonly used diuretic to treat high blood pressure in the UK is called bendroflumethiazide (bendrofluazide) - but there are others. For example, chlorothiazide, chlorthalidone, cyclopenthiazide, hydrochlorothiazide, and indapamide. Diuretics work by increasing the amount of salt and fluid that you pass out in your urine. This has some effect on reducing the fluid in the circulation which reduces blood pressure.

They may also have a ‘relaxing’ effect on the blood vessels which reduces the pressure within the blood vessels. Only a low dose of a diuretic is needed to treat high blood pressure. Therefore, you will not notice much diuretic effect (you will not pass much extra urine).

The preferred treatment of choice for those suffering high blood pressure is usually a change of lifestyle. For those who are overweight, smoke, lead highly stressful lives or seldom exercise, sometimes this is the only wake up call they need. Once they make the necessary lifestyle adjustments, they will often find their blood pressure symptom restored to a more normal range.

Slightly raised blood pressure may not need to be treated so aggressively, but regular monitoring is important.If you have very severe high blood pressure, you may need to go to hospital for treatment. But it’s much more likely that you will be cared for by your GP and/or a nurse.

A recent study showed that they can be accurate, but sometimes are not. It usually is not possible to tell whether a particular machine is working properly. The cuff should inflate and fit snugly around your arm.

Diabetes considerably increases the risk of cardiovascular disease if hypertension is also present, so the targets for blood pressure control in diabetes are tighter.

High blood pressure can occur in children or adults, but it’s more common among people over age 35. It’s particularly prevalent in African Americans, middle-aged and elderly people, obese people, heavy drinkers and women taking birth control pills.

It may run in families, but many people with a strong family history of high blood pressure never have it. People with diabetes mellitus, gout or kidney disease are more likely to have high blood pressure, too.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is often characterized as the silent killer–and for good reason. Although it affects an estimated one in five North Americans, many people don’t experience any symptoms. As a result, less than one-quarter of sufferers actually receive treatment. Left untreated, however, it can severely damage the cardiovascular system, leading to death from stroke, heart attack or kidney failure. Most high blood pressure patients are candidates for medications, including ACE inhibitors, beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers and diuretics. However, statistics show that of the 20 to 30 million individuals diagnosed with high blood pressure, less than half stay on their medication for more than one year. Moreover, 60 per cent of those who lower their medication do so because of side-effects. Given this information, the use of nutritional and botanical supplements, along with the adoption of a healthier lifestyle, can be of immense benefit in fighting this hidden killer. Lifestyle and Dietary Approaches

If you wish to either prevent or treat high blood pressure, changing how you eat, sleep, and respond to stress are very important considerations. In the eight-week DASH trial conducted by the Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in 1997, 70 percent of volunteers who eliminated meat and sugar, decreased unhealthy fat intake, and increased fruit and vegetable consumption decreased blood pressure to below 140/90 mm/Hg compared to just 45 percent of those who only ate more fruits and vegetables. Individuals with high blood pressure should decrease sodium intake to approximately three grams per day and add at least four daily servings of foods rich in potassium (beans, spinach, melon, potatoes, tomatoes, bananas, avocados). Decreasing sodium intake alone has reduced blood pressure by 8.4 mm/Hg systolic and 4.4 mm/Hg diastolic. Moreover, alcohol intake should be reduced to less than two drinks per day. Research has shown that a shift from five to two drinks daily can decrease blood pressure by 8 mm/Hg systolic and 4.4 mm/Hg diastolic. A structured exercise program is another important factor. In one study, an average weight reduction of 4.5 kg by individuals who were 10 to 65 per cent overweight led to a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure after just six months. In addition, stopping smoking is a must for anyone diagnosed with hypertension.

Stress Management and Sleep

Those with high blood pressure need to employ stress management and relaxation techniques. This concept was investigated by Dr. D. Shapiro and associates from the department of psychiatry and bio behavioural sciences at the University Of California Los Angeles School Of Medicine. Individuals with a mild to moderate increase in blood pressure were given blood pressure-lowering medications and then divided at random into two groups. One group performed simple stress management techniques, while the other did not. Remarkably, 55 percent of those who employed stress-reducing strategies were able to remain medication free, compared to only 30 percent in the control group, as found after a one-year follow-up examination. A good night’s sleep is also important. Researchers from the University of Pavia in Italy found that high blood pressure patients deprived of sleep had significant increases in blood pressures and heart rates, especially during the evening. CoQ10, Magnesium and Fish Oil

Several supplements have proven to be of great value in the fight against hypertension. One is coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), or ubiquinone. One study of 18 patients with high blood pressure concluded that 100 milligrams of CoQ10 daily for 10 weeks lowered systolic and diastolic blood pressure by 10.6 and 7.7 mm/Hg respectively. In addition to CoQ10, 480 mg of magnesium oxide daily for two months decreased blood pressure on average by 2.5 mm/Hg systolic and 1.4 mm/Hg diastolic over 24 hours in individuals with mild to moderate hypertension. (Those employing magnesium therapy are cautioned that this may lead to episodes of diarrhea.) Fish oils rich in the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA are also helpful adjuncts in the control of blood pressure. Individuals with mild increases in blood pressure were given either two grams of EPA and 1.4 g of DHA from fish oil (approximately 12 1,000-mg capsules of an 18 percent EPA/12 percent DHA mixture) or a placebo every day for four months. After only eight weeks, blood pressure was reduced by 6 mm/Hg systolic and 5 mm/Hg diastolic. Individuals wishing to try this high-dose fish oil approach should also increase vitamin E intake to 800 IU per day. Garlic and Reishi Mushroom

For those with mild to moderate elevations in blood pressure, garlic and reishi mushroom may be of value. The use of standardized garlic (Allium sativum) supplements at a dose of up to 900 mg per day for 12 to 16 weeks decreases both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in individuals with moderate elevations in blood pressure. In fact, one study concluded that garlic supplements decreased standing diastolic pressure from 101 to 90 mm/Hg and systolic pressure from 171 to 150 mm/Hg after 12 weeks. Unlike garlic, the use of reishi mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum or Ling zhi in Chinese) in the treatment of hypertension is not well recognized. However, the conclusions of a recent trial suggest that it may be another helpful, natural, blood pressure-lowering agent. Fifty-five individuals on anti-hypertensive medications with moderate increases in blood pressure were given either 55 mg of concentrated reishi mushroom extract or a placebo, three times a day for one month. Unlike the 14 individuals in the placebo group, those taking the concentrated mushroom extract had a significant reduction in blood pressure. In conclusion, high blood pressure is a serious problem that affects one in four adults. It is important that individuals afflicted with this problem adopt a healthy lifestyle that includes quitting smoking, reducing stress, eating better, losing weight and increasing exercise. These changes, along with the judicious use of supplements and herbal therapies, can help combat this silent killer.

Alistrol Natural Supplement

Alistrol is a patented, proprietary blend of natural ingredients that have been used for centuries to help support healthy blood pressure. Use Alistrol everyday to help maintain healthy circulation and support cardio-vascular health. Time-tested for safety, the herbal extracts in Alistrol have no known side effects.

Studies confirm this unique blend of natural ingredients support healthy heart function. Helps maintain healthy arteries, helps support blood flow and central and peripheral vascular circulation. Furthermore, Alistrol helps maintain blood flow to the heart and supports healthy blood pressure in the pulmonary artery and all arteries in general.

What is Blood Pressure?

Blood pressure is simply the pressure of blood against the walls of the main arteries. Two readings, systolic (when the heart is contracting) and diastolic (when the heart is relaxing), are measured by a device that records pressure changes in millimetres of mercury (mm/Hg). Various factors–age, stress, diet, exercise–will affect the readings. The following chart shows a continuum of blood pressure values including both healthy and unhealthy states.

Blood pressure

Systolic

Diastolic

Ideal

Less than 120 mm/Hg

Less than 80 mm/Hg

Mild hypertension

140 to 159 mm/Hg

90 to 99 mm/Hg

Moderate hypertension

160 to 179 mm/Hg

100 to 109 mm/Hg

Severe hypertension

More than 180 mm/Hg

More than 110 mm/Hg

High blood pressure could suffer you very much as it can lead you plenty of diseases such as heart attack, renal diseases and so on. To protect is the best choice of us. Anyway if you are having high blood pressure problem, do not be worry as there are many high blood pressure treatments.
Many people are diagnosed these days with high blood pressure problem, which is a direct reflection on an unhealthy lifestyle that we tend to lead. With companies pushing employees to do more and more, annual raises getting less and less, and the threat of unemployment if you push back, it is no wonder that high blood pressure problem is a common ailment that people complain about.
There are many blood pressure treatments; you should really consider natural remedies, as well as a lifestyle change, to more effectively combat this problem. Based on the effectiveness shown, even doctors and researchers are beginning to lean in this direction.
A balanced diet is the one choice of high blood treatment which if done correctly, will lower your blood pressure and ease the problem of high blood pressure. There are a variety of foods that is natural high blood treatment. Foods like fish with high levels of omega-3 fatty acids all play a role in dilating blood vessels, relaxing muscles, and overall allowing more efficient blood flow in your body.
Vegetables are also good for a high blood pressure treatment and vegetarians have strikingly lower blood pressure. Vegetables should preferably be taken raw. If they are cooked, it should be ensured that their natural juices are not burnt in the process of cooking. Vegetables like cucumber, carrot, tomato, onion, radish, cabbage and spinach are best taken in their raw form. The intake of salt should be restricted; in any case it should not be taken more than four grams or half a teaspoon a day. Baking powder, containing sodium carbonate, should also be avoided.
Garlic is regarded as one of the most effective high blood pressure treatment. The pressure and tension are reduced because it has the power to ease the spasm of the small arteries. Garlic also slows the pulse and modifies the heart rhythm, besides relieving the symptoms of dizziness, numbness, and shortness of breath and the formation of gas within the digestive tract. The average dosage should be two to three capsules a day to make a dent in the blood pressure.
The use of olive oil in diet may support high blood pressure treatment. Middle aged men with high blood pressure a few years ago concluded that the amount of monounsaturated fat in three tablespoons of olive oil a day could lower systolic pressure about nine points and diastolic pressure about six points. More remarkable, a study found that a mere two-thirds of a tablespoon of olive oil daily reduced blood pressure by about five systolic points and four diastolic points in men.
For high blood pressure and stress, you may also want to consider the health and medical benefits of aromatherapy, as an alternative way of high blood pressure treatment, which not only helps with your mental state to relax you, but has also been proven to help from a medical perspective.
So the high blood pressure treatments mostly include a mix of medication and a disciplined lifestyle. Here it must be noted that none of high blood pressure treatment will work if taken independently. Someone with high blood pressure treatment needs to follow the prescriptions punctually meanwhile adopting a health lifestyle marked by a controlled diet and regular workout or physical exercise.
Finally, one must also realize that an existing issue of high blood pressure could be aggravated by activities like smoking, drinking, and medicines containing steroids. Therefore, high blood pressure treatment is to take care to avoid such things as well from one’s daily activities.

Do not be caught out because of a failure to appreciate the connection between salt and hypertension.

Salt is a very important element in our diet and has been in use for many thousands of years as both a preservative and to give added taste to our food. Indeed, in spite of the fact that many people in the West take it for granted, in a significant number of countries it is a major economic commodity and many readers will no doubt remember the important role played by salt in bringing British rule in India to and end in the middle of the last century.

Unfortunately however salt can also be a major contributory factor when it comes to the problem of high blood pressure.

Salt is a compound composed of sodium and chloride and when we are considering high blood pressure it is the quantity of sodium we eat that needs to be watched.

Initially it may seem that controlling your salt intake is merely a question of monitoring the quantity of salt which you put into your food while you are cooking and which you add to your food at the table. But, the true problem rests in the fact that most of the salt in our diet is found in the processed foods which most of us purchase and eat every day.

To ensure that you minimize your risk of high blood pressure you should keep your intake of salt under the government’s recommended daily consumption figure of 2,400 milligrams and here are just a few tips to help you do just that:

� Do not put salt on the|Remove salt from your} table. As long as you are getting a properly balanced diet your food will contain enough salt without any need to add more while eating, so simply remove the salt from your table.

� Learn how to to read food labels. Food labeling laws and most foods now carry nutritional information including the quantity of sodium which the food in question contains. You need to read the label very carefully though as often the sodium figure shown will apply to the whole pack or tin and sometimes it will apply to a single serving.

� Buy sodium free or low sodium products. An increasing range of foods today come in sodium free or low sodium options and, where possible, you should choose these over the regular product.

� Purchase low salt snacks. The majority of us like to snack but try to stick to things such as vegetables and fruit and, if you cannot live without your crisps, purchase varieties which are low in sodium or salt free.}

Why is there so much High Blood Pressure Medicine? The short answer to this one is that there are so many people and we are all different in our diagnosis and they way we react to the different types of treatment on offer. Everyone rightly so is scared of conditions like Heart Attacks and wants to ensure that they don’t occur.
There have been tremendous improvements in the way Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure and other cardiovascular conditions are being treated nowadays and this is by and large down to the wide variety of medicines on offer.
We have long moved on from the “one size fits all” society and Doctors realise what works for one man might not work as well for the next man. The treatment for Heart Disease and High Blood Pressure has moved from being the “death sentence” it once was to taking on much more of a preventative approach to these conditions.
Though it may seem that there are a great many drugs in use to treat High Blood Pressure and Heart Disease, the actual fact is they all belong to a few main categories of drugs. The drugs within each category may appear to the initiated as similar but you can be assured that the minor variations are extremely important when it comes to treating different people.
One single Drug may have several different names, the first of which is its official name the generic name. After that we are into the realms of the free market economy with the same drug being marketed and sold under one or more brand names the proprietary name.
Every now and then you will get two drugs within the same delivery mechanism i.e. tablet and in this case there will be just one single name.
The drugs now in use are effective because they are so powerful and precise. You really do have to know what it is exactly that you are taking, why you are taking it, how to take it and what effects it will have on you.
The main categories of Drugs used to treat Heart Disease; High Blood Pressure etc are as follows:
ACE Inhibitors and Angiotensin II antagonists
Anti-Arrhythmic drugs
Anti coagulants
Aspirin (and other anti platelets drugs
Beta-Blockers
Calcium Channel Blockers (Calcium antagonists)
Cholesterol (lipid)-lowering drugs
Diuretics
Nitrates
Potassium channel activators
Thrombolytic drugs (Clot busters).
There are other minor drugs used in the general treatment of High Blood Pressure but the above selections are the main types of medicine in use today.

Pssst, want to positively do something about your High Blood Pressure? Get yourself a pooch and walk it!
Seriously, this is not a wind up nor is it a reverse promotion for the Canine Defence League (or whatever). It is genuine recommendation for those who suffer with High Blood Pressure and want to do something positive about it in a natural manner.
I suffer from High Blood Pressure. I keep banging on about it in a number of articles because in a great many ways (mine probably included if I am brutally honest), something can be done about and it may (note MAY, not DEFINITELY) have been avoidable.
But I digress; this article is about what can be done about High Blood Pressure (HBP or Hypertension) not about how I managed to get it.
There are two options to consider when you are diagnosed with High Blood Pressure.
Firstly you can sit there and go “Woe is me, how many tablets do I have to take and at what part in the proceedings will impotence hit me?” Us guys like to get our priorities right ?
Secondly you can sit up, re evaluate how you got into that position in the first place and then try and see if you can do something about it. The latter path is the one yours truly decided upon and hence we find ourselves discussing the merits and relative advantages of getting a mutt!
In my case the BP readings were fairly high (try 216 over 160! 120 over 80, god how I used to fantasise about that) and as such Drug therapy was the immediate no brainer in the first instance but once that came under control and the levels dropped it was possible to look at other complimentary measures to run alongside the tablets.
One year down the line from my initial diagnosis and the BP levels were manageable, I had managed to lose some weight. I could have lost the weight sooner but my self discipline for diets has always been awful but again, I digress.
Increased exercise was the next part of the rehabilitation plan and though I had always been keen on walking and getting outside for exercise, again my lousy self discipline always managed to get in the way of any constructive resolution.
This whole narrative might sound like the immediate problem was my own lack of self will and discipline and in many ways that is true. I admire those fanatical enthusiasts who can be seen pounding the streets at 6.30 am every day before they go off to work. My own view on this has always been to try and incorporate some form of longer lasting therapy that in my case was more self sustainable allowing for my own weaknesses.
Now the question may be asked at this point is how serious was I about getting my HBP down and under manageable levels? I have never been more serious about anything else in my life as to be totally honest I am not too wild about departing this mortal coil well before my anointed time.
My own view on this whole exercise was that my “anti HBP regime” had to be able to be sustainable AND scaleable therefore meaning that the lifestyle / approach would still be on track if I found myself laid up with any form of illness and /or accident.
So, increased exercise as well as change of diet, eating, work habits etc was the order of the day.
Hence we find our self with the situation with a dog. Having lived with dogs all throughout my childhood, I was aware of the companionship that my son would feel if we had one for our family but also I was keenly aware of the responsibility that comes along with having a dog!
They need feeding, looking after and……plenty of exercise.
Now we are the proud owners of a Black Labrador / Border collie first cross 50 lbs of fun, fur and mayhem called Elmo. He specialises in all of the things that dogs do best. He eats as much as he can get his paws on, he then makes sure that as much as possible is then manufactured out the other end as often as possible and in the most inconsiderate of places! He chews anything and everything he can get his jaws round, nothing is safe, nothing is sacred and one of these days my eight year old son will get the message not to leave toys lying around the place unattended.
Lastly he is demanding about being taken out and this is where we find the missing link in my Anti HBP Therapy! As the day goes by his whole demeanour and attitude becomes more intense until finally if you haven’t got the hint by evening time he enters into what can only be described by US Sports Commentators as his “Hurry up Offence”. He comes and sits in front of you, rests his head on your legs and doesn’t move. He just looks at you with that expression that makes it perfectly clear that either it is exercise time or he is going to leave large amounts of canine saliva all over your trousers, shorts, anything in fact that you happen to be wearing at the time!
With a persuasive argument like that it is difficult to refuse and hence I find my High Blood Pressure reducing to manageable proportions, my weight dropping and I am also now in the position of being able to review and reduce (in certain cases) the level of medication that I need to help control my blood pressure.
All by and large down to getting a pooch!
Now if I could do something about the chewing….next time he destroys the Satellite remote (again), he gets it……..

“Keeping just a few pounds off can significantly affect your risk of getting high blood pressure or diabetes,” says cardiovascular health expert Lawrence Appel at the John Hopkins School of Medicine. Most Americans don’t realize how simple modifications can tack on an extra ten years to their lives.
It was previously assumed that if you had heart attacks and congestive heart failure in your family, then you were doomed and if your genetic slate was clean, then you’d be fine. However, health experts are finding that long hours, high stress and sloppy lifestyle habits are contributing to a rise in patients suffering from hypertension.
Over at the Harvard School of Medicine, researchers have developed a dietary program known as “DASH,” an acronym for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. The DASH diet includes: 8 grain servings, 5 vegetable servings, 2-3 low fat dairy servings, 1-2 servings of meat, poultry or fish and 5 servings per week of nuts, seeds or beans.
Saturated fats and sugars should be limited and serving sizes generally run 1/2 cup cooked, 1 cup raw or 2 tbsp nuts and seeds. Exercise is crucial! Within just two weeks, the diet already began having an effect on Dr. Gabe Mirkin’s patients, with 70% returning to normal blood pressure levels. He says that increasing minerals like magnesium, calcium and potassium had a strong impact, as did limiting fat and sodium. The diet triggers a diuretic effect, much like certain medications that work to “flush the system.”
In addition to the DASH Diet, certain “super foods” and supplements give high blood pressure sufferers high hopes for recovery. Several studies show the effectiveness of Q10, a coenzyme that reduces both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, as well as fish oil supplements that pack the body with the necessary omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids it needs to perform better. Traditional Chinese medicine recommends garlic, chestnuts, turnips, honey, Chinese celery, hawthorn berries and mung beans to decrease high blood pressure.
Thirty minutes of moderate-intense exercise at least four days per week is the official 2003 American Heart Association standard for optimal heart health. For people who may not be able to meet strenuous standards, walking for three ten-minute intervals per day is recommended.
Additionally, yoga is a good low-impact exercise that decreases stress and may also help reverse high blood pressure. Many Americans find that treadmills and bicycles are their best allies when it comes to an enjoyable workout they can stick to.

As we know, high blood pressure is the force of your blood pushing against your arteries. When your heart has to work harder than normal to pump blood through your circulation system it causes damage to the heart and arteries, increasing your risk of heart attack and stroke. Therefore managing blood pressure becomes a very important factor not only for high blood pressure sufferers, but everyone to protect against heart disease and stroke.In the last article we discussed how to control high blood pressure in a general approach. In this article we will try to give some details of how to control high blood pressure with nutrition supplements.Study shows that the following might help to lower your high blood pressure and protect you against heart disease and stroke.1. PotassiumThe adequate potassium intake from fruits and vegetables can lower blood pressure. Unfortunately the body can not store potassium without magnesium. In the presence of adequate amounts of both potassium and magnesium, they increase the excretion of sodium and decrease high blood pressure.2. 3-n-butyl-phthalideA dose of the 3-n-butyl- phthalide compound is equivalent to four stalks of celery. In humans they lower blood pressure by an average of 13 percent.3. Hawthorn extractHerbalists recognized early that hawthorn held great promise for helping heart related problems such as congestive heart failure, cardiovascular system, circulatory system, and high blood pressure.4. Vitamin EPeople with high blood pressure need to increase their daily intake of vitamin E. Study shows that over a period of a month, a gradual increase of vitamin E dosage can yield a lower blood pressure5. Coenzyme Q10CoQ10 significantly reduces systolic and diastolic blood pressure. There is also a reduction in HbA1C, a marker for long-term glycemic control.6. Folic acidFolate is a vitamin B that is necessary for the formation of red blood cells. It may help to lower high blood pressure in some people, possibly by reducing elevated homocysteine levels.8.SeleniumSelenium’s primary function in the human body is to work in conjunction with vitamin E in the preservation and elasticity of the tissues. It is also neccessary in the slowing down of the process of aging by increasing endurance and improving the blood and oxygen supply to the heart muscle. The prostoglandins in the human body which protect against high blood pressure cannot be formed without selenium.9. ChromiumChromium reduces blood fat, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure. It also stabilizes blood sugar levels and helps correct insulin resistance10. L-arginineThere are many more supplements that help to expand the arteries, increasing circulation of blood to our body system as well as removing plaques from your arteries therefore lowering your blood pressure. Be sure to talk to your doctor, before taking any supplement.If you want more information of this subject, please visit:

Kyle J. Nortonhttp://healinghighbloodpressure.blogspot.com/http://bestexpertarticles.blogspot.com/