By Pauline Simons
According to the American Heart Association, out of every 3 adults, 1 suffers from high blood pressure taking the number to 85 million people alone in the United States of America. It is a serious health issues that gives birth to many life threatening problems like stroke, heart disease, loss of eyesight and kidney diseases. Hence, just cannot be ignored.
Our lifestyle plays an important role in this. By bringing in a few changes in our lifestyle, we can cure it without any medication. Here are a few steps to control your blood pressure:
1. Lose Excess Weight
Excess weight causes stiffness in the artries, which hinders the flow of blood. An overweight person has to push harder to transfer blood around their body. Extra weight serves as extra baggage on the body. Hence, maintain your waistline between 35 to 40 inches to remain healthy.
2. Eat Healthy Fruits And Vegetables
Have at least 5 to 10 varieties of colorful vegetables and fruits in your daily routine. A vegetable like celery contains phytochemicals that relax the muscle tissue in the arteries and increase blood flow leading to low blood pressure. Eat fresh veggies and fruits, they have more nutritional value. Increase intake of flavonoid enriched fruits like blueberries to cure hypertension and lower the blood pressure.
3. Increase Intake Of Minerals Like Calcium, Magnesium And Potassium
Minerals like calcium and magnesium play a vital role in controlling blood pressure. You can also opt for supplements like Hypercet Blood Pressure Formula which has calcium, sodium and other essential minerals in it to help you control your cholesterol level and blood pressure. Potassium and calcium relax the blood vessels and provide protection against muscle cramping. A better ratio of potassium and sodium helps in getting rid of excess sodium through urine and lowers the blood pressure. Potatoes, bananas are good sources of potassium.
4. Increase Intake Of Dairy Products
Dairy products like butter, cheese have calcium and vitamin K2. They cure hypertension and high blood pressure. K2 reduces the vascular stiffness. As we all know calcium is important for our bones and K2 ensures that the calcium is deposited in our bones and not in the arteries where it can cause vascular stiffness and calcification, which can cause heart diseases. Grass fed-ghee is a very important source of K2.
5. Drink Tea
Avoid intake of caffeinated tea because it increases the blood pressure. There are different types of teas especially made to control blood pressure. Opt for the tea that is rich in flavonoids, minerals and other nutrients. A tea rich in antioxidants help in expansion of blood vessel that leads to good blood flow. So, we should find a good tea for our regular intake.
6. Reduce Consumption Of Saturated Fats And Oil
Fats are usually high in calories and intake of more calories can increase weight. Oil raises your cholesterol level and increased cholestrol leads to stroke and heart diseases.
7. Lower Down Your Salt Intake
A higher intake of salt increases the amount of sodium in the body, that wrecks the body balance. It reduces the ability of the kidneys to remove water and creates extra fluid inside the body that generates pressure on the blood vessels leading to high blood pressure. Choose beverages that are low in sodium. Eat natural sodium enriched food.
8. Include Exercises In Your Daily Regime
Exercising 30 min per day can make you less prone to blood pressure. You need not to go to the gym, small activities like climbing stairs, walking, jogging, swimming, dancing can be added to your daily fitness programme. Performing them on a daily basis makes your heart stronger and will result in good blood flow throughout the body.
9. Limit The Amount Of Alcohol.
Intake of alcohol in 14 units a week keeps health risks low. But contrary to that if you increase the amount of alcohol it will raise blood pressure because it contains calories that lead to increased weight, causing high blood pressure.
10. Cut Down Your Sugar Intake
Sugar intake raises the level of insulin and leptin that results in increased blood pressure. So cutting down fructose/sugar intake should be your first step. A study indicated that it can raise your blood pressure from 5 to 7mmHg. Avoid direct intake of sugary products, instead go for natural ones like honey.
Other than these you should include power walks in your daily routine. It helps in lowering the blood pressure from 8mmHg over 6mmHg. Deep breathing also helps in decreasing stress hormone and elevate rennin that causes high blood pressure. Intake of dark chocolate is good because it contains flavanol that makes blood vessels elastic which leads to an effective flow of blood throughout the body. Learn to manage stress, hear soft music it will relax your nervous system. If you are a smoker then you should quit smoking immediately. Use supplements only if necessary to control your blood pressure otherwise go for natural treatment.
The Parting Thought
High blood pressure affects most of the population, we should try to cure it naturally instead of depending on supplements. We need to take good care of our body to reduce the risk of high/low blood pressure. Eat what is right for your body, do physical exercises like jogging, running, cycling and swimming. Other than that, remember the above mentioned points to keep monitoring your blood pressure at home. Take a regular visit to a doctor, stay positive and have a support group to motivate you all the time.