If you are suffering from pre-hypertension or high blood pressure, you might be considering about taking medication to lower your blood pressure numbers down.
Whereas medication can reduce your blood pressure, but it can have side effects such as leg cramps, dizziness and insomnia. Luckily, in many cases one can lower blood pressure naturally without taking any medicines.
It is important to control blood pressure, as the uncontrolled high blood pressure may damage organs in your body and enhance the risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and vision loss.
Lifestyle changes and natural home remedies can help in treating your prehypertension or high blood pressure. If you successfully control your blood pressure with a healthy lifestyle and / or natural remedies, you may be able to avoid, delay or reduce the need for medication.
Home Remedies For High Blood Pressure Without Taking Any Medication
By following these high blood pressure natural home remedies, you can lower your blood pressure and keep it consistently under control without taking any medication.
1. Loss Extra Weight And Watch your Waistline: This is one of the most effective natural ways to lower high blood pressure. It has been found that rise in blood pressure is correlated with weight increase. Reducing your weight by just 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) can help lower your blood pressure. As a result, the more weight you lose, the lower your blood pressure will be. Reducing your weight will also cause the blood pressure medication, which you are taking, work more effectively. Discuss with your doctor to fix your target weight and the best way to attain it. Besides shedding extra pounds, reducing your waist line also help in controlling your blood pressure significantly. Carrying too much weight around your waist is one of the main reasons to suffer from high blood pressure.
2. Exercise Regularly – A Home Remedy For High Blood Pressure: Indulge in regular physical activity – at least 30-45 minutes a day – to reduce your blood pressure by 4 to 9 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). This natural remedy does not take long to make a positive impact. Increasing your exercise level will reduce blood pressure within just a couple of weeks.
Exercise is a great natural way to reduce blood pressure. If you are having prehypertension only – systolic pressure between 120 and 139 or diastolic pressure between 80 and 89 – exercise can save you from developing your prehypertension into full-blown hypertension. And if you already have high blood pressure, regular exercise / physical activity help to lower your blood pressure within safer limits.
It is recommended that you discuss with your doctor about formulating a suitable exercise plan. Your doctor will advise you about any exercise restrictions if you need to have. Sometimes even moderate physical activity, such as walking for 10 minutes or just light strength training, can bring down your high blood pressure.
Caution: Do not try to work-out strenuously on week-ends to compensate for your weekdays inactivity. Such sudden burst of physical activity can harm you instead of helping.
Tip – A Natural Remedy For High Blood Pressure : Go for power walks. Such fitness walks at a brisk pave reduce blood pressure by almost 8 mm Hg over 6 mm Hg.
3. Eat A Heart Healthy Diet – : Adopt Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Diet plan. Researches have been carried out to show that DASH diet can lower the risk of developing, as well as lowering an already elevated blood pressure. DASH diet plan consists of whole grains, fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products, poultry, fish and nuts and spares saturated fats, red meats, sweets and sugared beverages. Such a heart healthy diet can lower your blood pressure by up to 12 mm Hg.
However, DASH diet is particularly effective if you are obese or overweight.
Another research study in Australia has observed that a diet that is low in calories and saturated fats and high in whole grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables can delay the onset of high blood pressure and high glucose related to age.
4. Reduce Salt / Sodium Intake: Even a reduction of small amount of salt in your diet can lower your blood pressure by 2 to 8 mm Hg. Choose foods that are lower in salt and sodium content. The National Institute of Health recommends intake of less than 2.3 g (2,300 mg) of sodium a day. It is equivalent to one teaspoon of table salt per day. Reducing sodium intake will work better if you increase consumption of potassium.
Here are some tips for reducing salt / sodium consumption:
(i) Limit sodium intake maximum up to 2,000 milligrams (mg) a day.
(ii) For people of 51 years age or older and individuals of any age who are African-American or who have hypertension, diabetes or chronic kidney disease, a lower sodium level consumption of 1,500 mg or less a day is recommended.
(iii) Read food labels before you buy or eat. Select low-sodium alternatives of the foods and beverages you normally buy.
(iv) Substitute a part of your salt consumption with alternative herbs or spices, to add flavor to your foods.
(v) Avoid processed foods, junk foods and fried foods. Say no-no to potato chips, frozen dinners, bacon and processed meats, as they are high in sodium.
(vi) You may find it difficult to reduce salt in your diet suddenly. Try to cut it down gradually. Your palate will adjust over time.
(vii) Consider keeping a diary to track how much salt you are consuming a day in your diet.
(viii) Potassium can ease off the effects of sodium on your blood pressure. The best source of potassium is food instead of supplements, such as fruits and vegetables. Best sources of potassium-rich foods include sweet potatoes, tomatoes, orange juice, potatoes, bananas, kidney beans, peas, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, and dried fruits such as prunes and raisins.
5. Moderate The Amount Of Your Alcohol Consumption: Alcohol can work both ways – it is both good and bad for your health, depending upon how much, when and how you drink. If you drink in small amounts, it can possibly reduce your blood pressure by 2 to 4 mm Hg. But if you drink too much – generally more than 1 drink a day for women and men older than age 65, or more than 2 drinks a day for men age 65 and younger – then its blood pressure lowering benefit is lost. That is why, if you drink alcohol more than the moderate amounts, your blood pressure can spurt up by several points. Too much of its consumption can also reduce the effectiveness of the high blood pressure medication that you are taking.
Caution:
(i) In case you don’t drink alcohol normally, you should not try to start drinking it as a remedy to lower your blood pressure, as there are possibly more harms than any significant benefits by drinking it.
(ii) Avoid binge drinking that is having 4 or more drinks in a row. Binge drinking can raise your blood pressure suddenly by several points, in addition to other harms to your health.
(iii) A word of caution for heavy drinkers. If the heavy drinkers suddenly stop all alcohol consumption, it can actually trigger extreme high blood pressure conditions for several days. The heavy drinkers should reduce their consumption gradually, over one or two weeks and then if they desire – they can eventually stop it or indulge in moderate drinking only.
6. Avoid Tobacco Products And Secondhand Smoke: Smoking is not only harmful for your health, the nicotine in tobacco can increase your blood pressure by even 10 mm Hg or more for up to one hour after you smoke. And for those who smoke throughout the day, their blood pressure remains consistently high.
Even the secondhand smoke is harmful. Inhaling smoke from others not only puts you at risk of many health problems, but raises your blood pressure and can harm your heart as well.
7. Cut Down On Your Caffeine Intake: Caffeine intake can lead to a temporary but marked hike in blood pressure. The scientists still debate about the effects of caffeine on your blood pressure.
Consuming caffeine drinks cause your blood pressure to hike-up temporarily, but it’s still undetermined whether this effect is temporary or long lasting.
To find out whether caffeine hikes your blood pressure, check it within 20 minutes of consuming a cup of coffee or any other caffeinated drink. In case your blood pressure rises by 5 to 10 points, you may be sensitive to caffeinated beverages for their blood pressure raising effect.
Tips:
(i) The people with high blood pressure can consider cutting down on the consumption of caffeinated beverages.
(ii) Substitute higher-caffeine beverages with green tea, as green tea catechins have been found in some studies to reduce blood pressure.
8. Music – A Natural Way To Lower High Blood Pressure: Music can bring down your blood pressure a bit more than what the medication or lifestyle changes can do alone? The right tunes can help, according to researchers at the University of Florence in Italy. They asked 28 adults who were already taking hypertension pills to listen to soothing classical, Celtic, or Indian music for 30 minutes daily while breathing slowly. After a week, the listeners had lowered their average systolic reading by 3.2 points; a month later, readings were down 4.4 points.
9. Breathing Deeply – A Natural Stress Buster: Slow breathing and meditative practices such as qigong, yoga, and tai chi reduce stress hormones, which elevate renin, a kidney enzyme that raises blood pressure. Try 5 minutes in the morning and at night. Inhale deeply and expand your belly. Exhale and release all of your tension.
10. Monitoring And Follow-up: If you are suffering from prehypertension or hypertension, consider monitoring your blood pressure at home. Consult your doctor about how to monitor it and which device you should use?
To keep regular tabs on your blood pressure, regular visits to your doctor are necessary. For this purpose, you need to have a primary care doctor. Don’t visit a different doctor every time. Try to visit the same health care facility or professional for all your health problems to better control your high blood pressure and all other ailments.
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