As high blood pressure sufferers it pays dividends in terms of our health to know what risk factors we can control and those that we cannot. Our age and genetic make-up are obviously beyond our control; however, following these seven steps will lead us along the drug free road to the heaven of not having hypertension:
Step 1: Have a healthy diet
Diet pays a central role in controlling our blood pressure. What we eat can either send our BP readings soaring or it can reduce them. Having a healthy diet that is rich in a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, vitamins and minerals will help is control our weight and send our blood pressure plummeting. It will rapidly head the other way if our diet is high in saturated fats and processed foods.
Step 2: Reduce salt consumption
Salt (sodium) is essential to our bodies. Normally our kidneys control the level of salt. If we eat too much salt, our kidneys pass it into urine. But when our salt intake levels are very high, our kidneys cannot keep up and the salt ends up in our bloodstream. Salt attracts water. When we have too much salt in our blood, the salt draws more water into the blood increasing the volume of blood and raising our hypertension.
Processed foods use salt as an additive. More than 70% of the average person’s daily salt intake comes from foods that have been processed in some way. Restricting the amount of processed foods we eat and not adding any extra salt to our food would help to eliminate the excess salt in our diets.
Step 3: Lose weight
Half of all hypertensives are overweight. If we are 20 percent overweight (obese), we are eight times more likely to suffer from hypertension than someone of normal weight. According to research presented at the 2009 Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, obese patients taking medications to lower their blood pressure and cholesterol levels are less likely to reach recommended targets for these cardiovascular disease risk factors than their normal weight counterparts.
Losing weight can dramatically bring our blood pressure down to normal levels. Shedding a few kilograms, even without reaching our ideal weight, is still worthwhile since reducing our hypertension by just a few points can decrease the risk of us having a heart attack or a stroke and may also reduce the amount of antihypertensive medications we may need.
Step 4: Become more active
Kicking our sedentary lifestyle into touch has double benefits for our condition. Firstly, when combined with a healthy calorie controlled diet, it helps us to lose weight. As we have seen above there is a direct correlation between our weight and the risk of us developing hypertension. Secondly, our blood pressure is lowered for almost the entire day when we participate in cardiovascular exercise.
Step 5: Drink less alcohol
Heavy drinkers are more likely to have hypertension than those of us who abstain or only drink in moderation. There are a lot of calories in alcohol that often end up around our waistline from where it is especially difficult to get rid of. It is the extra weight we are carrying that elevates our blood pressure.
The association between alcohol and high blood pressure is a dose-related phenomenon. In other words, the more alcohol that we consume the stronger is the link with hypertension.
Step 6: Stop smoking
We all know that smoking tobacco products is bad for our health. The connection with hypertension is that the nicotine in cigarettes and other tobacco products causes our blood vessels to constrict and our heart to beat faster, which temporarily raises our blood pressure. The real danger is that in the longer term smoking increases the formation of fatty deposits in our arteries. These fatty deposits eventually restrict our blood circulation elevating our blood pressure levels and increasing the risk of us having a heart attack or stroke.
Step 7: Relax
While stress and tension do not cause hypertension, they may make an existing condition worse. Experiments have demonstrated that techniques such as biofeedback, self-hypnosis and meditation have proved useful for relieving stress and can help us to lower our high blood pressure, if only for a few hours; the but it all helps!
The common element in all of these risk factors for hypertension is that they are our lifestyle choices. We can choose another way; a better way, the way to normal blood pressure without using drugs. Click Here if you want to reduce your high blood pressure naturally. http://how-to-lower-your-blood-pressure.com
