Control Your High Blood Pressure Naturally

The blood vessels in our body aid in carrying blood from heart to the body organs and nourishes them with the necessary nutrition. Pressure exerted by blood upon the walls of the blood vessels during the contraction and expansion of heart is known as blood pressure. The standard blood pressure of a healthy person is usually less than 120/80 mmHg.

If the walls of the blood vessels are stiff, it may increase the pressure, which if consistent, is called as high blood pressure or hypertension. In this case, the heart tends to work harder to pump blood to the vessels increasing the blood pressure to as high as 140/100 mmHg. In the long run, the heart muscles may get tired, and hypertrophied due to the additional work. Gradually, the heart may start malfunctioning, as a pumping organ.

Hypertension is called a ‘silent killer’ as it can slowly cause irreversible damage to the body organs. Therefore, people with high blood pressure should receive timely treatment for managing their blood pressure. Most people get to know about their blood pressure level, only during a routine checkup, which is a very unhealthy practice. People, who have high risk of hypertension, should get their blood pressure checked regularly.

Tips to be followed to control blood pressure naturally:

Watch your waistline

Attaining a healthy weight is the first step towards controlling hypertension. Shed your extra pounds, cut down excess fat around your waistline! A gradual decrease in weight can lower the blood pressure to a great extent. So, cut down on calories, increase your physical activity and consume a proper diet to attain a healthy weight.

Work out regularly

Brisk walking can lower your blood pressure by nearly 8 mmHg. It enables the heart to efficiently use oxygen in order to reduce the effort required to pump blood to the body organs. Start working out for at least 30 minutes each day to permanently reduce blood pressure.

Eat right

Have fruits and vegetables every day. The anti-oxidants in fruits and vegetables help scavenge the chemicals that are produced as a byproduct of metabolic reactions. These chemicals, if not eliminated, may harm the body. Add protein and healthy fats such as omega-3 fats to your diet. Fish, walnuts, flax-seeds, and etc. are a rich source of omega-3 fats.

Eliminate the unhealthy food and drinks

Limit your salt intake to 2.5 grams per day. Sodium retention leads to fluid retention, which ultimately raises the blood pressure. Processed food and pickles drastically increase sodium consumption which leads to hypertension. Ideally, the food must be cooked without salt; it should be added at the time of eating, which ultimately limits the amount of salt consumption.

Exposure to sun

It is indeed true that exposure to sun can control your high blood pressure by stimulating the production of vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency can increase the parathyroid hormone levels causing high blood pressure.

Learn to manage stress

There is a crucial connection between stress and blood pressure. Stress hormones can indirectly act on the blood vessels to increase your blood pressure. If you are constantly under stress, the level of the stress hormones rapidly increase, causing a lot of damage to the blood vessels. Measures such as listening to music, singing, dancing, and talking to friends or family members tend to reduce stress and help manage high blood pressure. Practicing yoga and meditation every day can lower your stress hormones.