Tuesday, June 24, 2014

4. How to lower your blood pressure naturally


Many people are anxious to lower their blood pressure. They want to do it quickly and naturally. The need for lowering blood pressure cannot be overemphasized.

Hypertension, another name for high blood pressure affects a sizeable proportion of the population everywhere in the world and particularly in the United States, where fast food culture and indisciplined way of living prevails widely.

It is estimated that about 30 percent of the US adult population is suffering from the effects of high blood pressure. That is to say, one out of three adults has to cope with the problem of blood pressure.

Though hypertension may not cause much agony, it is a condition that has to be treated without delay. High blood pressure can lead to heart diseases.  Considering that heart attack is one of the leading causes of death in the US, high blood pressure should not be left untreated.

Hypertension is called a silent killer because while not appearing to cause much discomfort to the person suffering from this health condition,
  it quietly leads to development of lethal problems like heart attack, stroke etc.

Is it possible to lower blood pressure naturally? Even if this were possible, can this be done quickly. These are the issues we need to address. Fortunately, there are ways lowering the blood pressure naturally and these methods will deliver quick results as well.

However, please remember that natural methods are no substitute for professional medical treatment. These natural methods are to be followed under the guidance of a medical professional.

The two most effective natural methods are given below:

1. The DASH Diet

DASH is the acronym for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. A DASH diet restricts intake of Sodium . While a normal American diet consists of 3500 mg of Sodium per day, a DASH diet drastically reduces the intake of Sodium to 1500 mg per day.

The reduction in the consumption of Sodium can have a salutary effect on blood pressure. Blood pressure levels are brought down to acceptable levels within 2 weeks by regular intake of the DASH diet.

By bringing about this effect, the DASH diet not only matches the performance of anti-hypertension drugs but also scores over them in terms of safety and additional benefits. A DASH diet in addition to bringing about a reduction in blood pressure level also reduces the risk of obesity, cancer, osteoporosis and diabetes.

DASH dieters are predominantly made of whole grains, vegetables, legumes and fruits. A DASH diet can have small quantities of  lean animal products are but otherwise contain little fat, caffeine, alcohol or processed sugar.

2. Change in  Lifestyle

Research has shown that certain health conditions like obesity can lead to high blood pressure. Since primary hypertension, of which  about 95% blood pressure patients are afflicted has no identifiable cause, a change in lifestyle can go a long way in lowering blood pressure, by removing the contributory causes like obesity etc.

Many people follow a sedentary lifestyle with very little exercise. If people can become more active by making themselves physically more active, the blood pressure levels can be brought down.

Experiments have shown that shifting from a sedentary way of living to a physically active lifestyle by adopting simple strategies like more walking, doing simple exercises, restricting eating etc. brings down blood pressure levels significantly. However, this takes some time and sustained efforts.


If you become physically more active, then you will have your body fat reduced. This in turn will reduce the risk of hypertension.

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