Millions of people from around the world are experiencing a massive outburst of a huge range of health-related issues. But, high blood pressure, also termed hypertension, is the most severe health condition impacting millions of people worldwide. Recent statistics revealed that about 50% of the U.S. adult population is impacted by this condition. It mainly occurs whenever the force of the blood pushes against the artery walls, leading to serious health issues like heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure. So, to lower blood pressure naturally?
What Is High Blood Pressure?
The majority of adults in the U.S. are facing serious issues of hypertension or high blood pressure, as reported by the American College of Cardiology. It is also termed a silent killer as it does not cause any noticeable symptoms since damage has also been done to the heart. Most individuals are often unaware that they are having high blood pressure without any noticeable symptoms. The AHA or American Heart Association defines a blood pressure reading as less than 120/80 millimeters of mercury than normal. Although medications can help reduce high blood pressure, implementing numerous changes right at home will help minimize it.
Home Remedies for High Blood Pressure
Herbal and food supplements aid in the better control of blood pressure. These supplements are considered along with the right kind of medication for keeping blood pressure under control. Although herbs are not a substitute for tablets, but can help reduce the dose of your blood pressure medications. Following herbal or food supplements have some proof to affect the blood pressure levels. However, it is suggested that you should consult your doctor before you combine them with tablets. Home remedies for high BP prove effective in controlling blood pressure. Let us check out the best home remedies that can keep your blood pressure level in control.
1. Start with an Exercise Routine
The most essential part of living well is to stay active. Regular physical activities will benefit your strength, balance and mood along with aiding to keep your blood pressure low. It will also reduce the risk of diabetes and a few distinctive forms of heart disease. If you have been inactive for a while, then it is important to consult with a doctor about the safest exercise routine. Always start slow then eventually pick up the speed and frequency of the workouts.
If you are not a fan of the gym, then you should exercise at home and even outside. Head out for a walk, swim, or jog to garner the better perks. The most essential thing to do here is to get moving. There are numerous exercise routines you can find on YouTube that are the ideal option for beginners. Low-impact or chair exercises are the ideal ways to keep your body moving. The AHA even recommends using muscle-strengthening activities for about 2 days every week. It can include regular activities like carrying groceries in from your car.
2. Follow the Dash Diet
Changes to your diet will have a notable impact on your heart health. If you are diagnosed with high blood pressure, your provider will mostly make the best dietary recommendations to help keep it under control.
DASH or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension is one of the best dietary approaches, which is the long-term diet pattern streamlined to help lower your blood pressure without any medication.
DASH focuses on a diet higher in plants, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, nuts, poultry, and fish and reduces sweets, red meats, sodas, and ultra-processed foods. Essentially, the DASH diet patterns even recommend restricting sodium intake and keeping it between 1,500-2,300mg per day.
Best Foods for High Blood Pressure
Some of the ideal foods that can help you lower your blood pressure include:
- Whole grains
- Vegetables
- Fruits
- Low-fat dairy products
- Lean meats (including poultry and fish)
- Legumes
- Nuts
- Non-tropical vegetable oils
Foods to Avoid with High Blood Pressure
- Foods that you should limit or avoid when having high blood pressure include:
- Sweets and candy
- Sugar-sweetened beverages (including sodas and certain energy and sweetened coffee drinks)
- Red meat
- Alcohol
3. Maintain a Healthy Weight for Your Body
BMI, or body-mass index, is a simple calculation using the height and weight of a person to generate a numerical indicator used to indicate healthier weight. BMI is beneficial across the population; however, it is the most unreliable indicator of specific health and ignores the current knowledge of the composition of the body.
In reality, data used for creating the BMI included white, Western European men, and according to the report collected in 2011, the BMI fails to accurately detect more than half of obese cases in black, white, and Hispanic women.
BMI is constantly used to categorize a person as underweight, overweight, normal weight, or obese, although medical experts have identified its failings as a health indicator.
It is essential to note that such categories do not drive the complexities of the human body, including age, sex, body fat distribution, lifestyle, and numerous other functional and metabolic qualities.
For these reasons, determining your healthier body weight is not about fitting into the distinctive range or value in the BMI; however, analyze your weight and height under the physical and functional contexts with the help of your provider.
Research has noted that you can control your blood pressure by maintaining a healthier weight and reducing the risk of related health issues.
4. Stress Reduction Techniques
Stress often contributes to elevated blood pressure levels. Incorporating techniques to reduce stress into your daily routines will help in the effective management of hypertension.
Techniques such as meditation, breathing exercises, engaging in hobbies or activities, and yoga can reduce stress while promoting your overall well-being. So, how can you reduce high blood pressure?
Psychologists would focus on the influence of emotions, stress, and the different lifestyle factors impacting high blood pressure.
They would focus on the essence of stress reduction techniques, emotional well-being, and behavioral changes for the effective management of hypertension.
Collaborating with healthcare experts addresses numerous psychological attributes of high blood pressure while promoting overall health.
5. Cut Back on Salt (Sodium)
Americans often consume about 3400+ mg of sodium daily on average, which is more than what is generally recommended for people with higher or elevated levels of blood pressure.
Typically, reducing the impact of salt can help notably reduce blood pressure. On average, individuals reducing the intake of salt reduces their systolic blood pressure by about 2 to 7 points, with diastolic blood pressure by 1 to 3 points.
However, reducing the intake of salt is often more complex than it appears since most Americans need help understanding the amount of salt they are consuming daily.
If you try to reduce the intake of salt then start by keeping a note on the quantity of sodium enlisted on the Nutrition Facts label present on the package foods. Whenever you are buying packaged foods, then, you can watch out for the terms indicating the items with low sodium content.
- Salt/Sodium Free
- Very Low Sodium
- Low Sodium
- Reduced Sodium
- Light in Sodium
- Lightly Salted
Whenever you cook at home, use these items and become conservative with the addition of salt or any other salty condiments and dressing to home-cooked foods. This can effectively reduce your entire intake of sodium.
6. Quit Smoking
If you are a regular smoker, then quitting is one of the highly essential things that you can do to reduce your blood pressure levels. There are numerous ways to quit smoking, and the ideal method involved here varies as it relies on the individual situation. The following are a couple of tips that can help you quit smoking easily.
- Fix a date to quit and stick to it
- Remove and throw away every tobacco product from your home or office
- Avoid the places where people are smoking
- Inform your friends and family that you are quitting so that they can support you.
- Find the best replacement activity that can help take your focus off from smoking, like hobbies or exercises.
If you are experiencing cravings or any other complex symptoms, then always speak to your doctor about the medications to help ease every withdrawal symptom.
7. Limit Alcohol
It is often the best to enjoy a glass of wine with your dinner. Typically red wine would benefit the heart health whenever they are moderately consumed. But, consuming greater amounts of alcohol would lead to a series of health issue that includes high blood pressure.
Excessive consumption of alcohol would minimize the effectiveness of the blood pressure medication. So, what does drinking in moderation mean? As AHA denotes, males should limit their alcohol consumption to about two alcoholic drinks each day. Females should restrict their intake to one alcoholic drink each day.
One drink mainly equals:
- 12 ounces (oz) of beer
- 4 oz of wine
- 1.5 oz of 80-proof liquor
Minimizing the intake of alcohol proves extremely beneficial to your health, as it is never easy. You may opt to consult with a doctor or other healthcare experts about the ideal ways to moderate the levels of alcohol consumption.
8. Try Herbal Remedies
A couple of herbal home remedies, when used with different kinds of lifestyle changes, effectively help manage blood pressure. For instance, research shows that ginger has antihypertensive properties, and green tea helps reduce systolic blood pressure in people with a range of 140 mmHg or more.
The other meta-analysis evaluates the impact of tea drinking on blood pressure and is often found that green tea would aid in reducing both diastolic and systolic blood pressure.
One of the most systematic reviews even found that beetroot juice will help keep the blood pressure under control in healthier and pre-hypertensive people and in people who are diagnosed with high blood pressure who are taking blood pressure medication.
An overall, it is essential to remember that a few of the herbal home remedies are never effective at reducing blood pressure with some of the mentioned lifestyle changes.
9. Reduce Caffeine Consumption
Caffeine mainly enhances blood pressure, and it can be harmful if you are dealing with hypertension. If you have had coffee, then you should have noticed that it effectively boosts the body's energy levels, as this is mainly due to caffeine. But not every person should complain or have issues with consuming coffee.
Caffeine acts as a robust booster; however, people who do not consume coffee daily or have a regular intake of caffeine also have greater chances of being affected by it. If you feel that you are sensitive to caffeine, it will often impact you, so you need to reduce your intake of caffeine.
10. Take Supplements
A few supplements would often help in the effective management of blood pressure, including fish oil and magnesium. But, it is essential to note that the evidence behind taking supplements for reducing blood pressure is never conclusive.
For instance, one of the reviews found that magnesium deficiency became the risk factor for higher blood pressure, and the magnesium supplements resulted in a smaller overall reduction in blood pressure levels.
However, the changes were smaller as magnesium is never recommended for treating blood pressure. A similar review found that fish oil might reduce blood pressure levels whenever employed in higher doses and elevate side effects and safety.
Conclusion
High blood pressure and hypertension are among the growing concerns in the health outlook these days. Unhealthier eating habits and a lack of physical activities increase the risk of heart problems and high blood pressure.
However, these conditions can be controlled and prevented by making smaller changes to your lifestyle and applying these home remedies without having to leave your home.
Regular exercise and changes in eating habits prove to be beneficial in preventing high blood pressure.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Should Be Avoided in High Blood Pressure?
Numerous factors effectively contribute to elevated levels of high blood pressure, including an excessive amount of alcohol intake, activities, and a higher sodium diet. You need to stay active, moderate your intake of alcohol, and avoid consuming processed foods and other high-sodium ingredients that are beneficial.
How Can I Lower My Blood Pressure Immediately?
There are no other ways to reduce blood pressure immediately at home. It would be best if you created a treatment plan with your doctor to reduce blood pressure levels in the long term, which involves making the required dietary changes, exercises, and lifestyle changes.
How To Cure High Blood Pressure in 3 Minutes?
Sadly, you will find no other way to reduce your blood pressure instantly; however, if you are a smoker, then stop smoking to keep your blood pressure levels in control.
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