Over the long term high blood pressure can reduce your quality of life and shorten it considerably. Due to widespread publicity campaigns people are now more mindful of this fact have actively seek to reduce their high blood pressure if they are unlucky enough to have this condition.
The pharmaceutical industry has been a major contributor in the battle to reduce blood pressure producing and distributing a wide range of hypertension medications, such as:
Diuretics which cause your kidneys to release sodium and water in the urine which reduces blood volume and pressure.
Alpha Blockers which block the hormone norepinephrine from tightening muscles around veins and arteries.
ACE (Angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibitors which prevents your body from producing Angiotensin II. (Angiotensin II causes our blood vessels to narrow)
Central-acting agents which affect that part of your brain that speeds up heart rate and constrict blood vessels, creating, in theory, the opposite effect of slower heart beat and relaxed blood vessels.
Calcium channel blockers which inhibit calcium ions from entering the heart's cell and muscles surrounding blood vessels, which is supposed to help them relax.
Beta Blockers which block adrenaline (epinephrine) which results in the heart slowing and blood vessels to expanding.
It is now standard practice in modern medicine to prescribe one or a combination of these drugs to people diagnosed with high blood pressure. However it's not as simple as that. There are a number of problems with using hypertension medications as the one and only treatment of high blood pressure.
Firstly, hypertension medications treats the symptoms but not the cause. They will often reduce blood pressure but only while you continue to take them daily - for the rest of your life. If you stop taking them without using other blood pressure lowering remedies it will go back up to its previous levels. In short, hypertension medications may be able to trick your body into lowering blood pressure but they don't actually get to the root cause and get your body back in a healthy balance.
Another problem with hypertension medications is side effects. The list of negative side effects associated many of these medications is very long. The most common ones include: persistent dry cough, headache, pounding heartbeat, nausea, weight gain, reduced libido, depression, insomnia, shortness of breath and sinus congestion.
Lastly, statistics show that more people on high blood pressure medications die of heart-related illnesses than those not on these medications. Of course this doesn't mean that hypertension medications are causing premature deaths. But if you think that you are lengthening your life by taking them you might want to reconsider.
Now for the good news. You don't have to take hypertension medications to reduce your blood pressure. I am living proof of that fact. From a dangerously high blood pressure level of around 200/120 range I have managed over the past six months to reduce my blood pressure to a healthy 120/80 range. And I have achieved this reduction in blood pressure only through diet and exercises. No drugs. (I tried drugs at first - didn't work for me.)
A blood pressure reducing diet includes eating less processed foods high in salt, trans-fats and saturated fats and replacing these with more basic natural ingredients. There are a number of foods that can reduce blood pressure but the bottom line is more cooking at home and less eating out at restaurants.
Exercises that reduce stress levels has also help reduce high blood pressure. Slow breathing exercises have been increasing in popularity. Tests have concluded that by simply taking 15 minutes a day to relax and breath in a slow rhythmic pattern can help reduce blood pressure quite significantly over time.
Physical exercise will also reduce high blood pressure. Jogging, hill climbing, gym work out - whatever gets your heart beating and your blood pumping will help get your heart and body back in balance. If your not ready to climb Mount Everest, no worries. Even a daily walk around the block is helpful to reduce blood pressure over time.
How to reduce high blood pressure naturally is really quite straightforward. Good diet, physical exercise and stress reduction as discussed at HighBloodPressureBeGone.com is all that is really needed. Practiced consistently and even the most stubborn high blood pressure should start to come back down.
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Great article, informative. I am a hypertensive myself and I am on low dosage medication and have been in a low-sodium diet. I eat, as much as possible, fresh fruits and vegetables. Thank you for sharing this piece.
I have the opposite end of the spectrum blood pressure problem,that of very low (80 over 50)blood pressure that causes all sorts of problems;what besides eating salt can you suggest?
Simon, a very nice article from one who has had HBP for many years now. I would be afraid for anyone to suddenly stop taking the medication once beginning an exercise routine or changing their diet before consulting with their doctor, though. I'm not positive, but I don't believe medication can be stopped without possibley serious consequences for some if not most people. Nice article. Very well written.
» left by Simon Foster(0) (20 hours 5 minutes ago.) New Comment!
I would not advise someone to abruptly stop taking anti-hypertensive medication and switch to alternative remedies. I would advise people to get their own blood pressure monitor so they can try different things and keep an eye on progress. This way they could safely reduce or even eliminate their dependence on drugs gradually and safely.
Welcome to Searchwarp. There are so many ailments that we can treat without the use of medicine, but some of them require effort on our parts or a change that we're not willing to make. It's easier to swallow a pill, huh? I know I"m guilty of that. Thank you for your informative article.
Thanks - I battle and am on prescriptions since being diagnosed with Graves Disease. Am trying.... informative article. Marijo (Mary Jo is how it is pronounced)
» left by JL from US (16 hours 3 minutes ago.) New Comment!
Welcome to SearchWarp, Simon. I have also read lately that adding Vitamin C is being advised for blood pressure/high cholesterol issues.
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