Reducing Blood Pressure Naturally – A Lazy Man’s Guide to Lower Blood Pressure

People interested in reducing high blood pressure naturally are usually either doing it as a preventive measure because they have a history of the condition in their family, or they are already diagnosed with hypertension and are looking for a way to eliminate the side effects and expense of blood pressure medication. Either way, they are going to be faced with a massive amount of information to sift through and most of it will boil down to changes in diet and exercise.

But what are the changes and how much will my blood pressure go down if I make them?

That my friends is why I have put together the “Lazy Man’s Guide To Lowering Blood Pressure Naturally”. This short little article will give you an idea how much each change in lifestyle will lower your pressure reading.

If you’re really serious about this, you’ll need to get, and learn how to use, a blood pressure monitoring device for your home. This will be the best $40 to $70 you ever invested in your health. The reason hypertension is called the Silent Killer is because most people don’t know what their pressure is. Relying on an annual checkup at the doctor’s office is not an effective way to monitor your BP.

OK here we go.

As a general rule, if you have high blood pressure now, or you are an African American, you will experience a greater drop in reading than those shown in the examples.

• Exercise. This is the fastest way to drop blood pressure. While many organizations will insist on exercise at least six or seven days per week, 54 controlled studies show that there is no increased benefit beyond three days per week. Thirty to forty-five minutes of mild aerobic exercise such as biking, walking, dancing, or swimming, will lower systolic pressure 3.84 mm and diastolic by 2.58 mm. Exercise is good for reducing stress and losing weight, both helpful benefits, but you don’t have to do more than three days to get the maximum benefit.
• Sodium and Salt. If you know where to look for it, cutting your salt intake is really easier to do than you might think. The typical American consumes 3.3 grams of sodium each day. Cutting that to 1.5 grams can reduce your BP reading by 6.8 mm. Taking the salt shaker off the table is a start, but most of the sodium comes from processed foods and restaurants. Eat more fresh food, tell your waiter you want less salt, and discover the wonders of spices as a condiment.
• Booze. If you’re a man who drinks 3 or more drinks a day, or two for a woman, then you can reduce both systolic and diastolic pressure by roughly 1 mm for each drink you cut back.
• Smoking. Smoking is bad for you but here’s a real kicker. There is no direct link between nicotine and high blood pressure. Coronary disease, lung cancer and bad breath? Sure. But there is no proven connection with HBP. Regardless you should stop smoking or investigate the new electronic cigarettes that let you keep the habit but no the 4000 chemicals found in tobacco cigarettes.
• Potassium. Most Americans have a deficiency in potassium. Potassium is important because it is the relationship between potassium and sodium that controls the fluid levels and blood volume in our body. In fact potassium encourages the excretion of sodium. The studies on increasing this mineral are a bit inconclusive but depending on who you believe, if you increase the amount of potassium to the equivalent of 5 bananas a day, you can lower your pressure by 2.45 to 4.44 mms. Obviously bananas are not the only source of potassium.

So with just these few tips you can reduce blood pressure by 16 mms and you haven’t made any huge differences in your lifestyle. We haven’t even covered weight loss, calcium, hydration or the biggie, diet. It would not be unreasonable to expect a total reduction in excess of 25 to 30 points simply by applying these methods. 電子煙