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[N92]Natural Ways To Reduce Blood Pressure

by Rebecca Prescott, Reb

1. Try Yoga: Yoga is a great way to reduce stress, which contributes to hypertension. But there are some poses in particular recommended for those wanting to improve their cardiac health. These include:

forward bends like virasana and upavista konasana, which are both sitting postures.
horizontal asanas which allow the heart beat to slow down when they are practised slowly and rhythmically
asanas like uttanasana and adhomukha savasana

2. Regular exercise: It doesn't have to be yoga. Any regular exercise like walking, biking or gardening is great for lowering blood pressure. Your physician will be able to give you an exercise plan that suits your heart condition and physical fitness levels. It's important not to overdo it too quickly. Tai chi is actually an excellent way to reduce hypertension. Like yoga, it is relaxing, rhythmical, a stress reducer, and has great benefit on the nervous and parasympathetic systems within the body.

Having a regular exercise program may even reduce your need for blood pressure medication.

3. Eat more bananas! Bananas are high in potassium, which is great for reducing hypertension. Other dietary improvements include eating more fruit and vegetables generally. Studies have found 8 servings of fruit and vegetables daily to be preferable, with these having a particular benefit for cardiovascular health:

Lettuce
spinach
cauliflower
cabbage
broccoli
swiss chard
citrus fruits

And when these changes are combined with exercise, there are more significant improvements in blood pressure.

4. Make sure you get your folic acid: A study by the Harvard Medical School looked at the benefits of folic acid on blood pressure, and found it to be highly beneficial, particularly amongst younger women. It seemed to have a protective effect against hypertension. Younger women who took at least 1mg of folic acid a day lowered their risk of hypertension by 46%. Older women who had reasonable amounts of folic acid daily lowered their risk by 18%. The study was conducted on 156,000 nurses, 19,720 of whom had high blood pressure.

5. Blessed chocolate: Dark chocolate, and foods and supplements that had high levels of cocoa including chocolate confectionary, cocoa sandwich filling and drinks, have been found to be associated with a lower blood pressure and reduced risk of dying from any cause in a small study conducted on 470 elderly men (they were on average 72 7ears old). The study followed them for 15 years, and those that ate more than 2.3 grams of cocoa a day had lower blood pressure than those that didn't. Researchers believe it is the flavanol component of cocoa that provides this beneficial effect.

Before thinking this is a green light to eat lots of chocolate, you'll need about 100 grams of dark chocolate a day to get the blood pressure benefits. That equates to an extra 500 calories per 100 grams, with an average fat content of 30%. Raw cocoa is not well taken by people when it is eaten in large amounts. The calorie and fat considerations need to be taken into account, although there are some chocolate bars out there that have a higher flavanol content.

You can't spend quality time with your family or advance your career, or enjoy anything else in life if you're laid up in a hospital be or worse.

What is high blood pressure you may ask? High blood pressure is simply the amount of force the blood puts on your arteries as it passes through them.

Your blood pressure doesn't stay steady throughout the day - it rises and falls. When your blood pressure stays elevated over time, you are said to have high blood pressure.

Here's the disturbing part. Although some people may get headaches, dizziness, or blurred vision, high blood pressure often has NO signs or symptoms. That's why it's also known as The Silent Killer. The surefire way to find out is to get tested by your doctor.

There is a lot of attention in the media about the obesity problem, quite a lot about diabetes but not so much about blood pressure. In comparison blood pressure is just a serious.

The fact is that nearly one billion ? yes, I said 1 billion - people worldwide have high blood pressure! A recent study predicted that this number will increase to 1.56 billion people by 2025. Those are staggering numbers, to say the least if not scary.

That's puts up there with obesity. The problem is that you see your fat and with high blood pressure you cannot see it.

Left untreated, high blood pressure will increase the risk of kidney damage, eye damage, hardening of the arteries atherosclerosis or arteriosclerosis, heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases. The cause of 3 out of 5 cases of heart failure in women is high blood pressure.

There are a lot of factors that that contribute to high blood pressure including but not limited to smoking, lack of physical activity, obesity, high sodium intake, high cholesterol, excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages and of course, heredity.

Diabetes patients are also at greater risk for developing high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases. Also, African-Americans seem to be at a greater risk of developing high blood pressure at an early age.

Your family history plays a role, but there are many things you can do to prevent or reduce high blood pressure even if you have genes that might make you more likely to have it.

Being extremely overweight or obese and having high blood pressure are so closely related that it has even been given its own name: obesity hypertension. Of all the cases of hypertension in the U.S., 75% can be directly attributed to obesity.

Deaths directly from hypertension or that had high blood pressure as a primary contributor totaled 310,707 in the U.S. in 2002. It's a chain reaction: obesity=hypertension= heart disease=death and that all begins with how fat a person is.

For every 2.2 pounds of weight lost, blood pressure falls 1 mm/hg. Of course, this is just one very positive byproduct of weight loss.

When most people talk about reducing high blood pressure, the very first thing that pops into their mind is sodium intake. It's also interesting to note that eating unprocessed fruits, vegetables, meat, and fish provides all the sodium your body needs about 500 mg a day.

The very first thing is to begin by evaluating their daily regimen and immediately start planning some permanent lifestyle changes. Planning is the key to achieving those healthy numbers. It's important to slowly incorporate your changes so you stick with them. Focus only on one change at a time. Eventually, each small change will add up to bigger results. Find out more it is life saving.
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Both Rebecca Prescott & Verro are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Rebecca Prescott has sinced written about articles on various topics from Pets, Yoga Practice and Woman Menopause. For , check this article. For other. Rebecca Prescott's top article generates over 22200 views. to your Favourites.

Verro has sinced written about articles on various topics from Software, Bird Flu and Yeast Infection. Theresa Williams is a grandmother who loves imparting knowledge. To uncover the truth about hypertension and to start planning your lifestyle changes that would make a vast difference to you.. Verro's top article generates over 135000 views. to your Favourites.