According to the Center for Disease Control(CDC) 1 out of 3 Americans has hypertension. Your doctor most likely will prescribe you medication if they feel your high blood pressure is a chronic issue. Having high blood pressure puts you at a greater risk of developing a stroke, heart attack, aneurysm, and eye problems. If you’re like me, the thought of taking prescription medication just to be normal makes you uncomfortable. In this article, I will go over seven lifestyle modification that will lower your blood pressure without taking medication.
- Stop Smoking
If you are a regular your blood pressure has already been consistently raised. Smoking constricts your blood vessels and puts more stress on your heart and lungs. The cumulative effect of smoking will negatively affect all parts of your body so once you stop smoking you open yourself up to many other health benefits.
30 minutes after you have smoked that last cigarette your blood pressure lowers. One day after your last cigarette the risk of you having a heart is reduced. A month later you will notice that you are coughing less.
2. Exercise Regularly
This point can’t be stressed enough; Americans are living more sedentary lives and this has caused the rates of hypertension to rise for every demographic. Exercising for at least half an hour four days a week will reduce your blood pressure by several points. When you exercise your blood vessels dilate in order to provide higher blood flow to your muscles. Over time your blood vessels will stretch, your heart will become stronger, and your breathing will improve. I’m sure you can imagine all the psychological benefits too!
3. Manage Your Level of Stress
Stress is an inevitable part of life. Everyone lives with a certain amount of stress but how you manage your stress makes all the difference. If you’re like me, stress causes you to smoke, over eat, and sometimes drink in order to cope. These ways of coping may alleviate your stress at the moment, however, in the long term they damage your body, and can lead to developing a health problem which will induce more stress.
4. Meditate
Meditation slows down your breathing and calms your mind. During deep meditation the brain’s frequency slows down to 4 Hertz; this frequency is known as a Delta wave and can also be observed while sleeping.
While a person is meditating their body releases different endorphins, they are the body’s natural pain killers. These feel good chemicals help us to relax, focus, and elevate our mood. Hormones like melatonin, serotonin, and dopamine are released during meditation.1
Meditation also reduces cortisol and adrenaline, the two major hormones released during times of stress. Reducing the level of cortisol in your body will lower your blood pressure several points.
5. Increase Potassium Intake
Potassium is an essential mineral needed by the body to perform many basic functions; one of those is helping your kidneys and intestines remove water and waste from your body. Sodium molecules bind to water in the body and this disrupts the process of the kidneys removing fluid. A high level of sodium in the body will lead to more fluid retention and would result in higher blood pressure. Potassium counteracts the effects of sodium.
Diets low in potassium will result in fatigue, headaches,and AFIB. If your diet is consistently low in potassium you will have an increased risk of developing a stroke, heart disease, infertility, and an increased risk of developing cancer.2
The best way to increase your potassium intake is to eat potassium rich foods. Taking potassium supplements could be fatal if a very high dosage is consumed. Foods that contain potassium include bananas, almonds, avocados, and leafy green vegetables. Many food today are also enriched with potassium
6. Drink Hibiscus Tea
Hibiscus tea contains vitamin C, trace amounts of minerals, and special compounds that help to prevent cancer. The tea acts as a diuretic, which speeds up this removal of fluid from the body, this reduces blood pressure. To gain the benefits from Hibiscus tea, a person would need to drink 3 cups of the tea everyday.3 Drinking 3 cups of Hibiscus tea everyday can reduce your blood pressure by up to 10 millimeters of mercury (mmHg).
7. Drink Cranberry Juice
Cranberry juice, like Hibiscus tea, is a diuretic and contains antioxidants. A study published by the American Heart Association stated that regularly drinking low calorie cranberry juice may help get your blood pressure under control4. This study was funded by Ocean Spray.
Now, I don’t think the amount of calories in the juice is relative to its blood pressure lowering properties. The results of the study showed that after 8 weeks drinking low calorie cranberry juice lowers a person’s blood pressure by 3 mmHg.
1 7 Key Meditation Chemicals https://eocinstitute.org/meditation/dhea_gaba_cortisol_hgh_melatonin_serotonin_endorphins/
2 Potassium Supplements
https://www.webmd.com/diet/supplement-guide-potassium#2
3 11 Surprising benefits of Hibiscus Tea
4 Low calorie cranberry juice lowers blood pressure in healthy adults
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120920135559.htm