“The Silent Killer” is the name given to High Blood pressure(Hypertension) because often it doesn’t have that many symptoms before its main impact and increases the risk of a stroke and heart attack.
Before knowing the natural ways to get the blood pressure in control, we first need to understand what blood pressure is and how it works.
Blood pressure depends on how much blood is being pumped by the heart and how much resistance it’s facing in the veins. Narrower the veins mean more resistance they give, elevating the blood pressure.
Millimeters of mercury are the measurement for blood pressure. In short mm Hg – mm (short form of millimeters) and Hg (symbol of mercury).
There are two sets of numbers given in the measurement –
Systolic blood pressure – The first set of numbers represents the pressure in veins when your heart beats and pumps blood in the veins.
Diastolic blood pressure – The second set of numbers represents the pressure in your veins when your heart is resting in between beats.
Blood Pressure lower than 120/80 mm Hg is considered normal and 130/80 mm Hg or more blood pressure is considered high.
Now that you understand how does it work let’s understand 8 ways to control high BP:
- Be more active: Yes! Who would have thought? But being active and exercising regularly solves many of your health problems, high blood pressure is one of them.
We are not saying you should run a full marathon or spend hours in the gym (if you can then go for it) but little things like taking stairs instead of the lift, or walking to the market while going shopping would increase your activity count enough to help you get your blood pressure under control.
- Lose weight: If you are overweight then losing just 2-3 kgs would help you out very much.
- Eat more potassium and less sodium: it might sound very complicated, how would I know where to find more potassium in food and how to limit the intake of sodium?
To put in simple terms eat less salt and eat more fish, low-fat dairy products such as milk and yogurt, eat fruits like bananas, oranges and include veggies like tomato, spinach and sweet potato in your diet.
- Less sugar and processed food: Yes! be it cold coffee from your favorite coffee place or pizza at midnight, sugar can be more harmful than salt as shown in a few studies.
- No smoking and less alcohol: Even if it’s second-hand smoke, It can cause your blood veins to shrink over time causing increased resistance. We know it can be very hard to stop smoking but if you succeed in it, that would lead you to a much healthier life by solving so many health problems. Don’t forget about alcohol too, it’s very important to consume it in moderation to keep its effect on your blood pressure in check.
- Cut back caffeine: Though not permanently but caffeine can increase your blood pressure for a certain period of time post consumption. It can be especially harmful to people who already have hypertension (HIGH BP).
- A good night’s sleep: When sleeping your blood pressure dips down but if you are not getting a good sleep every night (especially people who are middle-aged) it would drastically affect their blood pressure.
So sleep well and be comfortable, avoid daytime naps, relax before sleeping, fix your sleeping schedule.
- Take less stress: We live in times where there are so many things to be stressed about. Excess stress is one of the biggest causes of HIGH BP. All the advice we can give you here is to find a way to reduce the stress that works for you. It can be meditation, reading a book, going for a ride.
These were the few ways to help lower your blood pressure but you can’t neglect the value of professional help and monitoring. Get your blood pressure monitored on a regular basis and when and if it shows anything worrying get the help of your doctor ASAP!.