7 Natural Ways to Manage Hypertension

While prescription medications can lower blood pressure, they can cause side effects such as leg cramps, dizziness, and insomnia. Fortunately, most people can lower their blood pressure naturally without medication, without using home remedies to lower their blood pressure (called hypotension). First, maintain a healthy weight (these techniques can help you achieve your goals). Then try these strategies to reduce the risk of heart disease.

Hypertension plays a significant role in more than 15% of deaths in the United States. Here are some key points that can help control high blood pressure:

 

1. Take a walk

Exercise helps the heart use oxygen more efficiently, so it won't work as hard as drawing blood. The study found that patients with hypertension walked at a high rate, decreasing the pressure by nearly 8 mmHg while decreasing the pressure by 6 mmHg.

 

2. Take a deep breath

Slow breathing and qigong, meditation exercises like yoga and tai chi will reduce stress hormones, increasing renin, which will raise blood pressure. Try 5 minutes of low-pressure therapy in the morning and evening. Breathe deeply and enlarge your belly. Exhale and release all pressure. (Try these stress-relieving yoga poses to help relieve stress.)

 

3. Pick potatoes every day

Dr. Linda Van Horn, a professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, said ingesting potassium-rich fruits and vegetables is an important part of any antihypertensive program. She said the daily goal is to consume 2,000 to 4,000 mg of potassium.

 

4. Careful calculation

Some people (the elderly, African Americans, and those with a family history of hypertension) are more sensitive to salt (or sodium) sensitivity than others.

 

5. Addicted to chocolate

Dark chocolates contain flavanols, which can make the blood vessels more elastic and increase the risk of hypotension. In one study, 18% of patients who ate daily saw a reduction in stress

 

6. Make a supplement

In a review of 12 studies, the researchers found that coenzyme Q10 reduced pressure by as much as 17 mmHg compared to 10 mmHg.

 

7. Drink light wine

According to comments in 15 studies, the lower the amount of alcohol consumed, the smaller the drop in blood pressure. For example, a women's study in Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston found that drinking light alcohol (defined as a quarter to half of a woman's daily drink) can actually lower blood pressure than not drinking every day.