High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is a common condition that affects many people around the world.
Hypertension occurs when the force of the blood pushing against the wall of the arteries is too high, which can lead to serious health problems such as stroke, heart disease, and kidney damage.
Medications are often prescribed to lower blood pressure, there are also natural ways to lower blood pressure that you can incorporate into your lifestyle.
Natural ways to lower blood pressure
1. Regular Exercise
Regular exercise is one of the natural ways that can help in lowering blood pressure
Regular physical activity can make your heart stronger and more efficient at pumping blood, which can help lower your blood pressure.
Exercise as running, walking, and cycling for at least 30min on most days of the week
2. Weight loss
For every kilogram that an individual loses, their blood pressure is decreased by one millimeter of mercury.
- Being overweight your body is more resistant to blood flow, which can lead to higher blood pressure. Losing weight reduces resistance to blood flow and helps in lowering blood pressure
- The blood vessels of obese people are more prone to damage due to inflammation, which causes high blood pressure. Losing weight reduces inflammation, which can lower blood pressure.
- Excess weight increases the workload on the heart. This increased workload can lead to high blood pressure. Losing weight reduces the workload on the heart, and helps in lowering blood pressure.
3. Healthy Diet:
Dietary approaches to stop hypertension( DASH diet) is a diet plan that focuses on high fiber, high potassium, high calcium, low sodium, and low fat intake.
DASH’s diet includes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, fish, and low-fat dairy products. These foods have a high content of potassium, calcium, protein, fiber, and low sodium content. Potassium, calcium, and fiber control high blood pressure.
4.Low sodium intake:
Sodium( salt) increases blood pressure by retaining your body fluid, which increases the volume of the blood and hence increases blood pressure.
Low sodium intake will quickly lower your blood pressure even within weeks.
Too much salt increases your blood pressure which leads to heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease.
5. Managing stress:
During stress conditions, the body releases hormones that increase the heartbeat and constrict blood vessels, because of which the blood pressure increases.
Studies show that stress does not directly cause hypertension, but can impact its development.
Managing stress has been found effective in lowering blood pressure and development of hypertension. There are the following ways that you can manage your stress:
- Be more physically active
- Spend time with friends and family
- Minimize screen time
- Going for an outside walk
- Practicing yoga
- Practicing deep breathing
- Spend time in nature
6. Eat more potassium-rich foods:
Potassium lowers your blood pressure by reducing tension on the wall of the blood vessels.
Potassium also lowers the sodium (which is bad for blood pressure ) level in the body by excreting it through the kidney.
There are certain foods that are rich in potassium and can improve your overall vascular system:
- Banana
- Kiwi
- Carrots
- Avacados
- Spinach
- Potatoes
- Grapefruit
- Oranges
7. Low caffeine intake:
Caffeine causes a temporary increase in blood pressure. Research shows that consuming about 4 cups of coffee (about 300mg of caffeine) can increase your systolic blood pressure by 8mmHg and diastolic blood pressure by 5mmHG.
Caffeine has a vasoconstrictive effect, it narrows your blood vessels and increases blood pressure.
Caffeine also triggered the adrenal gland to release adrenaline. Adrenaline causes the heart to beat faster and makes the blood vessels narrow, due to which blood pressure increases for a short period of time.
8. Getting good sleep:
When you are asleep your blood pressure is generally lower than while you are awake.
Getting less than 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night can increase your risk of developing high blood pressure (hypertension). If you have already hypertension, poor sleep quality can make the condition worse.
Stress hormones are known to increase your blood pressure by causing inflammation in your blood vessels and making blood vessels narrow. Sleep is a natural way to get rid of stress hormones and control your blood pressure.
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