Lowering Blood Pressure
Blood pressure refers to the force that your blood exerts against the blood vessel walls. When the force exerted is too strong, your blood pressure is said to be high. Also referred to as hypertension, high blood pressure is dangerous to your health because it causes your heart to work harder to pump blood and your blood vessels to harden, leading to heart failure.
High blood pressure or hypertension affects more men than women and is often diagnosed in people over the age of 65. Many people are unaware of their hypertension or simply ignore the warning signs until they develop more serious symptoms or worse, suddenly experience heart failure. Don’t wait for heart disease to strike. Learn the warning signs and take care of your heart with proper nutrition and lifestyle changes.
Signs and Symptoms
You may have high blood pressure if you experience a combination of the following:
- Dizziness
- Headache
- Insomnia or lack of restful sleep
- Redness on the face
- Hot palms and feet
- Shortness of breath
- Fatigue
- Palpitations
- Anxiety attacks
- Chest pain
CausesHypertension is often the result of a poor diet and sedentary lifestyle. There is a strong correlation between a high salt or sodium diet and hypertension. A study of a Japanese group that regularly ate very salty foods showed more incidents of hypertension than a group that consumed a no-salt diet. Excessive consumption of deep fried, fatty and oily food also seems to contribute to high blood pressure. Drinking alcohol, not having enough potassium, magnesium and calcium, as well as lack of exercise, add to your chances of developing high blood pressure. In some people, stress and negative emotions may also trigger hypertension.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) maintains that obesity, an unhealthy diet, poor liver function, kidney disorder, stress, strong negative emotions like anger as well as heredity all lead to high blood pressure. While TCM differentiates between two categories of hypertension, the excess and deficient types, the treatment and prevention for both types of hypertension are essentially the same.
Treatment
Hypertension may be treated naturally by making changes in your diet, lifestyle, and using natural therapies.
Diet
Avoid deep-fried, fatty, oily, salty and sweetened food. Eat more whole fruits and vegetables instead of processed and refined foods. Consume moderate portions of lean meat. Contrary to popular belief, your body needs meat for important nutrients such as iron, zinc, potassium and calcium that you may not always get in sufficient amounts from fruits and vegetables. Supplement your diet with CoEnzyme Q10, and formula such as Scavenger Plus and Chelated Magnesium. Ask your natural therapist to recommend good sources of traditional herbs such as crategus, dang-shen, polygonum, and tienma. Acupuncture also boosts the effects of the traditional herbs by reducing excessive liver energy, strengthening the kidneys and calming the heart.
Lifestyle
Exercise moderately for not more than 40 minutes everyday. Physical activity helps restore normal liver and kidney activity as well as regulates blood flow to your heart. Avoid overexertion as this may be physically stressful to your body. Since stress is a risk factor for hypertension, you should practice relaxation techniques such as breathing, yoga, stretching or meditation. Maintain a good disposition and avoid negative emotions such as anger, jealousy and depression.
