2018

5 Ways to Keep Calm and Control Your Blood Pressure

5 Ways to Keep Calm and Control Your Blood Pressure
Ever feel overly stressed? Like you're going to blow a fuse or simply 'lose it!'? You're not alone... stress has a weird effect on us at times... and one of the best indicators of stress is high blood pressure. You may be wondering...

What Is High Blood Pressure?


Blood pressure is nothing but the force at which blood pumps from your heart into the arteries. In general, normal blood pressure reading should be less than 120/80 mmHg. But, when your blood pressure is higher than this reading, blood moves through your internal arteries more forcefully. And, this condition creates an increased pressure on delicate tissues of the arteries and eventually damages your blood vessels.

life is too short to stress about people that suck

High blood pressure (often termed as hypertension) affects millions of adults. This condition is termed as a "silent killer" since it typically does not cause any visible symptoms until it has done potential damages to the heart.

What Are the Risks of Hypertension or High Blood Pressure?


When left untreated, hypertension can lead to critical health complications, such as heart attack, stroke, peripheral artery disease, and kidney damage. In order to monitor and control your high blood pressure, regular visits to an experienced doctor are needed. Apart from that, your treatment plan should include positive lifestyle changes, a combination of therapies, exercises, and meditation. These are some of the effective and natural ways to combat hypertension or high blood pressure.

5 Ways to Keep Calm and Control Your Blood Pressure


1. Meditation:


Meditation uses various deep breathing techniques in order to feel calm & restore inner peace. In fact, it is a precise technique that is typically used for resting your mind and attaining an excellent state of consciousness (which is completely different from your normal waking state).



Meditation is a wonderful way to naturally reduce high blood pressure. Both deep breathing and meditation are deemed to activate your parasympathetic nervous system. Note, your parasympathetic nervous system is engaged when your body relaxes, thus lowering blood pressure and slowing the heart rate. That's why when you meditate, your stress levels will significantly fall and all of your internal body systems will begin to normalize. The will result in a reduced blood pressure. The best part is that meditation does not have any negative side effects. In fact, it can be a catalyst for your positive lifestyle changes.

2. Regular Exercise:


Exercise is another important natural way that you can regularly practice in order to lower down high blood pressure. Regular exercise can help make your heart more efficient and stronger at pumping blood, that lowers the generated pressure into your arteries. According to the physicians, a 75-minute of rigorous exercise (like running) or a 150-minute of simple exercise (like walking) can improve your heart health and even lower blood pressure.

mommy and baby exercise and yoga

Mayo Clinic (a renowned nonprofit medical research and medical practice group) has recently provided a statement that regular physical activity will make your heart stronger. Obviously, a stronger heart can easily pump more blood with less/minimal efforts.

If your heart is able to pump blood with fewer efforts, then the forces on your arteries will automatically decrease and it will reduce your blood pressure. Hence, if you are suffering from hypertension, try adding some regular exercise in your daily workout routine. For example, 30 - 60 minutes of regular exercising can bring down your blood pressure by 4 - 9 mmHg. So, you have been inactive for a while, you can talk to your doctor to plan a safe exercise routine. In this context, it is recommended to start out slowly and gradually pick up the frequency and pace of your workouts.

If you do not like to visit a gym, then you can practice your workout outside. You can go for a jog, swim, and hike etc.

3. Maintain Your Body Weight:


Maintaining your body weight can directly impact your blood pressure. You will be quite surprised to know that losing 4.5 kilograms or 10 pounds of body mass can lower your blood pressure. If you are overweight, then losing weight can seriously make a great difference to your heart health. You may be already following some specific fitness goals. Aren't you? Well, you are now requested to focus more on maintaining your body weight as an effective remedy to lower your high blood pressure.



According to a study, losing just 5% of your body mass can significantly reduce high blood pressure. Losing body mass can help your blood vessels do more expanding and contracting, hence making it easier for the left ventricle of your heart to pump blood. The effect can be even greater if you can pair weight loss with a regular exercise schedule.

4. Avoid Alcohol:


Drinking one glass of red wine after your dinner may seem to be perfectly fine. But, when you are suffering from high blood pressure symptoms, you are advised to limit and avoid drinking alcohol.

Alcohol stopping goals 5

Drinking an excessive amount of alcohol can lead to various health issues. For instance, it can raise your blood pressure. Excessive drinking will even reduce the effectiveness of certain blood pressure medications. According to scientific research reports, around 16% of high blood pressure cases are linked to alcohol.

But, moderate alcohol drinking can be protective to your heart. Women should limit their intake to just one alcoholic drink per day. Whereas, men should limit their consumption to 2 alcoholic drinks per day.

 

5. Take Natural Supplements:


Some natural supplements can also lower blood pressure. For your reference, here is a list of some natural supplements which have the ability to decrease blood pressure.

[caption id="attachment_11908" align="aligncenter" width="320"]Remember supplements are meant to "supplement" and enhance one's nutrition - not replace real food.[/caption]

 

I) Aged garlic extract: This natural supplement is used as a stand-alone treatment for lowering blood pressure.

II) Berberine: In the earlier days, Berberine was used in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine. This supplement can increase nitric oxide production that can help decrease blood pressure.


III) Whey protein: Whey protein can offer improved blood pressure and better blood vessel functions if you undertake it on a regular basis.

IV) Fish oil: Fish oil is credited to offer an improved heart health. Fish oil is derived from the tissues of various oily fishes. It contains omega-3 fatty acids , docosahexaenoic acid, and eicosapentaenoic acid that offer multiple health benefits including the treatment of high blood pressure.

VI) Hibiscus: Hibiscus flowers are nowadays used in tea preparation. These flowers are rich in polyphenols and anthocyanins which are great for your heart and can lower blood pressure.


The Final Verdict?


With this, you have revealed 5 natural ways to keep calm and control your blood pressure. Precisely follow these tips in order to treat your hypertension/high blood pressure.

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Author Bio: Lydia Mattern, NASM Certified Personal Trainer

Lydia is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer at fitnessgoals , with a passion for writing and a love for chocolate. She enjoys long walks with a breeze and finding ways to make dessert healthy.

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