High Blood Pressure Be Gone

Blood pressure readings – separating fact from fiction

January 17th, 2010 |

Author: admin

After five months of stopping medications and starting on alternative natural remedies to reduce blood pressure I started to get blood pressure reading below the 120/80 ideal!

For example, yesterday I came in from working on the roof of my house and decided just for interest to take a reading. I clocked in at 153/98 with a heart rate of 84. Had I lost all the ground I had been struggling to attain? Not at all. That night before bed I took a reading again and was back down to a respectable 128/87 with a heart rate of 68.

You see, blood pressure levels change – up, down, round-about, and back again – in the course a day depending on what your doing, thinking, or have eaten. This is why it can be a big mistake to conclude you a chronic sufferer of high blood pressure / hypertension from one reading or an occasional visit to the doctor’s office.

Add to this the fact that many people’s blood pressure level increases just stepping into a doctor’s office. It’s called white coat syndrome. I think I have it even though inwardly I feel reasonably calm at the doctor’s. But how else can I account that my highest blood pressure readings ever have been at the doctor’s?

How many people have been falsely diagnosed with one or two high blood pressure readings and put on medications for life when there was no need?

What this means is that if your worried about your blood pressure levels:

Get your own monitor and take readings at different times.
Judge your blood pressure level according to ranges.

Remember, blood pressure readings are not as accurate tire pressure gauges. If you take two readings one after the other they will very rarely be the same (though they should be close). Don’t get too obsessed by exact numbers when it comes to blood pressure. Look for ranges.

Which is why the current blood pressure industry mantra of 120/80, 120/80, 120/80 … is just plain silly.

It has been speculated that it is largely driven by international pharmaceutical industries who have a large stake in the hypertension medications field. This is not just another conspiracy theory. Rather it is the outcome of a “confluence of interests”.

Look for a healthy range of blood pressure readings. Where you draw the line between ‘OK’ and ‘not OK’ readings is really up to you.

A reasonable approach that works for me is this: When relaxed, blood pressure readings below 130/90 is good; readings below 140/105 is OK; readings over 140/105 is not OK – time for action.

Mind you I have discovered that high blood pressure ‘runs in the family’ for me which means I have to take extra diligence to keep me in a healthy range. Others, not genetically prone to higher blood pressure, may wish to lower their ‘OK’ ranges.

Blood pressure ranges are a bit like shoe sizes. It not natural that everyone has identical blood pressure readings – or should be medicated in an attempt achieve an ideal reading at all times.

Given the fact that undesirable side effects with many of these medications have been well documented, there’s every reason to look for alternatives if you suffer from high blood pressure.

That’s exactly the situation I found myself in back in April this year (2009). After two months of being prescribed an ACE inhibitor (Rampril) I had developed a persistant nagging cough that would wake me up often in the night. Meanwhile my blood pressure reading refused to budge from 190+ / 120+ readings.

After five months of following of exploring alternatives to medication I now enjoy blood pressure reading in an OK range – sometimes even below the ideal of 120/80.

I’ve tried a number of alternative blood pressure cures offered on the internet but the ones I’ve used the most and come back to is Kevin Riley’s guidebook Get Natural! Drop Your Blood Pressure, and David O’Hara’s BreathEasy program.

I have a 15 minute BreathEasy session most every night before bed and my blood pressure regularly drops to the 120/80 range and my heart rate below 70. Even though I have completed Kevin Riley’s 12 week program to lower blood pressure I often re-read parts. It’s a wealth of information and an enjoyable read (which is more than you can say for most ‘health guides’ on the Internet).

So if you need to get handle on your blood pressure first off check out the new DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension). I uploaded a copy to the server so you should be able to get a copy by right-clicking HERE and selecting ’save link as’ or save target as’, depending on your operating system/browser. It’s a good overview of food to help lower blood pressure.

Mind you, it’s produced by a government department (U.S. Department of Health and Social Services) so don’t expect it to be a great read. Worth checking out though.

If you’re really serious about lowering your blood pressure without medication then you might want to consider what has worked for me so far: