High Blood Pressure Be Gone

Archive for the ‘how to lower high blood pressure’ Category

Yes, garlic can help to lower blood pressure.  Which is a good thing because I love garlic and use it all the time in salad dressings and pasta sauces.

If garlic really isn’t your ‘cup of tea’ it’s available in a convenient supplement form. You can get garlic capsules that come with the benefits of natural garlic but without the delicious taste and aroma that some don’t care for.

Coenzyme Q, or CoQ10, is a supplement that is getting popular lately as a supplement that can help reduce blood pressure levels.  It’s a powerful antioxidant and can help with migraine headaches too. Sometimes it is combined with hawthorn to increase its effectiveness.

I take hawthorn tincture every morning but haven’t tried CoQ10 yet. If anyone has noticed good results from Coenzyme please leave a comment.

Then there’s fish oil which is good for reversing high cholesterol or lowering blood pressure.  Fish oil helps to lower ‘bad’ cholesterol levels, which is good. Fish oil also contains DHA which helps the brain function properly, as well as lowering blood pressure. I take two capsules of cod liver oil (1100 mg in total) every morning.

Calcium, magnesium, and potassium also help lower high blood pressure and unhealthy cholesterol levels.  Calcium also strengthens bones and teeth, while magnesium (they say) helps maintain your sense of calm and well-being.  Keeping adequate potassium levels in your blood is essential to balance the salt levels and keep you blood pressure down.

Folic acid (a B vitamin) is also important to help maintain healthy blood pressure levels and good cholesterol levels.  As well as helping to lower blood pressure, folic acid reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke. It can also promote better memory function. I can remember all this because I usually take a folic acid supplement at least one a week.

On top of this healthy lifestyle of good food and supplements be sure to get some exercise. Go for a walk, stretch those muscles, smell the roses, say hi to your neighbors.

Here’s a little secret: Often I feel lazy. I don’t feel like exercising. But I force myself to get out there for a walk anyway. And you know what? Once I’m out there I really enjoy it and am glad I’m out.

Don’t let the thought of exercise put you off. Do it anyway and you’ll be happy you did. You feel better, more relaxed, and your blood pressure will only come down because of it.

Take care all,
Simon

Here’s a 2 minute slide show on how to lower your blood pressure naturally.

The advice seems sound and its a fun way to get the message across.

I’m not so sure about the soundtrack however. It hardly relaxing and wouldn’t help to lower your blood pressure just by listening to it.

Of course you could always turn the volume down and just read the slides.

Enjoy!

For user reviews on complete programs for natural blood pressure reduction check out the Online HBP Remedies Review page.

How to lower your blood pressure without using drugs

There are three main ways to reduce your blood pressure permanently without taking medications. Get all the details in How to Lower Your Blood Pressure

Click here to download

Published in January  2010, this report has all the latest information. It details all the alternative methods to reduce blood pressure.

Inside you’ll find out:

• why the dangers of high blood pressure are often exaggerated
• why you need to take control of your blood pressure yourself
• why blood pressure readings change from time to time
• the links between the pharmaceutical industry and the modern medical establishment
• the many causes of high blood pressure and why so many people suffer from hypertension
• why natural remedies are better in the longterm than the medication approach
• the 3 main methods to reduce high blood pressure naturally

This report is for everyone – whether you:

• suffer from high blood pressure now,
• suffer from hypertension medication side-effects,
• want to avoid developing high blood pressure

To get the report click here

High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is a growing concern in among people in Western industrialized countries. The instance of hypertension has been steadily on the increase for years. Given that it is associated with heart attack, stroke and premature death it’s easy to understand why people are seeking high blood pressure control.

Controlling blood pressure with medications

The common medical practice is to prescribe anti-hypertension medication for high blood pressure. Although medications can be successful in high blood pressure control it also has its drawbacks. Many of these medications have side effects such as headaches, dizziness, coughing, impotence, kidney damage, and depression. Another drawback is that even those these medications can control high blood pressure they don’t actually cure it. If you stop taking the medications you are at risk of your pressure going straight back up to former levels. This means that if you want achieve healthy BP levels by medication alone you are condemned to taking them for the rest of your life.

Alternative High Blood Pressure Cures

Thankfully there are a number ways to achieve high blood pressure control without the use of medications. These alternative methods may require you to adopt a more healthy lifestyle – but they don’t cost a lot of money, anyone can do them, and you feel much better for it in the long run. Below are a list of seven alternative methods to reduce BP and avoid the pharmaceutical merry-go-round.

1. Losing some weigh can help bring your BP down. Too much weight causes a strain on your heart which raises your blood pressure. Lose a few pounds, and you will drop a few blood pressure points.

2. Take Vitamin C supplements everyday. Several studies have shown a drop in BP when vitamin C intake is boosted – although it’s not completely understood why vitamin C has this effect on lowering blood pressure. Use a high quality Vitamin C supplement is safe to take and has other benefits than just a reduction in BP.

3. Get Your Sodium/Potassium Ratio balanced. When potassium and sodium (salt) are in harmony, blood pressure levels are OK. A healthy ratio of potassium to sodium is quoted as 5 parts potassium to 1 part sodium. Many of us in the Western world have a potassium to sodium ratio of 1 to 2 – which is the opposite of what it should be. Using too much table salt and eating too much processed foods is at the root of the problem. We need to add more fruits and vegatables to our diet to increase our potassium levels. Use natural sea salt in moderation and try to eat less (or none) of processed foods that have high sodium (salt) levels. In short, more potassium and less salt equals lower blood pressure.

4. Get sufficient doses of Vitamin D which helps regulate blood pressure. The good news is that Vitamin D is absorbed by the skin when exposed to sunshine. So get out there and catch some rays. Mind you, many of us who live up north don’t get enough sunshine / Vitamin D, especially in winter. In place we can take vitamin D3 which is the form of vitamin D that is easiest to absorb.

5. Physical exercise can do wonders for your sense of well-being as well as a powerful method for high blood pressure control. If your not used to doing any exercise start with a walk around the block at least once a day. In time maybe you could move it up to long walks or even jogging. Anything that gets your heart beating and your blood circulating is good for your overall health and will result in a reduction of blood pressure.

6. Too much stress in your life can cause hypertension. Stress releases cortisol which can cause weight gain, immune suppression, and high blood pressure. Consider stress reducing activities as an effective method of high blood pressure control. There are a number of ways to help you reduce stress such as yoga, meditation, aromatherapy and slow breathing exercises. Laughter is also know as a stress busting activity so go see a comedy now and then. High blood pressure? Just laugh it off.

High Blood pressure Control – It’s your choice

The important thing to remember is that when it comes to high blood pressure control you have choices. You can take prescription medications accepting the potential negative side effects or you can introduce alternative methods outlined above to get your blood pressure back to normal levels. If you are currently taking anti-hypertension medications you may want to consider introducing alternative methods to reduce blood pressure and slowly reducing or even eliminating your medications – in consultation with your doctor, of course.

To get started using alternative methods to reduce your blood pressure download the report How to Lower Your Blood Pressure Without Drugs

Click here to download

Published on January 1, 2010 this report presents facts about hypertension and natural blood pressure reduction in a simple and easy to understand report. It explanis how you can achieve healthy blood pressure levels without the need to be on medications.

Inside you’ll find out:

• why the dangers of high blood pressure are often over-stated
• how to take back control from the medical establishment
• why blood pressure readings change so often
• the links between the pharmaceutical industry and modern medical practice
• the real causes of high blood pressure
• why natural cures are better than taking medications
• the three main methods of natural cures for hypertension

This report is for everyone – whether you:

• currently have high blood pressure,
• suffer from hypertension medication side-effects,
• would like to know how to avoid developing high blood pressure later on.

To get the report click here

Matching high blood pressure treatments with causes

The biggest problem with high blood pressure treatments is determining the cause and appropriate approach.

According to the medical establishment the cause of over 90% of high blood pressure causes is unknown. What that means in reality is that for the vast majority of high blood pressure cases a single identifiable cause can not be determined.

The fact is that there any many causes of high blood pressure including:

• genetics
• age
• poor diet
• lack of exercise
• stress

Most people suffer from high blood pressure from a variety of causes. If your blood pressure is moderately high you might want to try different approaches to see what works best.

Alternative high blood pressure cures can be divided up to three main categories:

• Changes to your Daily Diet
• .Daily Physical Exercise
• .Daily Mental Exercise

Changing your diet mainly helps reduce high blood pressure caused by poor diet (which inludes the vast majority of Western world cuisine). Mind you, improving your diet can also help reduce high blood pressure caused by age and genetics.

Physical exercise is most beneficial in reducing high blood pressure cause by an otherwise inactive lifestyle. It also good for lowering high blood pressure caused from genetics and aging. Some people clam that it can help reduce your stress levels as well.

By mental exercises I mean any exercise that have the purpose of affecting your nervous system. These exercises have the most benefit for people suffering from high stress levels and associated high blood pressure.

The High Blood Pressure Shotgun Treatment

If you have very high blood pressure (like I did) you might want to take the ’shotgun’ approach and improve your diet as well as practice mental and physical exercises.

The shotgun method almost guarantees that your blood pressure will come down. On top of that, you’ll feel healthier and happier than you have for years.

If you’re ready to shotgun your blood pressure back down to healthy levels I’d recommend the David O’Hara’s Breatheasy program.

The audio slow breathing program really works. If you take your blood pressure before and after a 15 breathing exercise you’ll notice the difference – a  5 to 10 point drop. Not bad for a quarter of an hour of your time. The effect is cumulative so you blood pressure will slowly get back to lower level over time provided your can spare those 15 minutes each day.

Breatheasy also comes with Kevin Riley’s guide Get Natural! which is a great source of information on diet.

All you’ll need then is a pair of trainers (or ’sneakers’ in N America) to kickstart your exercises.

Take care a one and all,

Simon

It has been well documented that the French nation enjoys better cardio-vaschlar health than many other nations in the developed world – despite their fondness of culinary treats that may not deserve the label of ‘health food’.

This ‘French Paradox’ and has largely been explained by their habit of drinking good red wine everyday with their main meal. Having visited and spent time with a family in France in the past I can personally vouch that it’s true. (By the way, if you ever find yourself dining around a French table, don’t mix your red wine with water as they do in Portugal, or you risk social disapproval and mild condemnation!)

So how does red wine help keep your blood pressure down and your heart healthy? Red wine conntains resveratrol, a powerful antioxidant that keeps your arteries healthy and working as they were intended. Resveratrol provides a number of benefits including:

• protects your arteries against oxygen free radicals
• helps prevent atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries)
• prevents your platelets from clumping together (reduces risk of blood clotting)
• inhibits angiotensin II (which can increase blood pressure if your body  produces too much)
• improves the function of blood pressure lining

All in all, resveratrol has shown to help keep your heart and circulatory system healthy and your blood pressure down where it should be.

Resveratrol comes from the skin of red grapes but getting it via red wine is better because the alcohol in wine extracts and dissolves the resveratrol making it easier for your body to absorb. In short, you’d have to eat a basket full of grapes to get the same benefits of a glass or two of good red wine.

But what if you don’t like red wine or react badly to it? (Some people get headaches from drinking red wine.) The good news that there are other ways to get the benefits of resveratrol including buying resveratrol extracts.

But what has really taken the spotlight lately as the new superfood is Acai berries.  Pronounced ah-sigh-ee, these berries harvested from the Amazon have been featured on US news channels, BBC, and the celebrity circuit (Oprah Winfrey and co.). They have been promoted as the new super-supplement  to assist in weight loss and to retard the aging process.

What’s the big deal with acai berries? They are chock full of resveratrol. The French must be feeling so smug!

According to reports, one dose of Acai berry contains up to 30 times the amount in reveratrol as a glass of wine.

What are Superfoods – Acai Berry and more

Superfoods are those foods that do such things as lower cholesterol and blood pressure. In other words, they have several benefits to them that other foods don’t have. The Acai Berry is one of those foods. It provides energy, helps you to lose weight faster, lowers cholesterol, lowers blood pressure, and helps to prevent several serious diseases like heart disease. However, Acai Berry is not the only superfood, but is part of a family of superfoods. There are several that you can take advantage of.

Superfoods

So not only do you have the amazing Acai Berry, but you also have antioxidants in blueberries as well as potassium and vitamin C. Blueberries have been shown to lower the incidence of heart disease. They are also anti-inflammatory.

Here are other superfoods you may wish to know about:

• Fish is a superfood in that it contains Omega 3 fatty acids and a number of vitamins and minerals. Omega 3s reduce inflammation and blood clotting. You can also reduce heart attack.

• Bananas provide you with energy and consists of antioxidants that can help prevent cancer and heart disease.

• Kiwis are amongst the 5 most nutritious fruits in the world. They have fiber, potassium, Vitamin A, and Vitamin E. It is also full of antioxidants that fight against disease.

These are all great superfoods. Between Acai Berry, blueberries, fish, bananas, and kiwis, you can have a very healthy diet.

Get started

If you’re not eating healthy now, start with something such as an Acai Berry capsule. PureAcaiBerry.com has such a capsule that contains 1500mg of Acai Berry that is immediately vacuum sealed and not tampered with. That way you get the most out of this superfood without having to locate it and prepare it. Throw in the other superfoods and you are in business.

Visit www.PureAcaiBerry.com to experience the best of Acai Berry!

So Acai Berry can:

• lower your blood pressure
• reduce your cholesterol levels
• lose weight
• feel younger and full of energy

If you are suffering a combination of being overweight and high blood pressure, a few months of taking Acai Berry could be a very sound choice.

For lowering blood pressure it’s the antioxidant resveratrol in Acai berry that has the most benefits. And onn a cost analysis it’s cheaper to get resveratrol through Acai berry than than red wine.

When you consider that Acai Berry contains up to 30 times the amount of resveratrol as red wine then Acai Berry wins hands down on red wine in every way. (But I still like my glass of wine! )

You can also get Acai berry capsules through Amazon in the UK and US

To your good health,

Simon

High hopes for a quick-fix

When I was first diagnosed with high blood pressure (160/110) I realized I had to make some changes. I had read somewhere that garlic was helpful to lower blood pressure and too much salt raised it.  So I reduced my salt consumption and ate garlic everyday hoping that would fix it.

It didn’t. My blood pressure remained high and later on went up to 190+.

You see, we all want a simple, quick fix to our problems. But the fact is that when it comes to high blood pressure it’s not quite so straightforward.

Here are your options …

Lower blood pressure with diet.

For example, I was asked the other day,  “Does cayenne pepper reduce blood pressure?”  Yes, cayenne has been shown to be beneficial to your heart and circulatory system. And yes, cayenne can help reduce your blood pressure. But no, simply taking a dose of cayenne everyday probably isn’t going to be the answer to your blood pressure problems.

The same could be said for other beneficial foods and  such as garlic, celery, oatmeal, bananas, apples, tomatoes, onions, dark chocolate, you-name-it. All these foods can assist in reducing your blood pressure and getting your body back in balance. But they can’t do it by themselves.

Mind you,  I’m talking about seriously high blood pressure here. Sure, any one of these foods eaten daily might help reduce your blood pressure a few points. But is that going to be much consolation to someone banging in at 175+ systolic?

Medications – quick, but no fix

If you think prescription medication is the simple fix for high blood pressure, think again. The pharmaceutical industry has yet to produce a drug that cures high blood pressure.

Sure, there are pills that can lower your blood pressure – if you continue to take them day after day. But it’s not a real cure because your blood pressure will shoot back up if you stop taking them regularly. Add to that all the unpleasant side effects many of us suffer from taking these drugs and you can see why alternative methods of  lowering your blood pressure naturally are better.

Additionally, when you consider the statistic that more people die of heart disease while on anti-hypertension medications than those who aren’t on them, you realise that these medications don’t offer the protection that we might have hoped for.

How to lower blood pressure naturally

If you have high blood pressure and want to lower it without medications (or make a gradual shift from medications to natural cures), here’s the skinny: you have to move to a healthier diet and compliment it with exercises.

Simply reducing salt consumption and eating a clove of garlic a day won’t cut it.

But don’t despair.  Reducing your blood pressure naturally isn’t rocket science. Anyone can do it.

And no, you’re not going to have to give up everything pleasurable in life and live like a monk.

The truth is, once you start shifting to a healthy blood pressure lifestyle you’ll find yourself enjoying life more, not less. Remember, good health is the underpinning of real  happiness and pleasure.

In a nutshell, you can lower your blood pressure naturally by:

• lowering your stress levels through meditation, Yoga, etc. (I prefer to use slow breathing exercises).
• get your heart beating and blood flowing through physical exercise such as walking, jogging, sking, etc. (I climb the hill behind my house regularly).
• eat less “bad” foods such as table salt, trans-fats, etc.
• eat more “good” foods such as vegetables, olive oil, fruit, etc.

That’s basically it. Using these techniques I have managed to lower my dangerously high blood pressure of 195 over 120 range in March (2009) to  125 over 85 range in the course of 4 to 5 months.

Help is at hand

I got guidance from  Kevin Riley’s excellent 12 week program for lowering high blood pressure. It comes in a thoroughly enjoyable book called  Get Natural!. Combined with doing the  BreathEasy slow breathing exercises my blood pressure began to drop week by week.

If you want to lower your blood pressure quickly and naturally you can get both these programs through this link – www.highbloodpressurehq.com (Last time I checked Get Natural! was offered as a free bonus with the BreathEasy audio program).

Ypu can try out out some BreathEasy audio samples if you’re skeptical like I was.

But I got to say, using these two programs  worked wonders for me. I feel better – physically and mentally. No more high blood pressure worries.

BreathEasy is the closest thing to a “quick fix” for high blood pressure you’re going to get. You blood pressure will drop even after doing a 15 minute slow breathing exercise.

Of course for a permanent cure to high blood pressure time and commitment is needed – along with a more comprehensive lifestyle change. But for the here and now, you cant any better than BreathEasy exercises.

Here’s to your future good health!

Take care,

Simon Foster

By the way, if taking 15 minutes a day to do a slow breathing exercise isn’t ‘your thing’ you can download Kevin Riley’s Get Natural! direct from his website through this link:  www.naturalbloodpressure.com

Alternative high blood pressure remedies are natural (non-pharmaceutical) approaches to lowering blood pressure back to healthy levels. Given the cost and many side effects experienced from long-term use of hypertension medications it’s understandable why alternative high blood pressure remedies are becoming a popular solution to the growing problem of high blood pressure.

High blood pressure remedies fall into two basic categories: diet and exercise.

Exercise that lowers blood pressure can be either physical or mental, or a combination of the both.

Physical exercise should focus on working the cardiovascular system – get the heart beating and blood circulating. If you haven’t exercised in a long time then start with taking a walk for 30  minutes a day and work up to more strenuous exercises like jogging or hill walking if you live in hill country. At first it will seem like hard work but as time goes on it gets easier and enjoyable as your cardiovascular system gets in shape – and your blood pressure begins to drop. Sex? Yes, that could help too.

Other high blood pressure remedies involve mental exercises.  Meditation, for example, has proven to be good for reducing stress, relaxing, and slowing down your system. Living fast and stressful lives results in higher blood pressure levels and re-programming yourself back to a more relaxed, less stressful existence can do a lot to lower blood pressure.

One mental/physical exercise to lower blood pressure that is becoming increasingly popular and promoted is slow breathing exercises. Take fifteen minutes a day off to breathe at a rate of approximately 6 breaths a minute and over a few weeks the cumulative effect is a reduction in blood pressure. This approach has now gained general acceptance and promotion. Drug stores sell machines to assist you in your slow breathing exercises. You can also purchase audio tapes with relaxing music and breathing cues to follow along with.

Another type of mental/physical blood pressure lowering exercise is a type of rhythmic walking. In this exercise you walk at a relaxed pace in a left/right/left/right rhythm, gently swinging your arms in co-ordination, and mentally or verbally making note of the pattern (i.e. saying left, right, left, right / yin,yang,yin,yang, etc. to yourself as you walk). Its main purpose is stress reduction but the physical exercise helps too. Practiced for 15 – 20 minutes every day the effect is a gradual reduction in blood pressure.

Most other high blood pressure remedies involve dietary changes. Dietary changes that help lower blood pressure fall into three categories: things to stop eating or eat less of; things to eat more of; supplements.

Things to eat less of include:

• processed foods,
• fats (particularly trans-fats and saturated fats),
• baked goods (donuts, etc.),
• French fries,
• fried chicken,
• pastries (anything that contains partially hydrogenated vegetable oils),
• red meat,
• white flour,
• table salt.

Things to eat more of include:

• nuts,
• bananas,
• celery,
• apples,
• onions,
• garlic,
• cayenne pepper,
• red wine,
• dark chocolate,
• fish,
• tomatoes,
• naturally harvested sea salt,
• extra virgin olive oil,
• apple cider vinegar,
• oatmeal, water,
• whole grains,
• chamomile tea.

Supplements may include:

• Hawthorn tincture,
• vitamin C,
• vitamin E,
• Calcium,
• vitamin B12,
• Magnesium,
• Folic Acid,
• Potassium,
• Vitamin D (sunshine).

Keep in mind that just as there is no one single cause of hypertension there is also no single cure for all people. If you suffer from extremely high blood pressure be prepared to incorporate a number of high blood pressure remedies into your life. All the remedies outlined above compliment and strengthen each other. Blood pressure does not come down overnight. But if you introduce positive changes into your life through diet and exercise you can bring your blood pressure back to healthy levels. It worked for me.

Tip: If you want to skip all the reviewing and start lowering your blood pressure today, get the BreathEasy program along with Kevin Riley’s Get Natural! (comes as a bonus).

Whatever the cause of your high blood pressure, stress, genetics, diet, lifestyle, etc., BreathEasy and Get Natural! will get you on the road to lower blood pressure (and a grateful heart).

I can personally vouch for these two programs. By using them I have lowered my blood pressure from 192/120 to 125/85 (or less) in the past six months. And I haven’t felt better for years!

Click on the link: www.highbloodpressurehq.com (BreathEasy & Get Natural!)

Check out David O’Hara’s (BreathEasy) short video below.

www.highbloodpressurehq.com

Because I run this blog on hypertension and natural cures, every now and then I get emails from people promoting this or that natural remedy to lower high blood pressure. Sometimes they sound interesting.

Here’s an email I got today from Bob Andrews:

High blood pressure runs in my family, so its not that surprising that I developed it too.

My mother, who is diabetic, has had high blood pressure for many years. She went

the conventional route and is on a cocktail of medications. They’re always having to

balance them and every so often it doesn’t work. Her blood pressure shoots up above

200 and they have to do another balancing act to get it back down. She currently

takes 3-4 medications together.

When I found out I had high blood pressure I didn’t want to go down that road.

I’m kind of a take charge kind of guy when it comes to my own destiny, so I didn’t

want to take high blood pressure medications. I don’t want to take any kind of pill

a medical doctor says I have to take every day. I would rather put my body back

in the right balance, so I sought out natural cures.

When you say “natural cure” people tend to think you’re talking about taking

herbs or something like that. But what I found was, you don’t have to do that when

it comes to high blood pressure. It turns out that high blood pressure is the result

of the body being out of natural balance-and you can fix that with simple lifestyle

changes.

See that’s the problem with medications.  Sure they lower blood pressure, but they

do it by fixing the end result. That is they get rid of the symptom but not the cause.

You see, high blood pressure is a symptom that your body isn’t functioning quite

right-its not really a disease in itself. Its really a problem of balance.

Well there are a few basic areas that you can work on. First, let’s talk about

breathing exercises, something I mentioned in a previous email. I can’t

emphasize enough how much breathing exercises help lower blood pressure. This

works because your body is out of balance with stress and tension, and the

breathing exercises help put you back in balance by getting rid of that tension.

Next on my list is getting lots of potassium in the diet. Most adults simply don’t

get enough, in fact some studies say we get half the amount of potassium that

our bodies really need. Potassium balances with sodium to manage nerve and

muscle function and fluid balance in the body. It acts to help the blood vessels

relax. So you can see that potassium helps lower blood pressure.

There are may other examples, but I don’t have the space to go into them here.

But I’d like to make a point before I go. Notice I haven’t mentioned any special

herbs or treatments. Potassium is found naturally in many foods you probably

enjoy like apples and oranges. The point is you can cure blood pressure naturally

without taking any supplements or herbs.

There is no one fix-it cure-all that will work for every single person, although

the breathing exercises come close. That’s why you need to attack on several

fronts if you’re going to utilize natural ways to combat blood pressure. Potassium

and breathing are just two examples.

Best Regards,

Bob

Hawthorn trees and Hawthorn tincture

Hawthorn is one of the three sacred trees of the Irish and has always played a big role in Celtic folklore.As a symbol of protection a cutting was placed on doorways to ward off evil.Ribbons were also placed on the tree as decorations on May Day.

Although Hawthorn don’t grow very large they are tough and can live for up to 400 years.Today the Hawthorn is found clinging onto the mountainsides here in Wales and is often used as a hedgerow shrub.

Welsh Mountain Hawthorn

The hawthorn berry has long been regarded as a ‘heart herb’. Tinctures and teas made from it has been used to relieve stress and strengthen the heart by the Druids.

Modern science backs these beliefs. Hawthorn has a mixture of phenols that strengthen the heart, lower cholesterol, reduce resistance in arteries, and lowers blood pressure. It acts as a vacillator – helping the arteries to relax and widen and let the blood flow more smoothly with less pressure.

One Iranian study showed a significant decrease in blood pressure over a three-
month period of using Hawthorn. The effects of Hawthorn build up over time if taken regularly. Hawthorn’s cardio-protective effect actually gets stronger over time.

Hawthorn (using the berries and flowers) can be taken as a tea or a tincture. I take it every morning – 25 to 30 drops of tincture in a glass of water. You can buy Hawthorn tincture at most good health food shops. Or you can make your own.

To make Hawthorn tincture pick the flowers in the May/early June and the berries in late September/October. Place the berries and flowers in a jar and fill the jar with a spirit of 50% to 60% volume alcohol. Strong vodka is usually recommended but I have used moonshine with good results. Leave the mixture for 2 – 4 weeks out of direct sunlight. Then strain it and dispose of the solid stuff. Store the tincture in small dark bottles with a dropper for easy access and use.

Take 25 – 30 drops of Hawthorn tincture up to three times daily for cumulative and beneficial results and lower blood pressure.

Consider Hawthorn a powerful ally in your arsenal to fight high blood pressure and restore good health. Taken with a health diet and ample exercise and you should see your blood pressure come start to come down in no time at all.

By the way, if you need to lower your blood pressure starting today, and want to accomplish it without taking medications, I can give no better recommendation than Kevin Riley’s 12 week program  Get Natural! Following this program I managed to lower my blood pressure from 190+/120+ to 125/85 in less than 12 weeks.

Get Natural! is both easy to follow, fun to read, and it works.

Get Natural! comes as a free bonus as part of the BreathEasy slow breathing exercise program.

I would personally endorse the BreathEasy program too. I do a 15 minute slow breathing exercise most nights before bed. It’s very relaxing and even in the span of 15 minutes by blood pressure will drop 10 points or more.

You can check out some free samples of  BreathEasy audio tracks at this link:  www.highbloodpressurehq.com

These two programs have worked wonders for me.