Posts Tagged ‘hypertension’

How I lowered blood pressure without drugs

It’s been just over 5 months since I dispensed with high blood pressure medications (that weren’t working and had unpleasant side effects) and began exploring alternative cures.

Yesterday was a big milestone. For the first time ever my blood pressure was monitored below the much slated ideal of 120/80. After doing a slow breathing exercise for 15 minutes it came in as 116/79.

Of course I was suspicious at first as because my blood pressure is usually in the 125-135 / 85-95 range. Given that my parents both suffered from high blood pressure and my higher blood pressure is most likely ‘in the genes’. So I figured that’s about as good as it’ll get for me. So I took the reading again at it this time it came in at 111/ 76 – amazing!

Amazing when you consider I was consistently 190+/120+ only five months before, plagued by headaches, heart palpitations, and the end of my life seemed to be approaching rapidly. You could say I’ve come a long way.

So what’s the secret to my new found health and ‘normal’ blood pressure? Two things – Diet and Exercise.

Exercise includes:

1. A 30 minute walk up the hill behind my house that gets my lungs and hearts working two or three time a week
2. Taking 15 minutes off for a slow breathing exercise (assisted by BreathEasy audio tracks)

Diet includes:

1. Drinking water more often (I prefer it carbonated)
2. Having a bowl of oatmeal every morning
3. Supplementing my daily diet with 500mg Vitamin C, multi vitamin (including 100mg Magnesium), 600mg Calcium, Cod Liver Oil capsules (Omega 3), 60mg Ginkgo Biloba, 160mg Korean Ginseng, 30 drops of Hawthorn tincture
4. Virtually eliminating processed foods now sticking with the basics.
5. Apples, bananas, celery, onions, garlic, tomatoes, (among other things of course).
6. Cayenne powder, apple cider vinegar, and only the best extra vigin olive oil.
7. Reduction in the amount of salt I consume. I now use the Celtic Sea Salt (Sel de Gurerande) naturally harvested from the coast of Brittanny, France (as they have done it for centuries)
8. Less red meat, more chicken and fish (but not the skin)
9. Red wine and dark chocolate everyday … and more nuts.

In a nutshell that’s about it. I now live a much healthier, relaxed and trouble free life with optimal blood pressure as well. It’s more than I would have imagined 5 months ago but now there’s no turning back. My final curtains have receded well off into the distant future.

How did I know what to do and eat to lower my dangerously high blood pressure? I did a lot of research and reading but the two indispensable helpers was Kevin Riley’s Guide Get Natural! Drop your Blood Pressure and BreathEasy.

Kevin Riley’s Get Natural! is the most informative (and enjoyable to read) guide on lowering blood pressure naturally without the use of medication. It really is top of the ‘lower your blood pressure advice’ mountain in my opinion.

BreathEasy audio tracks are also a great way to take 15 minutes off everyday and completely relax and calm down. I’m sure this is good for your whole-self, not just heart and blood pressure.

Well that’s what has worked for me. Please leave a comment and tell us what’s worked for you.

If you’ve been diagnosed with high blood pressure at the doctor’s office then you should be concerned but don’t jump to the conclusion that you have life threatening hypertension. Having a high blood pressure reading on one occasion does not mean you suffer from high levels all the time.

Having extraordinarily high blood pressure readings at a doctor’s office is quite common. So common they even have a name for it – “White Coat Syndrome”. Simply being in the doctor’s office can raise our blood pressure above our normal range.

The funny thing is that White Coat Syndrome can affect you even if you don’t consciously feel tense at the doctor’s. I always felt calm at the doctor’s but blood pressure readings would routinely be some 20 points higher there than at home.

The only way to get a true picture of your blood pressure condition is to get your own monitor and take readings from time to time. There are a number of benefits of getting your own monitor.

First, you’ll get to know what your blood pressure is outside of the doctor’s office. That’s the blood pressure that counts. If it’s still way to high you need to start treating it.

Secondly, having your own blood pressure monitor allows you to tell what is working for you to bring your blood pressure down. It allows you to experiment, choose the best methods, and stick with it till your blood pressure is where you want it.

Perhaps most importantly, having your own blood pressure puts you back in the driver’s seat. This is where you want to be if your are serious about getting your blood pressure down and restore your health.

I purchased a blood pressure monitor online from Lloyds Pharmacy last winter for just under £15. Of course I could have spent a lot more but the BP II seemed the best price for a decent battery-operated monitor with arm cuff. It reads systolic, diastolic, and pulse rate. It has worked properly without complaint. It includes a memory so you can check back on the previous 60 readings. I’ve yet to change the 4 AA batteries.

I ordered online and it was delivered to my door the next day. Here’s a link to Lloyds:

LloydsPharmacy
or Boots if you prefer.

For a wider selection check out:

amazon.co.uk/blood-pressure-monitors for the UK, or
amazon.com/blood-pressure-monitors for the US

Getting your own blood pressure is a vital first step getting a handle on your blood pressure and herding it in to the safely coral.

(Emma, who works in a pharmacy and seems to be ‘in the know’, says “don’t buy a wrist monitor – they’re not that accurate”)

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

Carrying on the theme of eating yourself to lower blood pressure, I should mention that I like to eat salad regularly – sometimes as a meal in its own right.

What’s different about the salads I make and how do they help keep my blood pressure down?

First of all I like to add a small tin of tuna to my salad. Not only does this ‘bulk it out’ and make it more of a meal but fish contains essential oils good for your  circulatory system. (Fish is one of the leanest source of protein and also contains omega-3 fatty acids, which have a positive effect on the blood system. In short, fish fights hypertension (and tastes great).

I buy the tuna in brine but drain it before drowning heaps of extra virgin olive oil, a decent wallop of apple cider vinegar, crushed garlics, and liberal sprinkles of cayenne pepper. This then forms a fantastic tasting salad dressing and every ingredient helps keep the blood pressure get down and stay down.

How so?

Garlic both prevents and cures atherosclerosis (hardening of your arteries). It not only slows the build up of dangerous plaque on the walls of your arteries it can even reverse the process.

Olive oil has a beneficial mix of polyphenols, tocopherols, and oleic acid … all good
allies in the fight against hypertension. Eating garlic can make your arteries young again. (Get the cold-pressed extra virgin stuff as it contains the most benefits – and tastes better).

Both cayenne pepper and apple cider vinegar have been long noted for their beneficial properties to cure all sorts of ailments – including hypertension. As a strong tonic for for high blood pressure some people will drink a glass of water everyday with a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and cayenne pepper added. (I’m not quite ready for that one!)

Make sure you have some celery, tomatoes and onions in your salad. Both these vegetables  provide a boost to your blood system and help lower your blood pressure.

There’s a flavonoid in celery called apigenin that dilates blood vessels and lowers blood pressure. Celery also contains a unique chemical called 3-n-butyl phthalide which has been singled out as the main compound that lowers blood pressure.

Tomatoes contain an antioxidant is called lycopene which helps in the prevention of heart disease and some types of cancer – as well as lower blood pressure.

Onions contain a flavonoid called quercetin – a strong antioxidant. Quercetin lowers blood pressure, slow heart rate, and improves the inner lining of arteries.

So there you have it. Here’s a run down of all the blood pressure lowering foods I ad to every salad I eat:

fish, garlic, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, cayenne pepper, onions, tomatoes, and celery.

Of course I add other things like lettuce, peppers, olives, cucumber, etc., and they all taste great and are good for you … but its the upper list that will actively work to lower your blood pressure and keep it low.

Got any great blood pressure lowering recipes? Send them this way!

Good eating folks.

While scouring  weblogs world for interesting articles on high blood pressure I came across this  article written by Christian Goodman.

If you don’t know who Christian Goodman is, he’s the promoter of the popular “3 easy exercises to lower your blood to below 120/80 in as little as a week.” (You can read my in depth review of his program. Link in the column to the right.)

What interesting about this article is that he focuses on bad foods and unhealthy environments causing high blood pressure. However, the 3 exercises he promotes are all based on the assumption that stress the main, if not the only, cause of high blood pressure.

Does this article suggest a change in direction for Christian?

Here’s in article as posted on: totalhorrormovies.com/how-toxins-and-pollution-affects-high-blood-pressure

How Toxins and Pollution Affects High Blood Pressure

So much is said about high blood pressure and the potentially disastrous health consequences if left untreated (heart attack, stroke, blindness, and all sorts of other scary health concerns) that almost everyone over the age of thirty knows at least something about it.

This is why I write so in a large extent about this condition and the fact that it is so very treatable.

We are all informed of things to avoid such as high sodium foods, processed foods, fast food, red meat, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine and tobacco.

Not everyone knows why we shouldn’t do this. The fact is that these types of foods all contain some sort of toxin which can affect ones health – high blood pressure being the topic of today’s article.

Sodium and caffeine can elevate blood pressure thou they are not inherently poisonous. This is especially true of people who have a family history or other issues such as being over weight that already increases their risk for hypertension.

Many processed foods and fast foods are comprised of a high amount of trans fats, sodium and cholesterol. Be wary of some diet foods as they sometimes replace sugar with chemicals high in sodium and are oftentimes not lower in fat.

Red meats, even those not processed or cured can be cause for alarm because you are basically eating whatever toxin the animal ate before it became your meal.

Alcohol and nicotine/tobacco, while not foods are things people inclined to ingest or breathe in in overabundance. While I don’t see a problem with limited alcohol consumption, research has suggested there is no safe cigarette. Keep in mind that these are by definition poisons to our bodies.

Also in the toxins category are medications, both over the counter and prescription. If you have any history of hypertension it is very important to let your doctor know because they can raise blood pressure.

Now, new research on animals has shown that when exposed to daily air pollutants (much lower levels than seen in many developing countries and parts of the U.S.), even short term, blood pressure was raised as much as 25%.

While we can carpool and recycle (yes, I’m a big believer!), we can’t control what goes on globally. Likewise, a hyperbaric chamber isn’t something we can budget for either.

Anyone who suffers from hypertension, I would highly recommend my High Blood Pressure program. It’s all natural breathing and relaxation exercises have shown amazing results and its something you can do no matter what the environment to help bring down your blood pressure.

Christian Goodman is a well known health researcher and the author of several revolutionary natural health alternative methods. One of his most popular breakthroughs is his natural high blood pressure cure. You can learn more about Christian on his Natural Health Blog.

My response:

Simon Foster

I would have to agree that the food we eat can both be a problem and a solution to high blood pressure problems.

Moderation is the key. For example salt. Everyone needs some in their diet to remain healthy – but eating lots of processed foods or eating out at restaurants gives us way too much – even if we never touch a salt shaker.

I still like a cup of real coffee (not decaffeinated) in the morning but don’t drink so much anymore. I know it might raise my blood pressure a bit but only temporarily.

Good morning. And a very good morning it is.

Mornings play  an important part of my diet that has helped me to lower my blood pressure and keep it low.

Here’s how it goes:

I start with a glass of water as soon as I rise from bed. I prefer the carbonated water available in bottles from the store. But that’s just the kid in me. As far as I am aware carbonated water has no greater health benefits than still water.

After my first glass is consumed I pour myself another but with this one I add a squirt (25 – 30 drops) of Hawthorn tincture. It adds a subtle and refreshing taste to the water but it’s not the taste I’m after. Hawthorn flowers and berries act as a vacillator. They relax and widen blood vessels in the most pleasant manner.  One shot in the morning for me is plenty although for bad cases of high blood pressure some three shots a day is recommended.  (I make my own Hawthorn tincture as Hawthorn grows strong and potent up here on the Welsh mountainsides – but I’ll leave the details for another post if anyone is interested.)

So after my two glasses of water I’ll sometimes move to a cup of freshly brewed coffee. Not the decaffeinated variety but coffee straight from the bean – as nature intended. I say ‘sometimes’ because I used to drink coffee every morning as a rule – and lots of it. Now it’s a matter of choice – not habit or compulsion.

Later in the morning as hunger begins to rise its head I prepare a bowl of oatmeal.  As far as I am concerned, oats are the best health food anywhere – not just for high blood pressure but for all around good health. This traditional staple of the Scots.

A study in Chicago found that – in a group of people on hypertension drugs – eating
oat cereal daily for 12 weeks reduced … or eliminated their need for blood-pressure
medication. Dr Joseph Keenan noted that a diet containing soluble fiber-rich oat
cereals … greatly improved control of the patients’ hypertension.

Why is oatmeal so effective in reducing hypertension?

In a nutshell, oatmeal (or even better, oat bran) contains beta-glucan which helps to moderate our blood sugar  and insulin levels. It keeps your body in balance avoiding blood sugar spikes and avoids insulin insensitivity enabling your body to better store magnesium, which aids in the relaxing and expansion of you blood vessels. The results is lower blood pressure. I’m not a trained biologist but that’s how it was explained to me.

With my bowl of oatmeal I take some vitamin supplements currently composing of one multi-vitamin pill (containing magnesium among other things), one vitamin C pill, and one Calcium pill.  I also take some cod liver oil (rich in Omege-3) in gelatin capsules,  some Ginkgo and Ginseng for general well-being as well as lowering blood pressure.

The outcome of this morning diet is another enjoyable day with improved blood pressure and general well-being – better prepared to deal with all the muck that life sometimes throws at you.

This works for me. what Works for you?

There is no single answer for the question – what causes high blood pressure and high pulse rate. In the majority of cases it remain unknown and is put down to genetics. It certainly seems to run in families.

Regardless of causes you can reduce your blood pressure permanently through diet and exercise. (I speak from direct experience – not something I read somewhere.)

You may have heard of the DASH diet standing for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. It’s a simple overview but worth a look. I uploaded a copy and you should be able to download a pdf copy (Adobe Reader) by clicking here. (It’s written  and published by a government department so don’t expect it to be too racy or entertaining.)

So here are some of my favorite foods good for high blood pressure:

• bananas (full of potassium)
• apples
• extra virgin olive oil
• apple cider vinegar
• oatmeal and oat bran
• red wine (a glass a day)
• dark chocolate (min 70% cocoa)
• whole grain cereals
• nuts
• chamomile tea
• salads

The list could of course go on but the list above include things I eat regularly if not daily. Chamomile tea works on relaxing your nervous system (like slow breathing exercises) while other foods listed above have substances that directly affect your circulatory system in a positive way – repairing and expanding your artery walls and strengthening your heart.

To get the full picture foods, including their history, interesting facts, and how and why they work, I’d recommend Keven Riley’s Get Natural! Drop Your Blood Pressure. Of everything I have read so far on foods good for high blood pressure this guide has been the most informative and enjoyable to read.

The best way to lower your blood pressure and get your body back in balance is through diet and exercise. It’s really as simple as that.

The worst way, in my opinion, is also the most common – taking prescription medication to artificially lower your blood pressure while not changing the factors that led to high blood pressure in the first place.

So what causes high blood pressure?

Some people might object saying that high blood pressure is caused by genetic factors outside if their control.

I would agree that a lot of blood pressure problems can be ascribed to genetic factors. But that’s not the same as saying there is nothing can be done about it – or saying  prescription medication is the only solution.

Some people, like myself, seem to be genetically predisposed to high blood pressure. It runs in my family apparently. My mother had high blood pressure and my father who is still alive regularly takes half a dozen pills a day for this and that including high blood pressure.

I have taken another path. Instead of resigning myself to a lifetime on pills I have made an effort to re-regulate my blood pressure through diet and exercise.

What is considered high blood pressure / hypertension?

The old rule of thumb was 100 plus your age was an acceptable blood pressure given that it was accepted that blood pressure naturally rises with age. The new regime says that everyone should be at or below 120/80. This has been a great boon to international pharmaceutical corporations given that virtually everyone above the age of forty is now eligible to be prescribed a lifetime of daily pills. If I sound cynical it’s because I am.

Lowering my blood pressure through diet and exercise hasn’t been instant. But my blood pressure has kept down over the months to an acceptable level. No, I’ll probably never enjoy blood pressure consistently below 120/80 -  it’s not in my genes. But as long as I consistently remain below 140/105 (usually in the 130/90 range) I figure that’s OK for me. I’m not in a high risk category for heart disease or stroke. And I feel better and more fit than I have for many years.

So why do I shun hypertension medications? It’s not the cost. I could get them for free here in the UK. No, it’s because blood pressure lowering medications do not fix the problem. If they did, after your blood pressure was down you could stop taking them. But the pharmaceutical industry has yet to create a drug that can really fix blood pressure. Sure, their drugs artificially lower your blood pressure. But stop taking them and it shoots right back up.

Statistics show that more people die from heart disease and stroke while on blood pressure lowering medication. That’s not to say that these medications are causing heart disease or strokes. But if you think that your safer on them then think again.

And then there’s the side effects. My only experience with a blood pressure lowering medication was for 8 week with Rampril – an ACE inhibitor. For 8 weeks I had an irritating dry cough day and night while my blood pressure refused to come down from its 190+/120+ readings. I’ve read about even worse side effects with some other medications but have no experience to validate.

So .. the Rambril went in the bin and I embarked on a new regime of diet and exercise. Within one month my blood pressure was beginning to drop. Within 3 months my BP readings were consistently below 135/95 occasionally as low as 118/79 (rare but does happen).

Diets to control high blood pressure … or … recipes for hypertension

Blood pressure lowering diet means eating less of somethings and eating more of others. It’s not all about moving simply to a bland diet of ‘healthy foods’ that suck much of the culinary pleasures out of life. Not at all. My new diet included things like a glass of red wine and dark chocolate one a day. among other things.

My new diet also involves a bowl of oatmeal every morning and some vitamin supplements. Currently I take each morning calcium, vitamin C, multi vitamin (that includes magnesium – very important) , cod liver oil (in capsules), and Korean ginseng, and ginkgo extract. I also have 20 odd drops of Hawthorn tincture in a glass of water every day.  I make the tincture myself as we are blessed with many Hawthorn trees here growing up on the mountains.

Blood pressure lowering exercises involve walking more. For me it’s a 20 minute hike up the mountain when the weather is friendly. (I live part way up a mountain in Wales). When I get to my summit I eat an apple I usually take with me. Yep, that’s part of my diet.

Other exercises involve slowing you system down with breathing exercises and the like.  One exercise involves a kind of rhythmic walking which I’ll do indoors when the weather is miserable (like today).

I hope over the coming weeks to fill in all the details of my diet and exercise that has worked so remarkably well in lowering my blood pressure from dangerously high levels as a resource for others struggling with high blood pressure problems too.

If you have any questions and or suggestions please leave a comment. I will attempt to answer all feedback.

Take care, we’re all in this together.

P.S. If you suffer from high blood pressure and are considering alternative treatments being promoted on the web, be sure to check out my review pages (links on the right hand column). I’ve checked most of the popular ones out and give you an objective assessment – warts and all!

The acceptable range of blood pressure is debatable. The new regime of defining everything over 120/80 as hypertension (or pre-hypertension) is more a “confluence of interests” than scientific fact.

The former “rule of thumb” for acceptable blood pressure levels went like this:

- systolic 100 + your age

In other words, it was accepted that blood pressure would rise as one aged.

The new regime is must simpler. It says that 120/80 and below is OK. Up to 140/90 is “pre-hypertension”. And anything over 140/90 is hypertension.

The 120/80 is now the one-size-fits all model. “Pre-hypertension” is regularly treated with prescription medication to prevent it from turning into “the dreaded silent killer” hypertension.

The new regime has resulted in a multi-billion dollar boom to the pharmaceutical industry dealing in blood pressure regulating medications leading some to question this shift to regulating blood pressure at lower levels.

Is it more motivated by profit than health?

Doctor are caught between a rock and a hard thing regardless of their own professional judgment. They are bombarded almost daily by sales literature from powerful pharmaceutical companies that can and do sway the prevailing opinions of accepted medical practice. Doctors leave themselves open to malpractice litigation if they don’t follow the newly established measurements and procedures.

But a blood pressure measurement of 120/80 is not necessarily ‘normal’ – rather it’s an ideal.

If your BP is consistently near to 120/80 range then pat yourself on the back. It doesn’t get much better. The other  95% of us in our 40s and above require a range a little more flexible to remain in reality and avoid becoming a lifelong medication junkie.

The upper ‘safe’ range has been suggested to be 140/100 and below.

If you are on or below this range, and over the age of 40, you don’t have life-threatening high blood pressure. Now is the time to think about lifestyle changes to ensure it doesn’t get too much higher.

In other words, it’s normal to have slightly higher blood pressure levels as one ages. Welcome to the human race.

What isn’t normal is to have desperately high blood pressure levels. If you’re measuring in at over 150/110 It’s time to act.

That doesn’t necessarily mean running to your doctor to get a prescription.

High  blood pressure is an indication that your body is out of balance. You can get your body back in balance through exercise and diet. See my Natural Cures Review for more information.

I brought my blood pressure from close to 200/120 down to 130/90 range in four months through diet and exercise. Six months on it is now usually below 130/90. And I’ve never felt better.

Mind you I only embarked on alternative remedies for high blood pressure after two months of medication (ACE inhibitor).  That medication was a total failure for me.  It gave me a persistent dry cough and didn’t bring my BP down at all.

Had I stayed with the medication route I’m sure the doctor would have found some combination of chemicals that forced my BP to lower levels but that’s hardly a cure. And it would have turned me into a lifelong pill popper.

So, three things to remember:

1. If your BP reading are consistently under 140/100, relax, you’re OK.
2. If your readings are consistently over 140/105 then it’s time to take action.
3. There are better ways to reduce your blood pressure to acceptable levels than taking daily doses of blood pressure lowering drugs.

Best wishes,

Simon

Anytime I browse the web for high blood pressure articles I come across a boat load of conformist scaremongering.

It’s as if a party line on high blood pressure had been handed out and everyone is preaching from the same sermon.

The pharmaceutical bosses must be smiling themselves to sleep every night. Sales are good – and increasing.

Here’s an example I came across a few minutes ago form www.naturalproductssolution.com/devastating-effects-of-high-blood-pressure

Devastating Effects of High Blood Pressure

High Blood Pressure also called hypertension, is elevated pressure of the blood in the arteries. Blood pressure is the measurement of force applied to artery walls High blood pressure has to be taken seriously. It is a serious disease, the cause of which is more or less unknown. What we do know is that left untreated, high blood pressure over time can lead to serious heart disease and other vascular troubles, even death. Health professionals think that there are some genetic factors but as yet they cannot pin down the range of specific genes involved that cause high blood pressure. Studies suggest that people suffering from chronic high blood pressure may come from autonomic nervous system that controls heart rate, blood pressure and the blood vessels.

Detrimental effects of high blood pressure

It is the reason why high blood pressure has been called the “silent killer”. High blood pressure has detrimental effects on many organs like kidneys, eyes, and heart. High blood pressure is the primary cause of death in over 120,000 cases last year and contributes to 75% of all strokes and heart attacks and even more in African Americans. Research suggests that people with mild high blood pressure have three times more likely to have a heart attack as people with normal blood pressure and ten times the normal risk of stroke depending on the severity of the blood pressure. High blood pressure can also cause mental problems such as memory lost .

Fortunately, controlling blood pressure with the proper treatment can reduce or prevent those health complications. Healthy life style is a must for anyone with blood pressure (120/80mm Hg) and above in order to prevent serious complications of that disease.

My response:

High Blood Pressure is not a disease – it’s a condition brought on when a body gets out of balance.

High Blood pressure doesn’t “kill people”. It’s not a ‘thing’ – it’s a measurement. Of course extremely high blood pressure is sign that your circulatory system is approaching collapse. So heed its warnings.

120/80 is the now established ideal blood pressure rating – not a number that everyone can or should try to achieve (no more than everyone should try to force their feet into the ideal sized shoe.)

Anyone can reduce their blood pressure to a safe level (under 140/105) through exercise and diet.

Forcing it down with medications (and possibly suffering undesirable side effects) is not very wise … especially considering that statistically more deaths occur from heart disease and stroke while people are on these medications than those who do no on them.

Unfortunately the medical establishment as a whole has caught on and continue to push pills left right and center.

The answer? Lower your blood pressure naturally. Get your body back in balance through diet and exercise. Get healthy again. If I can do it anyone can.