Blood pressure, also called hypertension, is caused by a large amount of pressure exerted against the walls of the arteries as high-pressure blood flows through them. In the United States, nearly 85 million people have high blood pressure. Every 1 in 3 people over 20 have suffered from high blood pressure, reported American Heart Association.
High blood pressure is a serious health risk for people if they are left untreated or uncontrolled. It would bring forth many other negative health issues such as vision loss, heart failure, stroke, kidney disease, diabetes and other illnesses.
However, there are a few fundamental strategies to treat high blood pressure without undergoing any kind of medication. These are natural remedies that are possible to get rid of hypertension provided you follow the below given strategies to controlled blood pressure.
Here are five key natural strategies to treat the condition.
Maintain your weight
Doing physical exercise daily is a very important factor as it assists to keep your body fit and healthy.
"Blood pressure goes up as weight does, so, losing just 10 pounds can help reduce your blood pressure," noted Mayo Clinic.
Even if you think doing heavy physical exercise would be a tough job, you could still walk briskly for an hour or two which would help to keep your body fit physically.
Reduce intake of salt
"A healthier diet will help control blood pressure," advised Centre for Disease and Prevention.
One of the biggest risk factors for hypertension is consuming more salts. Most of the salt that we get from processed foods and restaurant meals affect the level of blood pressure as it contains a large amount of sodium. However, reducing intake of sodium in your diet would assist you to control high blood pressure.
Adding more quantity of potassium in your diet would neutralize the effects of sodium concentration on blood pressure. Health experts recommend that consuming a large number of fruits and vegetables and no alcohol would potentially control blood pressure.
Drink less coffee
Coffee is one of the most preferred beverages across the globe. But, if we visualize from the health point of view, coffee has got a negative impact on blood pressure as it tends to boost the effects of stress on the body.
Mayo Clinic states that research is not definitive- caffeine may only have a drastic effect on the blood pressure of people who don't often drink coffee- but it's better to be safe than sorry.
Testing your blood pressure after 30 minutes of drinking coffee would make you understand the real negative effect of coffee.
Don't stress more
Stress is one of the greatest emotional factors which have a huge negative impact on health. So, let us not try to speak of stress anymore now. Carrying more stress drives people to smoke, drink or entail in other unhealthy activities. The people who undergo various kinds of stresses in their life are more likely to suffer from hypertension.
However, there are a couple of fundamental strategies which would help to control your stress, which include drinking herbal tea, exercising, listening to soothing music and leaving work at the workplace.
Practising meditation at least 10 to 20 minutes each day could help to control stress and as a consequence, hypertension.
Taking rest after hard work is crucial as it is important for healing and restoration. One should get enough sleep for at least seven to eight hours every night. However, people who sleep less than 5 hours may have a risk for high blood pressure. Sleeping fewer hours would worsen blood pressure as it hurts the body's ability to regulate stress hormones, thus increasing blood pressure. Due to sleep deprivation and hypertension, people may suffer from sleep apnoea, a condition in which breathing is disrupted during sleep at night.
