If you have high blood pressure you should do the following:
Lose weight if you're overweight.
Quit smoking if you smoke.
Be more active, striving to exercise at least 30 minutes a day.
Eat a healthy diet based on your body type and if you’r salt sensitive stop salt.
Cut back on alcohol to no more than one drink a day for women and two a day for men.
Get your spine in proper alignment. (The “Journal of Human Hypertension” released a study indicating chiropractic neck adjustments lower blood pressure better than two medications given at the same time.)
For some people, this advice (and following through with it) is enough to get their blood pressure back to normal levels.
If the above recommendations don’t seem to correct the problem then there are additional things to consider.
Seeking emotional stability
If you are not handling stress properly we can help outline a program to resolve that.
Isometric exercises and breathing
New studies show that by using isometric gripping exercises you can reduce your blood pressure considerably. Also Controlled breathing, trying to maintain less than 10 breaths a minute can lower blood pressure. I would recommend two websites: zona.com and lowermypressure.com.
Minerals like potassium and magnesium can be the cause for some people’s high blood pressure if your low in them.
Foods that are high in potassium:
Apricots, avocado, bananas, cantaloupe, melons, kiwi, lima beans, milk, oranges and orange juice, potatoes, prunes, spin age, tomatoes, meat, fish, and poultry.
Foods high in magnesium:
Whole grain bread, dark green leafy vegetables, halibut, most kinds of nuts, especially almonds and cashews, soybeans, oatmeal, potatoes, peanut butter, black-eyed peas, and yogurt.
Other nutrients like garlic, Co-q-10, Hawthorne, L- arginine, fish oils, apple cider vinegar, cayenne pepper, ginseng and green or oolong tea have all been shown beneficial.
The salt myth
Research shows that for the vast majority of people,natural salt (sea salts) consumption does not raise blood pressure. The truth is avoiding salt can be dangerous to your health.
One study in the “Journal of Human Hypertension” (13:777-80, 1999) concluded that substituting table salt for potassium, magnesium, sodium salt... 9 out of 20 elderly hypertensive patients experienced an 11 point drop in their daytime systolic blood pressure. It turns out that natural sea salt rich in natural potassium, magnesium and sodium helps to normalize healthy blood pressure levels. un less your sodium sensitive, chances are your high blood pressure stems from a lack of the correct ratio of key minerals. Salt is basically sodium chloride and sodium ions, the two major components of salt, are necessary for survival for all known living creatures, including humans.
Don’t be afraid of the sun
Vitamin D is plentiful in sunlight, and it is necessary for a healthy immune system. The UV rays from the sun have been found to boost mood, which may lower blood pressure.
Get a good nights sleep
Not getting enough sleep can raise your blood pressure. If you don’t feel like you’re sleeping as well as you should, and especially if your sleeping partner complains that you are snoring more than normal, you might want to get a snore guard from our office to improve your sleep.
Eat more chocolate
A recent study published in the “Archives of Internal Medicine” found that eating or drinking cocoa lowers blood pressure and reduces the risk of death in older men. A substance known as flavan-3-ols found in dark chocolate has been shown to lower blood pressure and improve the function of cells lining the blood vessels. Men who ate chocolate regularly over a 15 year study were found to have lower blood pressure than those who didn’t, even when weight, smoking, physical activity and other factors were taken into account. Remember it’s dark chocolate, I recommend finding one that has cocoa content 80% or higher. Don’t eat the whole bar just break off one layer per day.
Drink your water
Dehydration can increase your blood pressure.
Water needs are based on body weight. The formula is half the body weight considered in ounces. For example a 100 pound person’s cleansing dose would be 50 ounces of fluids per day. 80% of that would be the minimum dose, for instance 80% of 50 ounces is 40 ounces. For a hundred pound person they should drink between 40 to 50 ounces a day to keep hydrated otherwise they become dehydrated which can lead to several different health problems, high blood pressure is just one of them.
