Lowering your blood pressure is within your reach
Prescription medication is only one way to lower your blood pressure. There are many lifestyle changes you can make to decrease your blood pressure levels. Coupling medication with these habits can have wonderful effects.
Here are 7 ways to naturally lower your blood pressure.
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Eat dark chocolate
How deliciously wonderful – chocolate with more than 60% cocoa can help lower your blood pressure. Chocolate with lots of cocoa contains flavonoids that help widen blood vessels.
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Reduce and manage stress
Chronic emotional stress may contribute to high blood pressure.
You can try reducing stress by:
∙ Avoiding over-commitment
∙ Focussing on the issues within your control and trying to solve them
∙ Making time to relax
∙ Practicing gratitude
To manage your stress, you can try meditation or yoga. Meditation has been touted to help reduce stress, and so has practicing yoga. Studies suggest that it is important to include breath control, postures, and meditation in your practice for the best results.
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Exercise regularly
A 2014 review on exercise and lowering blood pressure found that the following exercises lower blood pressure:
- aerobic exercises like walking, running, swimming, cycling, or dancing.
- resistance training. Try to add strength training exercises at least twice a week.
- high-intensity interval training
- short bouts of exercise throughout the day
- walking 10,000 steps a day
The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association advises moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity for 40-minute sessions, three to four times per week. If you struggle to exercise for 40 minutes, you can also do three or four workouts of 10 to 15 minutes each day.
You can start small. Increasing your activity can mean:
- using the stairs
- doing household chores
- gardening
- going for a bike ride
- playing a team sport
Most importantly, you need to exercise regularly to lower your blood pressure. Start by increasing your activity and work your way toward exercising for 30 – 40 minutes each day.
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Trim your sugar and refined carbohydrates intake
Eating less sugar and refined carbs can not only lower your blood pressure but also aid in weight loss. Following a low-carb, low-sugar diet can increase your satiety as you are consuming more protein than fat.
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Cut back on salt (sodium) and add potassium
Adding less salt to your food can dramatically help reduce blood pressure. How much salt should you eat? In general, limit salt to 2,300 milligrams (mg) a day. However, a lower daily sodium intake of 1,500 mg or less is ideal for most adults.
Adding more of the mineral, potassium, to your diet can minimise salt’s damaging effects and help reduce tension in your blood vessels.
Foods high in potassium include:
- low-fat dairy foods, such as milk and yogurt
- fish
- fruits, such as bananas, apricots, avocados, and oranges
- vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, tomatoes, greens, and spinach
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Quit smoking
Smoking damages your overall health. While smoking, your blood pressure will rise temporarily as smoking increases your heart rate.
Smoking also has long-term effects on your blood pressure levels. It damages your blood vessel walls, causes inflammation, and narrows your arteries. The hardened arteries cause higher blood pressure.
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Try medicinal herbs
Herbal medicines have been long used for various ailments including high blood pressure. Before taking herbal supplements, talk to your doctor to ensure that it will not interfere with your prescription medications.
Some plants and herbs that might lower blood pressure include:
- black bean (Castanospermum australe)
- celery juice (Apium graveolens)
- ginger root
- sesame oil (Sesamum indicum)
- tomato extract (Lycopersicon esculentum)
- tea (Camellia sinensis), especially green tea and oolong tea
Takeaway
Whilst medication is effective in lowering blood sugar levels, you can also exercise, eat dark chocolate, manage your stress levels, and follow a low-sugar, low-carb diet to decrease your blood pressure. Lowering your blood pressure is within your reach and you can do so naturally.
