You've just gotten home from the doctor's office where they told you the news: you have hypertension (a big word for high blood pressure). You spent the entire drive back worrying about your increased risk for heart attack, stroke, and other illnesses. Your doctor may have recommended taking medication, but you're apprehensive. Before you get yourself all worried (which only makes the problem worse) you should consider trying to lower your blood pressure naturally. Hypertension can be cause by a lot of factors, including: lifestyle, genetics, vitamin deficiency, or even food allergies. It can be usually be cured without medication simply by altering these factors. Here are some natural methods that can help fix your problem without prescription medications.
The most important, but often most difficult way to treat your hypertension is to start living a more health lifestyle, including eating right. While your doctor probably told you it's important to change the food you eat, it's also important how that food is prepared. You should eat fresh, unprocessed, whole food. This means, stay in the fresh fruit and nut section and out of the canned or frozen food aisles. You should stick to whole grains and stay away from processed or refined foods. As most people know, you should also try to eat foods that are lower in fat salt, but stay away from low fat versions of food. They're usually overly processed with lots of additives. You should also stay away from salt, sugar, and caffeine. Always remember when going on any diet that if you make tons of drastic changes quickly, you're less likely to stick with them. If you've had problems staying on diets in the past, try slowly cutting certain foods out and adding healthier ones in their place. You should also take some other steps to life healthier, including: drinking lots of water, quitting smoking, reducing the amount of alcohol, you drink, and cutting stress (have you tried yoga yet?). If your hypertension isn't that severe, you may find that this is the only step you need to take in getting it to a good level.
While you're on your way to getting healthy, there are also some supplements you can take to help get a jump start. Calcium, potassium, magnesium, Vitamins C and E, coenzyme Q10, and flaxseed meal have all been known to help lower blood pressure. You should also take a good idea to take a good multivitamin everyday. Just be sure to double check the label so you're not doubling up on anything. Remember to ask your doctor how much of each medicine you should take (and yes, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing).
If a healthy diet and vitamins aren't getting the job done, but you still want something to try before you take prescription medication, you should look into taking herbal medication. Rauwolfia is considered the best herbal remedy for reducing blood pressure, but is very potent and should be taken in very small doses. Other herbs that can help are garlic, coleus forskohlii, hawthorne, and mistletoe. These substances are natural, so they're less likely to have side effects, but you should still talk to your doctor before taking any of them. It is important not to take too much of any of these remedies because they can be harmful at high doses.
If you're really serious about treating your hypertension, or any other ailment, naturally; you may want to consider finding someone who practices homeopathic medicine. The goal of this type of medicine is to figure out why the body is functioning improperly and restore the balance so the body treats itself. With a little bit of searching, you can generally find someone in your area, and many of the treatments they will give you are similar to what you find in this article. It is simply more specific to your individual needs.
Hopefully the treatments in this article will get you on your way to being healthier and having lower blood pressure. Just remember that any treatment should be monitored by a health care professional. Good luck!
The most important, but often most difficult way to treat your hypertension is to start living a more health lifestyle, including eating right. While your doctor probably told you it's important to change the food you eat, it's also important how that food is prepared. You should eat fresh, unprocessed, whole food. This means, stay in the fresh fruit and nut section and out of the canned or frozen food aisles. You should stick to whole grains and stay away from processed or refined foods. As most people know, you should also try to eat foods that are lower in fat salt, but stay away from low fat versions of food. They're usually overly processed with lots of additives. You should also stay away from salt, sugar, and caffeine. Always remember when going on any diet that if you make tons of drastic changes quickly, you're less likely to stick with them. If you've had problems staying on diets in the past, try slowly cutting certain foods out and adding healthier ones in their place. You should also take some other steps to life healthier, including: drinking lots of water, quitting smoking, reducing the amount of alcohol, you drink, and cutting stress (have you tried yoga yet?). If your hypertension isn't that severe, you may find that this is the only step you need to take in getting it to a good level.
While you're on your way to getting healthy, there are also some supplements you can take to help get a jump start. Calcium, potassium, magnesium, Vitamins C and E, coenzyme Q10, and flaxseed meal have all been known to help lower blood pressure. You should also take a good idea to take a good multivitamin everyday. Just be sure to double check the label so you're not doubling up on anything. Remember to ask your doctor how much of each medicine you should take (and yes, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing).
If a healthy diet and vitamins aren't getting the job done, but you still want something to try before you take prescription medication, you should look into taking herbal medication. Rauwolfia is considered the best herbal remedy for reducing blood pressure, but is very potent and should be taken in very small doses. Other herbs that can help are garlic, coleus forskohlii, hawthorne, and mistletoe. These substances are natural, so they're less likely to have side effects, but you should still talk to your doctor before taking any of them. It is important not to take too much of any of these remedies because they can be harmful at high doses.
If you're really serious about treating your hypertension, or any other ailment, naturally; you may want to consider finding someone who practices homeopathic medicine. The goal of this type of medicine is to figure out why the body is functioning improperly and restore the balance so the body treats itself. With a little bit of searching, you can generally find someone in your area, and many of the treatments they will give you are similar to what you find in this article. It is simply more specific to your individual needs.
Hopefully the treatments in this article will get you on your way to being healthier and having lower blood pressure. Just remember that any treatment should be monitored by a health care professional. Good luck!