There are several factors that can contribute to hypertension, but there are also a couple of approaches that may serve as good alternatives to help naturally lower blood pressure.
Eating a heart healthy diet and exercising is important for managing your blood pressure and reducing your risk of heart attack, heart disease, stroke and other diseases. A few approaches that will help with lowering your blood pressure are reduce salt intake, dietary supplements, meditation and exercise.
High Blood Pressure
If you are wondering what high blood pressure looks like, take a look at the chart above. A normal reading is considered 120/80, as seen in the chart above from the American Heart Association. Hypertension, also known as elevated blood pressure, is defined as systolic blood pressure (the top number) averaging 140 mmHg or greater and/or diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) averaging 90 mmHg or greater.
Reduce Salt Intake: Several studies have pointed to salt intake being adversely correlated to high blood pressure. A few tips for achieving this would be to buy fresh vegetable, plain frozen or canned vegetables with no salt added. When buying poultry, fish, and lean meat, you should always buy fresh instead of canned or processed. Use herbs, spices, and salt-free seasonings in cooking and at the table. Limit frozen dinners, packaged mixes, canned soups or broths, and salad dressings (they tend to be very high in sodium content). Additionally, consuming 3,500 mg of potassium a day (foods like yogurt, cantaloupe, spinach, and bananas) may help rid the body of too much sodium by acting as a diuretic.
Dietary Supplements: There are actually quite a few dietary supplements that have some favorable effects on blood pressure. Fish oils (omega-3 fatty acids) are important in the maintenance of normal blood flow. Our Heart Health Omega III Fish Oil helps maintain normal cholesterol and triglyceride levels, promotes healthy blood pressure levels, helps maintain healthy levels of C-reactive protein, helps maintain normal blood flow and helps enhance mood.
Hawthorn berry has been associated with heart health, specifically supporting healthy blood vessels by maintaining structural integrity of the arteries and promoting a strong heart muscle.
Some clinical research shows that taking garlic orally can modestly reduce blood pressure in patients with hypertension, as well as people with normal blood pressure.
Coenzyme Q10 is another supplement which has been proven beneficial to the cardiovascular system because it helps to protect the heart and helps maintain normal blood pressure. Our Isotonix Coenzyme Q10 has shown to be most effective for helping maintain normal blood pressure levels is coenzyme Q10. That’s why finding the right coenzyme Q10 supplement is important, as you want to get the maximum benefit of this heart health antioxidant.
Magnesium is an important mineral that works together with calcium to help maintain the normal regulation of the heart and blood pressure. Magnesium, the fourth most abundant mineral in the body, is necessary for hundreds of functions. Our Isotonix Magnesium promotes head comfort, cardiovascular health and works together with calcium to help maintain the normal regulation of the heart and blood pressure
Meditation: Over the years, hundreds of studies have been conducted worldwide on the effects of transcendental meditation on blood pressure. Transcendental meditation (also known as TM) is a simple mind-body technique that allows you to gain a unique state of restful awareness or alertness. Clinical studies have shown the effects in easing stress and reducing systolic and diastolic blood pressure in patients with hypertension. There are many types of meditative techniques, but TM is the one that has been most studied and proven to be effective. Researchers believe that the deep rest established from TM helps ignite changes in the body that help the mind reach a more balanced state.
Exercise: It seems simple enough, but regular physical activity does make your heart stronger. With a stronger heart, you can pump more blood with less effort and when your heart can work less to pump, the force on your arteries decreases, lowering your blood pressure. Ideally, you should aim for at least 30 minutes a day. Understand that “exercise” isn’t limited to a hard core gym workout session – anything that gets your heart pumping faster will work, that includes dancing, gardening, quicker-paced evening strolls, etc.
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