Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is often called a silent killer because many people can have it for years without knowing that they have a serious disease that can directly contribute to heart disease and heart attacks. According to the American Heart Association, more than 73.6 million people over the age of 20 have high blood pressure. And, while you can't necessarily feel its ill effects, hypertension does directly contribute to kidney failure, various forms of heart disease and is highly correlated to populations that are middle age or older, less-educated, overweight or obese, physically inactive and diabetic.
Hypertension can be successfully treated by a variety of prescribed drugs, but most have unwanted side-effects. To avoid these, many people first opt for alternative remedies.
Alcohol and Cigarette Smoking
Two habits that often seem to go together are drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes. While there does appear to be some moderate benefits to drinking one to two drinks a day to prevent heart disease, people who drink excessively (five or more drinks a day) increase their chances of hypertension one-and-a-half to two times, compared with their non-drinking counterparts. If you drink alcohol, consider limiting your alcohol intake to one to two drinks a day.
Cigarette smoking has been shown to cause an immediate, temporary increase in blood pressure. Though oddly enough, many chronic cigarette smokers have lower blood pressure than nonsmokers. One explanation is that smokers often have decreased appetites due to the effects of nicotine, which in turn leads to weight loss. Weight gain has been directly tied to high blood pressure. If you smoke, quit. You'll not only realize immediate benefits in improving your blood pressure, but also significantly reduce your risk for heart disease.
Coffee
Even if you drink limited amounts of coffee, the caffeine in it is a potent vasoconstrictor, meaning it causes the arteries to constrict, raising blood pressure. And, like alcohol and cigarette smoking, drinking coffee and smoking often go hand-in-hand. The combination of drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes increases blood pressure more than drinking coffee alone.
Salt
According to the American Heart Association, adults should limit their sodium intake to less than 6 grams a day in the general population and less than 4 grams a day in sodium sensitive individuals. Sodium sensitive means blood pressure that responds adversely to even the smallest amount of salt. One of the easiest ways to reduce sodium intake is to avoid adding salt to food. Another method is to read the sodium content of foods on their packaging. You may also want to try various low sodium varieties of soups and other foods and replace salt with spices and herbs.
Potassium and DASH
Potassium contained in foods appears to have beneficial effects in lowering blood pressure. Great sources of potassium occur as part of a heart-healthy diet and include zucchini, oranges, spinach, melons and bananas. If you're really concerned with lowering your blood pressure to avoid taking medication, you may want to try the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), a dietary approach developed by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. The DASH diet emphasizes heart-healthy dietary approaches that feature foods low in sodium, fat, cholesterol, and high in fiber. It's a great approach to eating for the entire family.
Obesity
According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of 2001 to 2004, more than two-thirds of the American population is overweight and almost one-third are obese. Not only does obesity contribute to hypertension, it is a known risk factor for diabetes, gall-bladder disease, sleep apnea, coronary artery disease, stroke, osteoarthritis and certain types of cancer.
In people who are overweight, their hearts have to work harder to circulate blood to the body. The increased load on the heart causes more pressure against the arterial walls that can damage the delicate lining of the coronary arteries. As a result, they become more susceptible to accumulating cholesterol, leading to angina and heart attacks. Obesity also causes insulin resistance in people who are diabetic. Just by losing weight, obese adults can reduce their blood pressure. The lost weight will also help the tissues become more sensitive to insulin, meaning they may be able to reduce or completely eliminate oral medications for Type II diabetes.
Exercise
Participating in a regular exercise program is part of a multi-pronged approach to naturally lowering blood pressure. Burning calories through exercise means weight loss. As a result, the heart becomes more efficient at distributing blood to a body with a lower body mass index. Exercise also has beneficial effects on maintaining the structural integrity of the arterial walls. As a result of daily aerobic activity, the arterial walls become more compliant and facilitate the movement of blood through the body. Exercise also increases beneficial HDL cholesterol, which has been shown to help reduce the accumulation of dangerous LDL cholesterol along the walls of arteries. Arteries with larger internal diameters can more effectively distribute blood to the body.
