Category: Hypertension

Food For High Blood Pressure Reduction

26 October, 2010 (19:04) | Hypertension | By: Health news

Foods for high blood pressure reduction include unsalted foods, low fat foods and foods high in potassium and foods that are high in fiber. Sodium is an enemy to hypertension. By itself, a high sodium diet will usually elevate blood pressure readings. Foods that are high in potassium tend to neutralize or even lower levels of sodium. So, can we put this all together into a diet that will help lower blood pressure? Yes, we can, and in this article, we will do so.

Just about any bean you can think of is high in potassium, and therefore good for lowering blood pressure. Baked beans, lentils beans, lima beans, refried beans; they’re all great foods especially when you’re looking to avoid hypertension. Nuts, such as peanuts, almonds and Brazil nuts are also very good. However, you must make sure they are unsalted or else they will go from a very good food to a very bad one.

Spinach, potatoes and soybeans are also high in potassium. So, adding these to your diet could be very helpful for your anti-hypertension campaign. Fresh garlic, while not being known for its high potassium content, is known as an effective blood pressure reducer. Chop it up finely and sprinkle it over your meal and you will get garlic’s great benefits without its overbearing taste.

Adding things to your diet is one way to help reduce blood pressure. However, aside from salt, there are other things you should cut out of your diet. For instance, you should lay low on fatty meats and replace them with fish and poultry. Even at that, if you are replacing a hamburger with a chicken breast, it should be skinless.

Though it may not be appropriate for everyone, most people who are told to go on a blood pressure lowering diet are told so because they also need to lose a few pounds. If you are in this position, remember it is better to eat several small meals daily than it is to eat one large one. This is because the metabolism tends to shut down when it is not burning food. So, when you suddenly eat a big meal you will not be able to burn off all the calories in the meal and they will be stored as fat.

However, when you eat several smaller meals each day, your body will be able to burn all the calories you’re eating. Plus when you are not eating, your metabolism will not just shut down suddenly, so it will continue to burn calories.

Remember to get your physical checkups regularly and discuss what you’re eating with your doctor. Even if it seems like you have the healthiest diet plan in the world, your doctor must approve it before you can go on it. The problem is, though it may be healthy for most other people, it might not be right for you.

How to Measure the Blood Pressure

21 October, 2010 (09:06) | Hypertension | By: Health news

The blood pressure is expressed in the numeric of upper or lower. The upper numeric is called systolic and lower numeric is called diastolic. Systolic is the pressure in artery that happens when blood is pumped from cardiac to all body, while diastolic states the rest of pressure in artery when cardiac is rest; with measure unit in milimetre of mercury (mmHg). If the systolic blood pressure is upper than 140 mmHg and the diastolic is upper than 85 mmHg, you must be careful because that is the limit level of normal blood pressure that high.

How to measure the blood pressure? For getting the result of accurate measure, it’s better done when rest or in calm situation. Sit down calmly about 5 minutes then do measuring at two arms with three position, in the position of lie down, sit down, stand up, up to 3 times of checkup with duration of 5 to 10 minutes. The blood pressure tool is called sfigmomanometre that provided with rubber balloon (cuff) to be wrapped at upper arm and inflating when measurement. The rubber balloon has function to pump air while the mercury or needle as the indicator of the measure result. The good measure is 2/3 of length of upper arm, if possible adjusting the width and length of rubber balloon (cuff) with the circumference and length of upper arm of patient.

The way to measure the blood pressure is started with putting the cuff by wrapped to the upper arm, then pumping the balloon so that the air comes into the cuff through pipe. The cuff is pumped with air until the pressure in it exceed the systolic pressure. With such pressure, the main brachial artery at upper arm will flatten because of pressed so that the blood doesn’t flow to lower arm. This is shown with no voice at the stethoscope that pasted on its bottom.

Then the air is spent out slowly by opening the key at aside the pumping balloon so that the pressure of cuff at artery goes down, and then the artery expands and the blood back to flow, and will be heard the first beat sound. When the first beat sound heard, look at the numeric that shown by indicator needle at the mercury. The numeric is the systolic pressure (upper numeric). The air is keep expelled until all arteries expanding so that the heartbeat is not heard again or weakened. When the first beat is weakened or disappeared, look at the numeric indicator needle, this is diastolic pressure (lower numeric).

The High Blood Pressure & Exercise Connection

8 September, 2010 (19:38) | Hypertension | By: Health news

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, affects almost 1 of every 3 people in the US. It is associated with many chronic disabling health conditions such as kidney failure, stoke, ED in men, diabetes, heart failure, and many others.

Unfortunately, many of those who are hypertensive aren’t even aware that they have it. That’s because it is rare that there are any symptoms associated with it. There is no one cause of this condition, although lifestyle and diet are closely linked to having high blood pressure.

For treatment doctors recommend avoiding foods with high levels of salt, or sodium, in them and to eat more fruits and vegetables. They also prescribe an assortment of drugs that work to lower blood pressure to more normal levels.

What many people don’t know is how they can affect their hypertension by exercising. Medical research has found that several types of exercise can lower arterial pressure just as, or more effectively than some medications. This generally happens for several reasons.

But, generally, exercise causes your arteries to dilate which, in turn, lowers blood pressure. If these exercises are performed consistently over a period of time, the pressure tends to stay low and many people can actually stop taking their medications.

One of these studies done at Cantebury Christ Church University in England looked at the effects that isometric exercises had on blood pressure. This study was divided into 2 groups. The first group did low intensity isometrics, and the second group did high intensity isometrics.

Both groups did 4 reps of exercises for 2 minutes in duration 3 times a week for 8 weeks. And both groups demonstrated a significant reduction with the high intensity group having the largest reduction in pressure.

Another study at Texas A&M University looked at the effects that riding a stationary bike had on blood pressure. They also found that this lowered blood pressure. Especially during the exercise. The participants in this study rode stationary bikes 3 times a week for 6 weeks. The intensity of the exercise was increased at regular intervals. What researchers found was that the highest drops in blood pressure were seen in those with the blood pressure readings going into the study.

But it’s not just with isometric and aerobic exercises, interval training also has a lowering effect also. In fact, it was found in a study at Liverpool John Moores University in England that interval training can lower blood pressure significantly almost immediately.

What these participants did was ride a stationary bike for 10 minutes and then rest for 10 minutes. They did this at 8 o’clock in the morning and then again at 2pm to see if there was a difference with the lowering effects of exercise. What they found was that interval exercises done in the afternoon had more of an effect on on it than in the morning.

All of these studies suggest that along with traditional approaches to treating high blood pressure with medications, it may well be worth asking your doctor if you are healthy enough to start participating in a regular exercise program to help lower your pressure. And, for those who are interested in prevention of hypertension, adopting a regular home exercise program might be on of the better things to do.

Decrease Hypertension Naturally

4 August, 2010 (21:29) | Hypertension | By: Health news

Are you worried about hypertension and the many ways it can kill you. You ought to be concerned this disease effects millions. If you suffer from hypertension or have risk factors for hypertension you need to make a change and learn approaches to lower your blood pressure level by natural means. Read on to learn some of the best ways to do it…

I sincerely hope you recognize the significance of making use of all-natural methods to fight against hypertension after the introduction. Remember, if you overlook high blood pressure, it will eliminate you. I have already been a long time sufferer of high blood pressure. I finally discovered a number of terrific tips to control high blood pressure normally. For around nearly one year now, I have implemented only healthy procedures to handle blood pressure and been fully efficient in carrying this out.

On account of these specific outstanding results, I wish to share with everybody just a couple of the great means I have figured out methods to regulate hypertension. They are by no means all you need to be aware of, but hopefully they can be valuable. Two reliable inspiring ideas for reducing BP:

  • Decrease alcohol to decrease hypertension naturally
  • Drinking is bad for you! Are you flabbergasted? I think not. We all know it yet we still do nothing much about it. If you have hypertension it is particularly bad for you and it should be even more essential to take some form of action. We all know heavy drinking causes damage to the liver and the kidneys, and of course this puts more strain on the heart. There is zero BS in stating that drinking too much can kill you, and that you do not need to be a chronic alcoholic for that to occur.

  • Avoid energy drinks one of the important things to avoid to lower Blood pressure
  • Energy products are horrible for you. They contain many unhealthy ingredients, particularly caffeine, which greatly increases your blood pressure. Additionally most of these sugarcoated drinks contain Guarana which is a central nervous system analeptic. If you imbibe these energy drinks and mix them with medication that have ephedrine or even many diet pills,things can get truly dangerous. And this does not even begin to talk about all the sugars that these energy drinks have in them. Remember that a great percentage of energy drinks is sugar, so unless you are competing in a major sporting event you likely do not need that much sugar.

    Blood Pressure management. Hypertension

    19 November, 2009 (20:55) | Hypertension | By: Health news

    Hypertension is the term used to describe high blood pressure. There are two numbers you need to know. The top number is the systolic blood pressure and the bottom number is the diastolic blood pressure. If your top number is consistently 140mm or higher or your bottom number is consistently 90mm or higher, you have hypertension or high blood pressure.

    Hypertension is often referred to as the silent killer because people often do not even know they have it. Left untreated, hypertension can have detrimental effects on many of your body organs, especially your kidneys.

    When one has borderline hypertension, there are several things you should do to help reduce your blood pressure to a normal range before resorting to medications. If you are overweight, you should try to reduce your weight to an acceptable range for your height by eating a balanced and healthy diet. Daily exercise for 30 minutes a day is beneficial for helping to reduce your weight as well as your blood pressure. If you smoke – stop! Smoking constricts and hardens your blood vessels and makes your heart work harder to pump the blood throughout your body.

    It is well known that stress can affect your blood pressure. All of us have daily stressors in our lives. How we deal with that stress can affect our long-term health, but especially our blood pressure.

    Here are some helpful tips to help handle stress by changing your response to those stressful situations.

    • Instead of having a knee-jerk response to a bad situation, take the time to take a few deep breaths and then verbalize your concerns.
    • If you find your mind racing and speech accelerating, take a few deep breaths and start over with your conversation.
    • Give yourself enough time to get to your destination. Add 10% more time than it would take you to get there without problems.
    • Planning is key to avoiding stressful events caused by disorganization. This may include simple things such as packing lunches the night before, planning your meals the day before or picking out your clothes or your child’s clothes for the next day. You will be surprised how these simple tasks will make things smoother and less stressful.
    • Organize your environment to be user-friendly – whether it be the cupboards at home or your office at work.
    • Plan time for yourself daily – whether it be reading a good book or walking on the beach.
    • Eat healthy as your stress hormones deplete your natural resistance to infections.
    • Avoid being Johnny- on-the-spot at home. Your family members must accept the fact that you cannot always drop what you are doing to help them with trivial or unimportant things.

    If you feel your pressure rising, whether it be flushing in the face or your voice rising or racing, take a 15 minute time-out.

    1. Lie in a dark room and begin with 10 slow deep breathes. Place your hand on your stomach and feel your diaphragm rise and fall with each breath.
    2. Next, lay there for another 3-5 minutes quietly and breathe normally.
    3. Then begin deep breathing again and focus on relaxing – first your face muscles, next, your arms, chest, stomach, thighs, calves and finally your feet and toes. Take 10 slow deep breaths.

    If you are in a place where lying down is impractical, sit down, close your eyes and take 10 deep breaths. Rest 1-2 minutes and repeat with another 10 deep breaths
    .

    As stated earlier, hypertension on a prolonged basis can be detrimental. Following the above recommendations may not be enough for many people with high blood pressure. There are several supplements including herbal remedies that can assist in your quest to lower blood pressure and are usually cheaper and with less side-effects than medications.. Medications should be considered when all other attempts are unsuccessful. Take charge of your health and do everything you can to keep your blood pressure within normal limits before resorting to medications.

    Consult your wellness physician if your blood pressure remains consistently above 140/90.

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