Hypertension can lead to potentially fatal complications like heart attacks, kidney failures and strokes. As such, you will want to know of the natural ways to lower blood pressure because you do want to live longer. You need not worry about these top five ways as difficult to achieve since these only involve a few simple lifestyle changes.
First, you have to lose those extra pounds and watch your weight. You don’t have to suffer from body image issues either as we are talking about a healthy body weight to maintain a healthy body.
In fact, maintaining a healthy weight and waistline is probably the most effective of the many natural ways to lower blood pressure. Even if you lose just 10 pounds, you are significantly lessening your risks for hypertension and its complications.
Second, you must exercise regularly. In doing so, you can lower your blood pressure levels by 4 to 9 mm-Hg. You may think that it’s a minuscule amount but in the context of hypertension, it’s a significant one.
You can start with just 10 minutes of brisk walking daily. Then, as you gradually build up your strength, you can increase to 30-60 minutes of combined cardio and strength training exercises for most days of the week.
Third, your diet must undergo changes if you want to tie up the first two natural ways to lower blood pressure. Your diet must consist of heart-healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fishes and low-fat dairy products. Your emphasis is to lessen the amount of unhealthy fats while increasing consumption of healthy fats like omega-3. Go on the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. You will soon find that you feel and look good with it.
Fourth, you have to watch what you drink in alcoholic beverage. Yes, a glass of red wine will do your heart good but becoming a borderline alcoholic is not good. Certain alcoholic drinks may be recommended as one of the natural ways to lower blood pressure but do go easy on these beverages.
Fifth, you should say goodbye to your sticks of cigarettes and even to secondhand smoke. Did you know that nicotine consumption raises blood pressure levels by 10 mm-Hg an hour after the first puff was inhaled? Yes, indeed, that’s how damaging to health smoking cigarettes can be, aside from the increased risks for other diseases like cancer.
By: Weston Uchida
