posted March 12, 2011 04:40 AM
68 natural ways to lower blood pressure 1. Watch Your Weight: In over weight people, a 10 percent reduction in total body weight will sometimes normalize blood pressure.
2. Get Physical: Go for a brisk 30-minute walk 6 days a week.
3. Meditate: A new study shows it works for teens too.
4. Try Yoga: It reduces stress and strengthens the mind and body.
5. Butt Out: All forms of tobacco dramatically raise blood pressure.
6. Shake Off Salt: And sodium-rich foods such as soy sauce and canned soups.
7. Leave the Bar: 1-2 drinks a day is OK--even stress-relieving--but more can cause health problems.
8. Check Your Blood: Have cholesterol and triglycerides checked regularly.
9. Reject Refined Foods: Shun the sally, sugary, pre-made, preserved, fried and fatty.
10. Swear Off Sodas: Soft drinks can deplete potassium (see No. 20).
11. Find Fiber: Think veggies and whole grains.
12. Forgo Fat: Choose white fish and skinless chicken and turkey. Skip cheese, bacon, red meat, gravy and desserts.
13. Toss the Trans Fats: These are a greater risk than even saturated fats.
14. Howl for Whole Oats: Eaten daily, oats lower hypertension.
15. Try L-Carnitine: Another amino acid, also found in protein.
16. DASH Your Diet: DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) is high in fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy, and it's low in fat.
17. Defeat Diabetes: Diabetics who control their condition reduce hypertension risk.
18. Compute Your Body Mass Index: Multiply your weight in pounds by 703; then divide by your height in inches; then again divide by your height in inches. Try to stay between 18.5 and 24.9.
19. Mull Over a Multi: A daily multivitamin ensures that you're getting the basics.
20. Prefer Potassium: This crucial mineral is found in many fruits, vegetables, dairy foods, fish and supplements.
21. Make It Magnesium: It's in leafy greens, legumes, whole grains and supplements.
22. Value Vitamin C: The less vitamin C in the blood, the higher the blood pressure in hypertensive patients.
23. Boost Bioflavonoids: Available in fruits, vegetables and supplements, bioflavonoids enhance vitamin C's effect.
24. Embrace Vitamin E: Evidence suggests that vitamin E also magnifies vitamin C's blood pressure-lowering effect.
25. Get Milk: Hypertensive patients seldom drink enough milk--and they are usually low on calcium. Broccoli, spinach, tofu, goat milk and calcium supplements are alternatives.
26. Pick Pycnogenol: French maritime pine bark extract lowered blood pressure in a Chinese study, which was reported in the January 2, 2004 issue of Life Sciences.
27. Fish for Omega-3s: Stress essential fatty acid-containing foods or supplements of fish oil, flaxseed oil and primrose oil.
28. Queue Up for Coenzyme Q10: Hypertensive patients are often deficient in ubiquinone. Aside from supplements, organ meats are the richest sources.
29. Seize the Soy: Studies suggest that the isoflavones in soy, tofu, tempeh and miso make arterial walls more elastic.
30. Think Zinc: Zinc may reverse hypertension that has been caused by too much cadmium.
31. Have Some Hawthorn: An enzyme that can cause arteries to constrict is blocked by this berry.
32. Look for Linden: This blossom is often combined with hawthorn for blood pressure.
33. Target Taurine: This amino acid--available in protein and as a supplement--balances sodium and potassium in the blood, lowering blood pressure.
34. Crave Carrot Juice: Studies show it cleans arteries.
35. Cook with Cayenne: The capsicum in cayenne slows arteriosclerosis, which can cause hypertension.
36. Don't Pass on Parsley: It's a natural diuretic, which cuts blood pressure.
37. Go for Ginger: Ginger offers hypertensive benefits to some.
38. Seal the Deal: Goldenseal root may reduce blood pressure, especially when taken in conjunction with ginger.
39. Defy Dracula: Evidence shows that garlic lowers hypertension 2-7 percent. Onions help too.
40. Single Out Psyllium: Take this soluble fiber with plenty of water. Other sources of fiber include peas, beans, apples, pears and citrus fruit.
41. Consider Black Cohosh: Commonly used to alleviate the symptoms of menopause, this herb may also help with hypertension.
42. Cultivate Celery Seeds: They also contain calcium, which might add to their effect.
.43. Dig Dandelions: Available in tinctures, tea, capsules and edible fresh leaves or roots.
44. Yell for Yarrow: Herbalists also call it milfoil.
45. Mind Your Melatonin: This hormone decreases nighttime blood pressure, concluded a study published in the January 2004 issue of Hypertension.
46. Stork Up on Perinatal EFAs: The fatty acids DHA, EPA and ALA--taken by pregnant women 5 months before and 1 month after giving birth--help prevent hypertension in adulthood.
47. Bring on Biofeedback: Using a special biofeedback machine, individuals learn to control their own physiological responses--including blood pressure.
48. Omit Oral Contraceptives: Birth control pills can increase blood pressure.
49. Don't Knock Noni: This Polynesian fruit is also known as morinda citrifolia and Indian mulberry.
50. Spice It Up: Try basil, black pepper, cinnamon, chili powder, cloves, curry, dillweed, dillseed, fennel, horseradish, marjoram, nutmeg, oregano, rosemary, sage, tarragon and thyme. Their antioxidants may help--some directly lower blood pressure, and all substitute for salt.
51. Grasp Grape Seed Extract: Research at the University of Alabama suggests grape seed extract can lower blood pressure significantly.
52. Fall in Love with Lutein: Eat your spinach--or your kale or collards or mustard greens--or lake lutein supplements.
53. Don't Give Up on Ginkgo Biloba: It relaxes arterial walls, easing pressure.
54. Remember These Three Bs: Alter angioplasty surgery, three different B vitamins--folate, [B.sub.6] and [B.sub.12]--cut in half the risk that arteries will re-close.
55. Air Out Antioxidants: Zeaxanthin, beta-cryptoxanthin and alpha-carotene may help.
56. Go Mad About Saffron: This herb contains a blood pressure-lowering chemical called crocetin.
57. Reach for Reishi Mushroom Extract: Taking 55 mg of concentrated reishi mushroom extract three times a clay was found to reduce moderately high blood pressure after 1 month.
58. 'Tai' One On: Tat chi proponents say their rituals lower blood pressure.
59. Call Your Motherwort: This herb is also known as Leonurus cardiaca.
60. Highlight Herbs: Chamomile flowers, fennel seed and rosemary may cut hypertension risk.
61. Go Cuckoo for Coleus Forskohlii: This mint-family herb lowers blood pressure naturally.
62. Buy into Bilberry: This European blueberry contains anthocyanosides, which are powerful flavonoids.
63. Let in the Cat's Claw: Contains the alkaloid rhynchophylline, which has anti-hypertensive effects.
64. Keep Kelp: A 1997 study suggested kelp may help.
65. Go to Gotu Kola: For insomnia and lowering blood pressure.
66. Indulge in Aromatherapy: Aromatic bath or massage oils temporarily lower hypertension. Try 5 drops each of lemon balm and lavender essential oils in warm bath water.
67. Jilt the Java: Too much daily coffee-and even tea-can raise blood pressure.
68. Now, Go to Bed: High blood pressure patients deprived of sleep experience significant increases in blood pressure, especially during the evening.
What Causes It?
A buildup of cholesterol causes arteries to become hardened,. inelastic and narrowed. There may even be a higher-than-normal flow of blood, or the heart may beat harder or faster than it should. Any of these conditions increases the pressure of the blood against the artery walls.