How to treat your blood pressure naturally
Do you or someone you know have high blood pressure? If so read on!
High blood pressure (aka hypertension) is common in our society, and has wide-reaching health impacts. Untreated, it can increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes; damage the heart muscle (leading to heart failure); lead to kidney failure; and damage our vision (retinopathy) or brain (encephalopathy).
Yet at the same time, it's something lifestyle medicine can be incredibly powerful in treating and even reversing.
✔️For some people, this can mean not needing medication.
✔️For others, it can mean being able to reduce medication and improve overall health.
Either way, it's so worth it!
In clinic, a healthy blood pressure is one of the first changes we often see in patients who improve lifestyle. And even small changes make a big difference 🙂
First off, it's worth knowing what your blood pressure should actually be 😊
✔️Normal blood pressure is defined as 120/80 mmHg or below
✔️Elevated blood pressure is 120-129/80 mmHg
✔️Early (stage 1) hypertension is 130-139/80-89 mmHg
✔️Stage 2 hypertension is >140/90 mmHg
The first number is called systolic blood pressure, the second is diastolic. Systolic blood pressure is more important in disease risk, but they both play an important role.
High blood pressure can be from be a variety of reasons.
Lifestyle factors include:
✔️lack of exercise
✔️high stress levels
✔️poor sleep (including untreated sleep apnoea)
✔️alcohol or cigarette use
✔️'Western' style diets high in sugar, fat, salt and processed foods, and low in plant foods (one of the most common causes)
Other things that can increase blood pressure include:
✔️medication
✔️hormonal changes (ie menopause)
✔️diabetes
✔️kidney disease
✔️genetics.
Blood pressure also increases with age due to arteriosclerosis (stiffened arteries), but not as much as we think - in populations that live a traditional 'non modernised' lifestyle, blood pressure actually increases only a small amount with age..
This means there is far more we can do for our blood pressure than most people realise!
And fortunately, there are many proven ways to help blood pressure also help overall health too.
These include :
✔️avoiding highly processed foods, especially those high in added salt/sugar
✔️limiting salt, ideally to a maximum of 1500mg/day
✔️including potassium rich foods in your diet such as fruits, veges, legumes, nuts and seeds (aim for 3500-5000mg/day)
✔️eating a plant focused whole food diet (the DASH diet is a low salt Mediterranean diet proven to reduce blood pressure levels - see below)
✔️including nitrate rich veges such as leafy greens in your diet (these dilate blood vessels)
✔️drinking green tea, black tea, or hibiscus tea
✔️eating foods rich in folate, vit C, and magnesium (such as brassicas, asparagus, dark leafy greens, citrus, and legumes)
✔️swapping refined (white) grains for whole grains
✔️getting regular exercise, aiming for at least 90-150 min/week of moderate cardio, as well as resistance training
✔️ avoiding sitting for long periods (try get up and move at least every 30min)
✔️not smoking (this doesn't actually reduce blood pressure, but reduces the risk of heart attacks, strokes etc ie total cardiovascular risk)
✔️avoiding or minimising alcohol (max 1 standard drink/day for women; 2/day for men - less is better!)
✔️getting enough sleep
✔️keeping stress at a maneagable level, and practicising stress resilience strategies.
Coffee affects blood pressure less than you'd expect - for most people, 2-3 cups/day is ok
It's worth making special mention of the DASH diet - this is a specially designed clinically proven diet that helps lower blood pressure
It's a whole food plant focused low salt diet, that's high in veges (5+/day) and fruit (2+/day), high in whole grains and legumes, low in processed food and added sugar, low in saturated fat, and low in red meat.
In studies, it can be as effective as some blood pressure medicines - plus it tastes great and boosts heart health, brain health, mental health, and general health too!!!
So if you're concerned about your blood pressure, why not try some simple changes alongside seeing your doctor for medical advice - they really do help 😊
References :
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