How to normalize your blood pressure for the rest of your life without dangerous drugs is a focus of Dr. Mercola’s December 15th posting, “How You Can Normalize Your Blood Pressure Without Drugs.”
The not-so-good news is that one in three adults in the USA will have high blood pressure. The great news is that over 85 percent of those who have hypertension can normalize their blood pressure through lifestyle modifications.
The article, though lengthy, is well worth the read. The following excerpts from the article contain seven empowering lifestyle techniques and perhaps not so widely known information:
1) Eat right for your nutritional type
Eating sugars and grains — including any type of bread, pasta, corn, potatoes, or rice — will cause your insulin levels to remain elevated.
Insulin stores magnesium, but if your insulin receptors are blunted and your cells grow resistant to insulin, you can’t store magnesium and it passes out of your body through urination. Magnesium stored in your cells relaxes muscles. If your magnesium level is too low, your blood vessels will constrict rather than relax, which will raise your blood pressure and decrease your energy level.
Insulin also affects your blood pressure by causing your body to retain sodium. Sodium retention causes fluid retention. Fluid retention in turn causes high blood pressure, and can ultimately lead to congestive heart failure.
When you consume a high-carbohydrate meal, you raise both your blood sugar and your insulin level. A high level of insulin acts as a very strong stimulant to your sympathetic nervous system. The reaction of your sympathetic nervous system causes spasms — constrictions — of your arteries. And if you already suffer from hypertension, this further constriction of your blood vessels can increase your risk of a heart attack.
2) Normalize your omega 6:3 ratio
Both omega-3 and omega-6 fats are essential for your health. Most Americans, however, are getting too much omega-6 in their diet and far too little omega-3. Consuming omega-3 fats is one of the best ways to re-sensitize your insulin receptors if you suffer from insulin resistance
Omega-3 fats are typically found in flaxseed oil, walnut oil and fish, with fish being by far the best source.
3) Eliminate caffeine
The connection between caffeine consumption and high blood pressure is not well understood, but there is ample evidence to indicate that if you have hypertension, coffee and other caffeinated drinks and foods can exacerbate your condition.
4) Normalize your weight
Studies show that even a modest weight loss, when maintained, can reduce blood pressure long-term.
5) Learn to Manage Your Emotional Stress
The link between stress and hypertension is well documented. Doctors and health care professionals committed to treating the whole person rather than a list of physical symptoms are well aware of the crucial connection between diseases of the body and unresolved emotional conflict.
Suppressed negative emotions such as fear, anger and sadness can severely limit your ability to cope with the unavoidable every day stresses of life.
It’s not the stressful events themselves that are harmful, but your lack of ability to cope.
6) Use Exercise as a Drug
7) Get a Daily Dose of Sunshine
Believe it or not, the farther you live from the equator, the higher your risk of developing high blood
pressure. And did you know that blood pressure is typically higher in winter months than during the summer?
Sunlight actually affects blood pressure in several ways:
- Sun exposure causes your body to produce vitamin D. Lack of sunlight reduces your vitamin D stores and increases parathyroid hormone production, which increases blood pressure.
- Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to insulin resistance (IR) and Syndrome X (also known as Metabolic Syndrome), a group of health problems that can include IR, elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels, obesity, and high blood pressure.
- Vitamin D is also a negative inhibitor of your body’s renin-angiotensin system (RAS), which regulates blood pressure. If you’re vitamin D deficient, it can cause inappropriate activation of your RAS, which may lead to hypertension.
- Additionally, exposure to UV rays is thought to cause the release of endorphins, chemicals in your brain that produce feelings of euphoria and relief from pain. Endorphins naturally relieve stress, and stress management is an important factor in resolving hypertension.
