Archive for the ‘Blood Pressure’ Category

A lot of people suffer from high blood pressure problems, but did you know there is also low blood pressure? This kind of pressure may present health risks because there isn’t enough pressure in the arteries, and so less oxygen is pumped to vital organs. You can notice that in blood pressure readings there are two numbers. The first numbers represents the pressure when the heart pumps out blood, and the second is the pressure between each heartbeat.

Low blood pressure, also called hypotension is detected when you have pressure reading of 90/60 or less. But in reality this numbers are relative, since a lot of things like height, age, or how fit you are may affect these numbers. In the case of elderly people, they may have to regulate other problems like high systolic blood pressure, and they may affect the numbers present in the pressure reading.

Hypotension can also be temporary. For example, pregnant women may develop this problem in the first 24 weeks and they won’t have any disease because the drop of blood pressure is OK during pregnancy since the woman’s body is changing. On the other side, there are a lot of factors that may be harmful to your health, like blood loss, endocrine problems, etc. The person suffering from hypotension has to know which conditions he suffers to detect the cause of low blood pressure.

You may know you have low blood pressure without having to go through pressure reading. For example, you may faint after losing a lot of blood or get dizzy. These symptoms are very common and very easy to detect when you have low blood pressure. However, you may want to have regular analysis since having low blood pressure may harm you health or even cause death if you don’t get proper treatment.

Hypertension is one of the primary reasons of cardiovascular death according to World Health Organization. This medical condition has affected a large number of people every year and majority of them develop complications and die. Hypertension is a chronic medical condition that has two types, namely the primary and secondary hypertension. Primary hypertension develops without the aid of other medical condition while secondary hypertension tends to be a complication or an effect of other underlying pathologic conditions of the body especially the heart, kidneys, endocrine system and arteries. All patients with this medical condition are greatly encouraged to stick on the medication regimen to control and prevent complications. Here are some high blood pressure medication options.

There is a variety of anti-hypertensive drugs out in the market nowadays. A medical physician should prescribe you with the suitable anti-hypertensive drug for you. One of the frequently prescribed anti-hypertensive drugs is the ACE inhibitor medications. ACE inhibitors acts to decrease the blood pressure by means of inhibiting the angiotensin converting enzyme’s action to convert angiotensin I to angiotension II. This action will dilate the blood vessels thus decreasing the blood pressure. Because its action is concentrated in inhibiting the enzyme seen in the kidneys, this kind of anti-hypertensive drug is not advisable to those with renal disorders or those hypersensitive to the drug.

The next kind of anti-hypertensive medication is the Beta Blockers. As its name implies, it blocks beta receptors in the body thus inhibiting the action of the adrenaline. This will result in dilated blood vessels of the body and decreased cardiac workload thus decreasing the blood pressure. This drug should not be taken in large doses because of its toxicity.  Calcium Channel Blocker is another anti-hypertensive drug that physicians may prescribe. This acts by blocking the calcium channel in the heart thus decreasing the cardiac workload and will foster dilation of blood vessels. These three anti-hypertensive drugs are the most frequently prescribe to patients with hypertension.

Although anti-hypertensive medications are potent in lowering blood pressures and alleviating high blood pressure symptoms, you should supplement this by improving your lifestyle, doing exercise and having proper diet. These actions will ultimately maximize the effects of these anti-hypertensive medications.

Want to know some natural ways to lower high blood pressure? Then you are on the right track because with this condition especially, drugs are definitely a bad choice unless you absolutely need them and have no other alternative. Here are 7 different natural methods for getting to 115/75, the safe zone.

Apricots

Apricots are one of a number of fantastic fruits that are rich in potassium. Because they are also low in sodium then, overall, this means that they help to reduce your blood pressure.

Dark Chocolate

Chocolate contains flavonols which are known for their beneficial health properties. This includes helping to lower your blood pressure to more healthy levels.

Unfortunately, if you eat milk chocolate then the high amounts of animal fat will negate all the benefits. So you should eat only dark chocolate which does not have dairy added to it and has a much higher cocoa content when compared to milk chocolate.

Watch Your Cholesterol

You may think that as long as your blood pressure is on its way down to 115/75 then you will be OK. Actually, if you have bad cholesterol levels then it will only make the effects of your high blood pressure even worse.

The good news is that many of the natural changes you make to your lifestyle will also reduce your blood pressure too. For example, eating more soluble fibre will lower both your cholesterol and also your blood pressure.

Sunflower Seeds

Sunflower seeds are rich in both potassium and magnesium, minerals which are both well-known for helping to maintain a healthy blood pressure.

Kudzu

Kudzu is a herb in Traditional Chinese Medicine that has long been used for the treatment of high blood pressure.

Rice Diet

Before the invention of modern drugs and the discover of most of the natural methods for lowering blood pressure, people would be restricted to a rice only diet to lower their blood pressure.

I don’t recommend consuming only rice but it is worth remembering that rice is a very healthy staple and you should consider using it to replace less healthy food in your diet.

Spices

Generally speaking, many spices (especially the hot ones) can help to reduce your blood pressure. I advise using them as a replacement for salt in your cooking as the sodium content of salt is bad for your blood pressure. This way you can obtain double the benefit from using spices.
Learn more secrets at Blood Pressure Truth

To reduce high blood pressure naturally is the superior way. The alternative is drugs and normally involves trying a pairing out of 4 different classes of drugs. Each month you return to your doctor and he attempts to tweak your prescription in a way that will reduce your side effects to a minimum.

It is a much better idea to do it the natural way. You can get back to 115/75 this way and almost eliminate your previously increased risk of heart attack, stroke and other high blood pressure complications. Let’s take a look at a handful of these natural methods now:

Spinach

Popeye is thought to have loved spinach due to an incorrect calculation of how much iron it contained. However, we have since discovered that it has many other beneficial health properties.

One of these is that it can help to lower your blood pressure. The reason for this is because spinach is rich in magnesium. The more magnesium you have in your body relative to calcium then the better it is for maintaining a healthy blood pressure.

Fiber

Fiber, especially soluble fiber, has many beneficial health properties. It can lower your cholesterol and lower your blood pressure. It can also help to reduce the damage done by high blood pressure.

Beware Of Oral Contraceptives

Although many drugs can raise your blood pressure, some are bigger culprits than others. One of these is oral contraceptives.

Now, whatever you do, do not suddenly come off these drugs if you are already taking them. That is the worst thing that you can do because if you suddenly become pregnant then you also raise your blood pressure too (carrying a baby carries many risks that people don’t normally think about).

Instead, speak to your doctor and look into alternatives such as the IUD. Then plan with him/her how you are going to switch from your existing method to the next one.

Lima Beans

Lima beans are rich in fiber which we have already discussed is a great thing for any food to be. They are also rich in potassium which means that your potassium to sodium ratio is increased and this therefore makes your arterial walls more flexible. The more flexible they are, the better your body can resist the pressure of the blood from increasing too high.

Reduce your risk of complications from high blood pressure by curing yourself of it. Blood Pressure Truth.