What Are The Best High Blood Pressure Remedies?

If you've got hypertension, you need all the information you can get about lowering high blood pressure. Fortunately, there are many effective remedies for high blood pressure, both including and excluding drugs. This article will take a look at a few of the most popular remedies, but remember: high blood pressure is the number one predictor of heart attack and stroke, and it can also be a principal cause of kidney disease. In other words, anything you can do to lower your blood pressure is good, but if you have high blood pressure or suspect that you do, you must consult your doctor about the best course of treatment, and also regularly monitor your blood pressure to best insure continued health.

Blood Pressure and Weight

Probably the number one high blood pressure remedy is to establish and maintain a healthy weight for your age and body type. Why? Well, for starters, each pound of body weight you add also increases the length of your circulatory system by as much as 200 miles! That's a lot of extra capillaries for your heart to pump blood through. Reducing body weight can, over time and with exercise, allow your body to reabsorb much of that extra tissue, including the blood capillaries. If you have high blood pressure, reducing your weight to a healthy level—and keep it there—is one of the best things you can do for yourself.

Blood Pressure and Diet

Eating a diet low in transfats and cholesterol will help keep your circulatory system cleaner and lead to lowering your blood pressure. It will also decrease your chances of heart attack or other coronary disease. Also, reducing your salt intake is an important remedy for high blood pressure. Increasing your potassium and calcium levels by eating foods like bananas and other fresh fruits, nuts, and vegetables has been shown to positively impact your blood pressure. Garlic is another beneficial spice to add to your diet, and eating beans of all kinds gives your body additional fiber and non-fatty proteins.

Blood Pressure and Smoking

It should go without saying: if you smoke and you have high blood pressure, it's kind of like running around in a lightning storm while holding a golf club over your head. Smoking causes the blood vessels to constrict; how can that possibly be good for you if you already have high blood pressure? Stop smoking, and the sooner the better! The beneficial effects for your system will begin almost immediately.