LOW BLOOD PRESSURE TIPS

High blood pressure is also known as hypertension. According to the American Heart Association, high blood pressure (hypertension) killed 57,356 people in the United States in 2005.

• About 73.6 million people in the United States age 20 and older have high blood pressure.


• One in three adults has high blood pressure.


• Of those people with high blood pressure, 78.7 percent were aware of their condition.


• Of all people with high blood pressure, 69.1 percent were under current treatment, 45.4 percent had it under control, and 54.6 percent did not have it controlled.


• The cause of 90-95 percent of the cases of high blood pressure isn't known; however, high blood pressure is easily detected and usually controllable.


• From 1995 to 2005 the death rate from high blood pressure increased 25.2 percent, and the actual number of deaths rose 56.4 percent.


• Non-Hispanic blacks are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure than are non-Hispanic whites.


• Within the African-American community, those with the highest rates of hypertension, are more likely to be middle aged or older, less educated, overweight or obese, physically inactive, and to have diabetes.


• In 2005 the death rates per 100,000 population from high blood pressure were 15.8 for white males, 52.1 for black males, 15.1 for white females and 40.3 for black females.

The DASH diet eating plan has been proven to lower blood pressure in studies sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. This near-vegetarian, low-fat diet can lower blood pressure and reduce your risk of heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and several cancers.

Recommendations:

Use Less Salt
The more salt (sodium) you use, the more your body will retain fluids. More water in your system means more fluid circulating in your blood vessels. This will raise your blood pressure. Your body needs no more than 2,000 milligrams of sodium a day. Read product labels to control how much salt is in packaged food. You may be surprised to find how much salt is added - Even to non-salty tasting food.

Sodium to Potassium Ratio
Your body's sodium to potassium balance is crucial to blood pressure control. You should consume 5 times as much potassium as sodium to maintain normal blood pressure. The foods with the best potassium to sodium ratios are avocados, bananas, oranges, potatoes, apples and carrots. If you want to control your blood pressure, eat more of these foods. And eat other fruits and vegetables as well.

Vitamin C
Fruits and vegetables also help reduce blood pressure because they're high in vitamin C. Some foods high in Vitamin C are broccoli, bell peppers, cabbage, cauliflower, spinach, strawberries, and citrus fruits. Supplement with Vitamin C, too.

Calcium
Calcium can help your blood pressure stay low. Eat low fat and nonfat dairy products, salmon, shrimp, green leafy vegetables and tofu. Calcium supplements work well, too.

Magnesium
Magnesium is important for muscle tone of your blood vessels. With adequate magnesium, your blood vessels relax, which helps reduce your blood pressure. If your magnesium level is low, your blood vessels can constrict or even go into spasm, which raises your blood pressure. Good sources of magnesium are nuts, seeds, wheat germ, soybeans, seafood, dairy foods and whole grains. Magnesium supplements insure adequate daily levels.

Salmon
Good source of calcium and rich in Omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3's cut cholesterol and help lower blood pressure. Eat salmon or other cold-water fish such as mackerel or herring once or twice a week. Don't like salmon? I don't - yuck! I take Omega 3 supplements.

Use Less Sugar
Table sugar (sucrose) raises blood pressure. Satisfy your sweet tooth with fruit that contains a different type of sugar call fructose. Avoid chemical sugars.

Potassium
Potassium supplementation is especially important if you're on diuretic blood pressure medications, because these drugs deplete your potassium supply. Because of potential side effects - speak with your doctor first.

Magnesium
Recommended 500 to 750 milligrams a day.

Calcium
Can reduce the systolic reading by 10 points and the diastolic reading by 25 points. Recommended 1,500 milligrams a day.

Fish Oil
If you don't care for salmon or other cold water fish, you can get your omega 3 fatty acids by taking fish oil or Omega 3 supplements. Recommended one tablespoon (about 4 grams) of fish oil a day.

Exercise
Exercise helps reduce stress, which often contributes to high blood pressure. It releases your body's natural tranquilizers, called endorphins. If you have high blood pressure, do at least a daily half-hour of endurance-building exercises at least three times a week.

Tai Chi
Lowers blood pressure almost as much as brisk walking.

Qigong
Chinese researchers taught a qigong routine to 244 people with very high blood pressure. Twenty years later, they counted how many of the study participants had died from stroke, whose major risk factor is high blood pressure. The group that completely gave up on qigong - 42 had died of stroke. Those that practiced qigong occasionally - 29 percent had died of stroke. But among people who practiced qigong regularly - only 11 percent had died of stroke. (This is the workshop that Ken, Cheryl & Tracy are doing in April in Orlando)

Yoga & Meditation
Stress constricts your blood vessels and simultaneously makes your heart beat harder. This sends your blood pressure soaring. But relaxation dilates your blood vessels, calms your heart, and decreases your levels of stress hormones. In this way, it helps bring your blood pressure back to normal.

Visualization
See your blood pressure falling. Close your eyes and breathe deeply. Imagine opening your freezer and removing several ice cubes. Imagine slowly rubbing your head, face, and neck with the ice. Feel the coolness seeping through your skin and into your bloodstream. Envision an icy feeling tumbling from your head to your toes. Open your eyes. Practice this exercise two or three times a day.

Biofeedback
Monitors the tension in your muscles using a visual meter. You breathe deeply and focus on moving the needle on the monitor into the deep relaxation zone.

Music Therapy
Listening to light, soft, and not too rhythmic music can be even more relaxing than meditation. (Jesse used a cd on the computer - Insight)

Pet Therapy
Petting a dog, holding a cat, or gazing at fish in a tank can lower blood pressure.
This is my kitty, Cookie.


Herbal Medicine
Garlic & Hawthorn. Recommended one clove of garlic a day. (Onions, scallions, leeks, chives, and shallots can also help but garlic is best.) Hawthorn dilates the coronary arteries, the ones that feed your heart. Recommended - 100 to 240 milligrams of a standardized hawthorn extract three times a day. Check with your doctor before taking hawthorn, You may need your blood pressure medication dosage adjusted.

Chiropractic
Chiropractic adjustments can decrease blood pressure significantly.

Acupressure
Steady, penetrating finger pressure to each of the following points for 3 minutes.

• Liver 3, situated on top of your foot in the webbing between your big toe and second toe.


• Governing Vessel 20, located on top of your head, where a line drawn from ear to ear would intersect with the midline of your body.


• Spleen 6, located four finger-widths above your inner anklebone on the back inner border of your shinebone.

Other Tips
Maintain a healthy weight
Don't smoke - Top 10 Reasons to Quit Smoking
Drink moderately
Go easy on caffeine.

According to research done at Rush University Hypertension Center in Chicago, a chiropractic adjustment could lower blood pressure by as much as 17 points. The results were similar to two-drug prescription medications. The patients received an adjustment to their atlas, the uppermost vertebra of the spine.

To check your alignment, lie flat on your back on a hard surface, like the floor. You'll need the help of a friend to check your heels. If your heels line up even, your atlas is not out of alignment. Next, turn your head side to side. If your heels are uneven, an adjustment to your atlas could be just what you need.

If you're in the Greater Cleveland area in northeast Ohio, I trust Dr. Deeb Alawan at Pro-Active Chiropractic.

Diuretics
Speeds the elimination of water from your body. Less water means less fluid in your blood vessels, which lowers your blood pressure. Diuretics also promote the elimination of salt in your urine.

Beta-Blockers
These medications slow your heart so that it beats less forcefully. Less force means lower blood pressure.

Calcium Channel Blockers
By stopping calcium from entering your cells, these drugs open your blood vessels and reduce the force of your heart's contractions.

ACE Inhibitors
Keep your body from making angiotensin, a compound that increases the fluid volume of your blood and constricts your blood vessels. ACE inhibitors reduce your blood volume and dilate your blood vessels.

Jesse used a Resperate machine. It has a band that goes around his chest to measure his breathing and earphones to listen to musical notes. He would match his breathing to the timing and length of the musical notes. This regulated his breathing by taking longer, slow, deep breathes which relaxed him and lowered his blood pressure.

Jesse used to listen to the Insight CD before bed to relax him. The ultimate goal is to ease the body into a deeply relaxed meditative state while the mind or consciousness remains awake. You focus on your breathing, taking slow deep breaths while gently telling yourself to relax.

Jesse eats a low carbohydrate, high protein and vegetable diet. He usually eats a banana, half of a carrot & eggs for breakfast along with a cup of decaf green tea. He snacks on nuts & pumpkin seeds during the day. He usually has protein (meat), beans and half an avocado for lunch and often has a carton of non-fat yogurt for dessert in the evening. One of the things the homeopathic doctor recommended was to use sea salt without any additives instead of regular table salt. He exercises regularly (1hr a day, 5 days a week), has acupuncture & acupressure once a month, listens to music and lots of pet therapy.

Jesse had chelation therapy which is an IV therapy. This process leaves the body with improved blood circulation and better blood supply to your legs, heart, and other organs in the body, thru removal of heavy metals.

After learning and undertaking alternative strategies, Jesse decided to take himself off the blood pressure medicine after being on it for several years against the doctors' advice. I'm certainly not suggesting that anyone stop their medicine. He's not sure if it's a combination of all the things he does or any one that helps keep his blood pressure down. But it still seems to work for him. Jesse is certainly not a doctor but has done a lot of research, tried several alternative things and talked to many doctors. While no doctor could ever find a cause, Jesse believes that stress is the most likely culprit. Just wanted to tell everyone what Jesse did to control his blood pressure.

Mom eats apples, bananas, broccoli, strawberries, tossed salads with egg, cottage cheese with fruit, whole grain bread & decaf coffee and very little salt & sugar. She exercises often, does lots of relaxation tapes and goes to a chiropractor. All these things help.

I've gone from green thumb to living green. After spending 20 years of summers out in the yard - planting flowers and vegetables, watering, weeding and reaping the harvest - I'm now going green with the realization that we need to take care of ourselves, our families and the earth. And I found a company to help me do it. I'm a Shaklee distributor.

Read the whole story.

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