Before we go any further, I need to clarify an important point. Type I or essential hypertension has no cure. The word “cure” has the connotation that once you treat high blood pressure, either with drugs or a natural method and your numbers go down, then you’re “cured” , you no longer have hypertension and you can stop treating it. But that’s not the case at all. In almost every instance, if you stop doing what lowered your blood pressure, it will go back up. Therefore, I will try to avoid using the word “cure”.

The only natural remedies for high blood pressure most people know about are diet and exercise.

If you’ve been diagnosed with hypertension or pre-hypertension and you are overweight, your doctor may have mentioned that you need to lose some weight by watching what you eat and getting some exercise.

With some doctors that’s the extent of it, then he or she writes you a prescription for one or more hypertension drugs.

The primary reason for this is most doctors rely on what they were educated in, primarily the use of pharmaceuticals to treat illnesses. In many cases their education in nutrition or exercise science or anything else that might be categorized as natural was minimal.

But that’s changing, medical schools are teaching more preventive medicine – how to stay healthy not just fix problems. They’re teaching future doctors the essential part nutrition plays in maintaining health and preventing illness.

Many doctors are taking continuing education courses because they’re tired of treating their patients with drugs that may help their symptoms, but have sometime serious side effects and don’t fix the underlying problems that caused the symptoms in the first place. Hopefully that includes your doctor.

The two biggies: Nutrition and Exercise

Proper nutrition and exercise more than any other natural methods can help to lower your blood pressure and improve your overall health.
And may help prevent hypertension if you don’t now have it.

Vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements

Of all the supplements that have been linked to lowering blood pressure, the minerals potassium and magnesium are the standouts. Others include vitamin C, calcium, hawthorne berry, garlic and folic acid. We will cover these and more in other articles.

The most important thing to remember about vitamins, minerals, and herbs is the definition of the word supplement. According to Websters Dictionary, a supplement is: something added, especially to make up for a lack or deficiency.

Your primary source for any vitamin or mineral should be the food you eat. That’s how your body was designed to obtain it’s vitamins and minerals.

Yoga for stress relief

Alternative therapies

Any of the above treatment methods can also be considered alternative to conventional western medicine. Many of these remedies have been successful in other cultures for hundreds of years, and are now slowly being adopted in the west.

These alternative therapies include:

• Holistic medicine
• Chiropractic
• Homeopathy
• Meditation
• Breathing for Relaxation
• Hypnosis or Hypnotherapy  (nobody’s going to make you quack like a duck).
• Acupuncture
• Naturopathy
• Ayurvedic
• Traditional Chinese medicine
• Yoga

One size does not fit all

If you’ve been subscribed a drug for hypertension (or another illness), your doctor did a follow up with you to make sure that the drug was getting the results she wanted. If not, she may have adjusted your dosage, changed to another medication, or added another medicine.

The reason – we’re all different, what works for you may not work for me.

The same is true for alternative treatments. What lowers my blood pressure 10 points may have no affect at all on you.

And just as your doctor may prescribe a combination of drugs to get the desired results, a combination of natural remedies will probably give you the best results.

One last note. Don’t expect the fast results that you may get from pharmaceuticals. It may take several weeks or longer to start seeing a drop in your blood pressure. So you’ll have to be patient. Hey, that will help too. Become more patient – lower your stress – lower your numbers.

Blood flow through an artery

Let’s start with the basics. If you’re anything like me, the more you know about hypertension (or high blood pressure), the easier it will be for you to understand and discuss traditional and alternative treatment plans with your doctor.

Think of a simple bicycle pump

When you push down on the handle, air rushes through the tube into the bike tire. The air exerts pressure against the sidewalls of the pump hose, just as blood exerts pressure on your blood vessels when your heart pumps. Then, there’s a pause in the pressure as you raise the pump handle to pump again. There’s also a pause in your blood pressure as your heart pauses between beats.

These different blood pressures have names, when your heart pumps, the pressure is greater and it’s called systolic pressure. As your heart pauses between beats (for just a fraction of a second), the pressure lessens and it’s called diastolic pressure.

So what is normal blood pressure?

The rules have changed. Until a few years ago, 120/80 (you read this as 120 over 80, systolic pressure over diastolic pressure) was considered normal. Now, according to the Joint National Committee on the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC), risk of cardiovascular disease starts with anything above a reading of 115/75.

However, because there are so many variables that can affect blood pressure, health professionals usually classify normal blood pressure as a range with 120/80 being the upper limit of normal.

Blood pressure measuring above 120/80 to 139/89 is classified pre-hypertensive. Anyone in this range is at a higher risk of developing high blood pressure.

Next is stage 1 hypertension with readings of 140/90 to 159/99.

Readings of 160/100 and above is stage 2 hypertension.

It isn’t necessary for both numbers to be elevated. A rise in either systolic and/or diastolic pressure can signify high blood pressure.

Although it was once thought that a higher diastolic measurement was of greater concern, it’s now known that an elevated systolic number is more dangerous for people over 50.

How do you know if you have high blood pressure?

Hypertension that is classified as mild to moderate usually has no symptoms. There’s really only one way to know. Get your blood pressure checked.

It’s estimated that around one third of the adult population of the United States has high blood pressure (approximately 73 million adults). And as many as one third of you don’t know it and aren’t being treated for it.

That means that every third adult you see as you walk down the street or in the grocery store could have high blood pressure. And if you consider only people over 50, every other person may be hypertensive.

So, if you haven’t had your blood pressure checked recently, schedule it now.

If your doctor get’s a higher than normal reading, you’ll need to return at a later date to have it checked at least once more. This is because your blood pressure can vary from day to day and throughout the day.

It’s also affected by stress, some people stress out just being in the doctor’s office (with subsequent higher bp readings. This is known as “white coat hypertension”). But don’t dismiss this as nothing to worry about. The everyday stresses of your job, or family or financial problems could be having the same effect on your blood pressure every day.

For a proper diagnosis of hypertension, your blood pressure readings need to be consistently high when averaged over two or more visits.

But you don’t feel anything, so what’s the big deal?

It’s a very big deal. While you’re going along not feeling anything, a lot of damage is being done to your body.

Damage caused by constant high pressure of your blood against your artery walls leads to thickening and hardening of the wall and restriction of the artery passage.

This makes your heart work harder. Which can lead to an enlarged heart and subsequently heart failure, coronary artery disease and cardiac arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms).

Reduced blood flow to your heart can cause angina (chest pain), damage to your heart and heart attack.

Damage to the arteries in the brain has been tied to dementia in your later years. And if an artery in your brain ruptures or becomes blocked it can cause a stroke.

Sight impairment or blindness can result if an artery in your eye burst.

If the blood vessels in your kidneys are affected, kidney disease or kidney failure can result.

Next step?

1. Find out if you have hypertension
2. If you do, follow your doctors instructions
3. Come back here to find out what you can do to help yourself

Don’t put it off. If you wait too long, some of the damage, including death, may not be reversible.

Seen on a tee shirt:
Anybody with normal blood pressure these days, just isn’t paying attention!

First the good news – Exercise will lower your blood pressure and you may be able to reduce or even stop taking your high blood pressure medications.  If you don’t now have hypertension, then exercise will help prevent it.

The bad news – It’s exercise !

“Exercise relieves stress. Nothing relieves exercise.”
Takayuki Ikkaku, Arisa Hosaka and Toshihiro Kawabata in
Animal Crossing: Wild World, 2005

Why choose exercise over medication?

Ok, so why not just pop a pill and be done with it?  For starters, how about side effects. Depending on the hypertension medication your doctor prescribes, you may experience one or more of the following:

• Constipation
• Drowsiness and Fatigue
• Headaches
• Dizziness and Fainting
• Dehydration
• Dry Mouth
• Frequent urination at night
• An increased sensitivity to cold weather
• An increased sensitivity to sunlight
• Bleeding gums
• Stomach upset
• Impotence
• Persistent cough
• Fluid Retention
• Heart Arrhythmia

Now let’s compare those to the possible side effects of exercise:

• Strengthening of your heart and cardiovascular system
• Increased energy levels
• Increased endurance
• Reduced body fat
• Weight loss
• Helps eliminate shortness of breath
• Strengthens your bones
• Better balance
• Increased overall strength and muscle tone
• Joint flexibility
• Reduced risk of type II diabetes
• Reduced risk of stroke
• Better quality sleep
• Lower stress hormone levels
• Reduces anxiety and depression
• Makes you look and feel better
• Increased self-esteem
• Can increase effectiveness of hypertension medications
• And of course helps regulate your blood pressure

Ok, so I think exercise wins that round.

While many consider hypertension to be a disease, in many cases it’s a symptom of another underlying illness.  Blood pressure medications lower high blood pressure by tricking the body with chemicals.  They don’t treat the underlying causes and you don’t receive any of the benefits of exercise listed above.

Does Lack of Exercise Cause Hypertension?

The definitive answer is sometimes.  It would seem to be common sense that if exercise reduces blood pressure, than not exercising will cause it to rise,  However, there are plenty of couch potatoes out there who’d break into a sweat running to the bathroom during a commercial and they don’t have high blood pressure.  But, with the right combination of poor lifestyle choices (ie: smoking, poor diet) and a genetic predisposition to hypertension, lack of exercise is a major contributing factor to high blood pressure.

So what’s next, join a gym?

Your 1st step should be to consult your health care professional.  It’s a good idea no matter what age and shape you’re in, but particularly if:

• You are over age 40
• You smoke
• You are overweight
• You have a family history of heart disease
• You have any chronic illnesses (heart disease, hypertension, arthritis, diabetes, etc.)
• You haven’t had a physical in the last few years
• You take any medications (exercise can affect the way some medications work)

He or she can advise you about any precautions you must take regarding your present physical condition.  If you have dangerously high blood pressure, it may be necessary to bring it down to a safer level with medication before you can begin exercising.

Next, decide on what type of physical activity you want to participate in.  No, you don’t have to join a gym or buy expensive exercise equipment.  You can do something as simple as taking a daily walk.  However, a leisurely stroll though the park won’t do you much good, you have to exert yourself.  Just remember to take it easy in the beginning, especially if you aren’t accustomed to physical exertion.

Can I quit after my blood pressure comes down?

In one respect, medication and exercise are alike. In order to keep your blood pressure under control, you need to maintain an active lifestyle. Any reduction in blood pressure numbers as a result of exercise will disappear if you stop.

The body’s own defense against oxidants in the blood vessels may lead to low levels of nitric oxide, a vasodilator (vasodilators widen or open up the blood vessels allowing for an increase in blood flow and a decrease in blood pressure). This loss of the vasodilator effects of nitric oxide leads to developing pulmonary hypertension. Without the effects of the nitric oxide, the blood vessels become constricted and blood pressure rises.

The study reporting these findings was led by Dr. Serpil Erzurum of the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Erzurum says that  increasing antioxidant intake may increase the vasodilator effects of nitric oxide, lower pulmonary pressure and improve patient outcome.

Source:  Wiley-Blackwell. “Antioxidant Deficiency Linked To Pulmonary Hypertension.” 

“Now that we know hydrogen sulfide’s role in regulating blood pressure, it may be possible to design drug therapies that enhance its formation as an alternative to the current methods of treatment for hypertension,” said Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Solomon H. Snyder, M.D., a co-author of the study detailed in the Oct. 24th issue of the journal Science.

I’m not so sure I like where this is going.  Do you get a free can of air freshener with each prescription?

However, you can reap the benefits by including sulfur rich foods, such as garlic and onions in your diet.

P.S. By the way, beans are good for your heart.  They’re loaded with soluble fiber and flavanoids, helping to reduce cholesterol and inhibiting adhesion in blood platelets which lowers the risk of a heart attack or stroke.

Source: MSNBC Health

A special chiropractic adjustment, known as the Atlas Adjustment, is showing promise as a therapy for lowering high blood pressure.  An initial  placebo-controlled study of fifty patients with early stage high blood pressure was begun by George Bakris, MD after a colleague told him that he had been sending  patients (some of whom had hypertension)  to a chiropractor for un-related treatments, and after seeing the chiropractor, their blood pressure had normalized.

The adjustment is applied to the Atlas vertebra (the C-1 vertebra) located at the very top of the spinal column.  It is thought that injury or mis-alignment of the Atlas vertebra may affect blood flow through the arteries that pass through the vertebra at the base of the skull.

25 patients in the study received the proper treatment while the other half received a placebo adjustment (that did not affect the C-1 vertebra).  Those who received the proper treatment averaged a 14 point drop in their systolic and 8 point drop in their diastolic blood pressure.  None of the participants received medication during the eight week study.  

Because of the encouraging results of this initial study, Dr. Bakris, director of the University of Chicago Hypertension Center is conducting a much bigger clinical trial.

Americans are becoming more aware of the dangers and risk factors of high blood pressure.  Know your blood pressure numbers.  If they indicate that you should be on treatment for hypertension and you aren’t, you need to speak up.  

Source:  Medicine Net.com

Dr. Williams along with Dr.Thomas Pickering of Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center of New York are co-authors of an American Society of Hypertension position paper on home and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring.  They state that there is increasing evidence that these two methods of monitoring will better predict your cardiovascular risk than office monitoring of your blood pressure alone.

Source: University of Connecticut

Source:  Medical News Today