High blood pressure is the most common preventable risk factor for heart disease. Over 1 billion people around the world have high blood pressure. As people, there are some home remedies for managing high blood pressure.
Known as a “silent killer,” High blood pressure usually doesn’t cause symptoms until there’s significant damage done to the heart. Without visible symptoms, most people are unaware that they have high blood pressure.
When blood pressure is high, the blood moves through the arteries more forcefully. This puts increased pressure on the delicate tissues in the arteries and damages the blood vessels.
Home Remedies for Managing High Blood Pressure
- Exercise
- Good diet
- Reduce Salt
- Lose weight
- Stop smoking
- Limit alcohol
1. Exercise
One must exercise for about 30 to 60 minutes a day for a healthy living. Along with helping lower blood pressure, regular physical activity benefits your mood, strength, and balance. It decreases your risk of diabetes and other types of heart disease. If you’ve been inactive for a while, talk to your doctor about a safe exercise routine. Start out slowly, then gradually pick up the pace and frequency of your workouts.
You can take your workout outside. Go for a jog, hike and swim for more benefits because the important thing is to get moving.
You can try lifting of weights, doing pushups, or performing any other exercise that helps build lean muscle mass.
2. Good diet.
Healthy eating is very essential for managing high blood pressure. Therefore following the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet can lower your blood pressure by as much as 11 mm Hg systolic. The DASH diet consists of:
- eating fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
- eating low-fat dairy products, lean meats, fish, and nuts
- eliminating foods that are high in saturated fats, such as processed foods, full-fat dairy products, and fatty meats
It also helps to cut back on desserts and sweetened beverages, such as soda and juice.
3. Reduce your intake of salt.
High intake of sodium can be detrimental to your health. So keeping your sodium intake to a minimum can be vital for lowering blood pressure.
In some people, when you eat too much sodium, your body starts to retain fluid. This results in a sharp rise in blood pressure.
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends limiting your sodium intake to between 1,500 milligrams (mg) and 2,300 mg per day, thats a little over half a teaspoon of table salt.
To decrease sodium in your diet, don’t add salt to your food. One teaspoon of table salt has 2,300 mg of sodium!
Use herbs and spices to add flavor instead.
4. Manage your weight well
Since weight and blood pressure go hand in hand, losing just 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) can help lower your blood pressure.
It’s not just the number on your scale that matters. Watching your waistline is also critical for controlling blood pressure.
The extra fat around your waist, called visceral fat, is troublesome. It tends to surround various organs in the abdomen. This can lead to serious health problems, including high blood pressure.
In general, men should keep their waist measurement to less than 40 inches. Women should aim for less than 35 inches.
5. Stop smoking
Smoking cigarette raises your blood pressure for several minutes after you finish.
For a heavy smoker, your blood pressure can stay elevated for extended periods of time.
People with high blood pressure who smoke are at greater risk for developing dangerously high blood pressure, heart attack and even stroke.
Even secondhand smoke can put you at increased risk for high blood pressure and heart disease.
therefore quitting smoking can help your blood pressure return to normal.
6. Limit alcohol.
Drinking a glass of red wine with your dinner is perfectly fine. It might even offer heart-health benefits when done in moderation.
But drinking excessive amounts of alcohol can lead to lots of health issues, including high blood pressure.
Excessive drinking can even reduce the effectiveness of certain blood pressure medications.
What does drinking in moderation mean? The AHA recommends that men limit their consumption to two alcoholic drinks per day. Women should limit their intake to one alcoholic drink per day.
One drink equals:
- 12 ounces of beer
- 5 ounces of wine
- 1.5 ounces of 80-proof liquor
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