The way you live your life can affect your blood pressure massively. Whether that be with your diet, how often you exercise or how stressed you are with certain things. There are plenty of ways you can go about lowering your blood pressure. It is important you know the natural ways of doing this before taking any medication!
Watch Your Weight
One simple and natural way of lowering your blood pressure is by watching what you eat. Avoid eating an excess of fatty foods as this can cause you to put weight on. Gaining weight is something that is avoidable for many people through diet and exercise, so it is one of the most effective changes you can make to your lifestyle to lower your blood pressure.
Aiming to eat a balanced and varied diet containing plenty of vitamins and nutrients is the best way to make sure you either lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. Some people who are a healthy weight might still have high blood pressure, however if you are overweight, it is important that you make the effort to be more conscious of what you are eating. Watching your weight should always be a priority in terms of your health because it can lead to other health conditions. There are plenty of methods to help get fit and lose weight so, make sure you check the different ways to help you.
You can watch your weight by calorie counting but, you could still be eating foods that are bad for you. We are all allowed a treat every once in a while but, it is important to know how often you are allowed to consume those foods. The main thing to focus on when trying to lose weight is making sure you are in a calorie deficit, meaning you are eating less calories throughout the day than you are burning.
If you are struggling with keeping on top of the foods that you are consuming, then you should probably write down your meals in a diary, as well as adding how many calories that meal is to make sure you are staying in a deficit. If your blood pressure is high, you might want to consider consuming more potassium. This can lessen the effects of sodium on your blood pressure and it is really easy to find foods containing potassium.
For some people, it is simple to consume enough nutrients through diet alone, as potassium can be found in many fruits and vegetables. These are; bananas, cooked spinach, broccoli, sweet potatoes, normal potatoes, peas, cucumber, leafy greens and many more. You can also find it in your orange juice, tomato juice and other juices.
However, in terms of convenience, taking supplements is a great alternative.
Keep Fit
Keeping fit is something that you should do to keep your body healthy and fit. Every part of your body will benefit from a healthy amount of exercise and health experts recommend that we exercise at least 150 minutes a week. This can include walking, so it is something that is quite easily achievable for many people.
It does not need to be a 5K run or an hour in the gym. It can be something simple, like step-ups in your own home. It could be walking to work or your bus stop. As long as you are working your muscles or you are working on your cardiovascular fitness, it is considered exercise. Exercising is good for helping you avoid hypertension as well.
There are many exercises that you should consider when you are trying to lower your blood pressure and become fitter. We all like different things at the end of the day and that is the same with exercise. You could be one of those people that prefers long-distance running or other aerobic exercises. You could also be one of those people that prefers interval training and challenging the muscles. Another one is just simple strength training in the gym.
Either way, there are plenty of exercises that can suit anyone. It is all about what you prefer and how fit you are looking to get!
Reduce the Amount of Salt You Consume
It is recommended that we do not exceed 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day. It varies with different groups of people, as it all just depends on their lifestyle. 1500 milligrams a day is what doctors suggest for most adults and if you consume more than this, then there are many ways to decrease your sodium intake.
Firstly, consider eating less processed foods. Naturally, there is only a small amount of sodium in foods but with processed foods, it is added during the process. Read the labels of your foods that you are buying as many will have the sodium amount on the packaging as well so you could look for alternatives if it is too high. Cutting down on your salt intake can be difficult, but making small changes can have a big difference!
Alcohol and Smoking
Alcohol and smoking can have a massive impact on your blood pressure. This depends on the amount of alcohol you drink and how much you smoke per day. Smoking and drinking are bad for all areas of our health, but particularly our blood pressure, so cutting out smoking completely and cutting down your drinking to a minimum can help to reduce your blood pressure. For example, each cigarette you smoke raises your blood pressure for a short amount of time. So the more you smoke, the higher your blood pressure.
Reduce Stress
Stress can raise your blood pressure a lot. It is something that you should try your best to manage and if you don’t, then it can get on top of you. Sometimes stress can be caused by eating unhealthy foods, drinking too much alcohol or smoking too much. However, work can also be a contributing factor to this.
There are many ways you can reduce your stress levels as well but it is easier said than done. You have got to focus on the issues that you can control for starters. You mustn’t worry about the things you cannot control as you can do nothing about them. Not overloading yourself with work and other activities is another good way to keep on top of your stress levels. There are many ways to reduce stress at work so research the different ways to help you. For example, taking magnesium supplements can help to manage the body’s response to stress. Try a few different things and find what works for you!
Summary
There are plenty of ways to reduce your high blood pressure. If you are noticing any changes to your body that could be linked with high blood pressure then go see a doctor! They will give you the best advice you need for your body.