What causes high blood pressure and how to fix high blood pressure is a condition also known as hypertension. This is known as “The Silent Killer” as sometimes there are no symptoms. High blood pressure causes damage to your blood vessels and arteries which raises the risk of heart attack and stroke. It can also lead to vision loss, sexual dysfunction, heart failure, kidney disease, and many more health problems.
According to data from the GBD study of 2016, hypertension led to 1.63 million deaths in India in the year 2016 alone. GBD data also showed that over half of the deaths due to ischaemic heart disease (54.2%), stroke (56.2%) and chronic kidney disease (54.5%) were attributable to high systolic BP.
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Steps to Lower Blood Pressure Level Naturally
Let’s talk about something that is very very important. How to lower your blood pressure naturally. It is estimated that about 75 million people in the United States, suffer from hypertension or high blood pressure.
In today’s article, we will take a look at the most common causes of high blood pressure, and share some of our best tips on how to avoid them.
The leading cause of high blood pressure and hypertension is consuming too many sugary foods and refined carbohydrates. Eating refined grains like bread, cereal, biscuits, pastries, and waffles pulls important minerals out of the body such as potassium and magnesium. This causes the blood vessels to constrict which increases your blood pressure. Sugary foods like soda drinks, sauces, puddings, and sweets also deplete your body of important B vitamins which damages the nervous system. Simply cut out these foods are starting consuming more healthy fats like olive oil, avocados, and coconut oil. These will fight cravings and help you to feel full, whilst reversing damage from carbohydrates.
1. Chronically high insulin levels
First and foremost, the first principle is chronically high insulin levels. Now, this has been known, it is published in multiple research articles that a chronically high insulin level is going to make your blood pressure higher. We do not know 100% for sure if this is causation or a correlation, but it sure looks causal to me. When I look at all the research, that a high insulin level leads to an elevation in blood pressure.
For a couple of reasons
First of all, when you have a chronically high insulin level, you just tend to hold more fluid, more water in your body, and that is going increase your intravascular volume and that is going to increase your blood pressure.
Secondly, chronically high insulin levels and the chronically high blood sugar levels that lead to an elevated insulin, will cause inflammation, and this leads to the damage inside the tiny arterials and capillaries and that is going ultimately lead to a heart attack or a stroke. And so you have to work on lowering your insulin level to as low a normal level as you can get.That is going to protect you from hundreds of complications as you go through life. But it is also going lower your blood pressure.
Diets For Lowering Insulin Level
There are a couple of big diets that I have researched to control hypertension or high blood pressure. One did not work at all,the other works are great.
The first diet is the dash diet, this is the diet recommended by the American Heart Association.As I found that it had basically negligible effect on blood pressure. It did not help them lose weight and didn’t lower their insulin levels, it didn’t lower their inflammation levels, and didn’t help with their blood pressure.
When the ketogenic way of eating or the low carb/high healthy fat way of eating, let insulin levels come down, inflammation levels came down, and blood pressure came down. But the ketogenic way of eating or the low carb/high healthy fat way of eating may be the best way to lower an insulin level to a low normal level which is going to reverse hypertension or high blood pressure and also diabetes and all kinds of other stuff as well.
2. Belly Fat
Those with lots of belly fat have higher blood pressure which raises the risk of cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. Belly fat is caused by insulin resistance, from consuming junk foods, trans fats, artificial sweeteners, and alcohol. To lose belly fat, start eating raw leafy green salads daily, with a good quality olive oil dressing. Salad leaves are packed full of minerals that fight insulin resistance and allow you to tap into your belly fat for energy.
3. Stress
Both physical and mental stress can cause you to have high blood pressure. When we feel stressed out or anxious, our adrenal glands produce too much of the cortisol hormone. Cortisol is released into your bloodstream which increases your heart rate and blood pressure. The body perceives a threat which is part of the natural fight or flight mechanism. If you feel stress on a daily basis, start loading up on B vitamins from nutritional yeast, and take long gentle walks in nature to calm the nervous system. If this does not work you may also try some adaptogenic herbs in capsules like ashwagandha or rhodiola.
4. Potassium Deficiency
Potassium Deficiency is one of the direct Causes of High Blood Pressure. The human body needs at least 4700mg of potassium per day, however, most people barely get 1000. Potassium is the most important mineral because it balances out the negative effects of salt (sodium) in the body. Start consuming more potassium-rich foods such as avocados, beet tops, kale, and salmon. Potassium eases tension in the blood vessel walls, which helps the blood to flow freely and lower blood pressure. It also helps the body to flush out excess salt through the urine.
5. Magnesium Deficiency
Eating junk foods and not getting enough vegetables in the diet also leads to a magnesium deficiency. It is also a direct one of the Causes of High Blood Pressure. This is the secondary key mineral that helps to regulate hundreds of body systems, including blood pressure, muscle, and nerve function. Getting more magnesium into the diet helps the small muscles around the blood vessels to relax, which increases blood flow and balances blood pressure. The best sources of magnesium are pumpkin seeds, avocados, dark chocolate, and brazil nuts.
The dark leafy greens, the meats, the nuts, and all the foods that you can get plenty of magnesium . Because so many people in the US and in the world are deficient in magnesium. This will cause your blood pressure to just be naturally higher and you do not want that.
6. Kidney Damage
Finally, if you have kidney damage or are on dialysis, this may also be a cause of high blood pressure. The kidneys are supplied with a dense network of blood vessels and a high volume of blood flows through them. Damaged kidneys are less able to help regulate blood pressure as the arteries around them begin to narrow, weaken, or harden. If this is the case, you can take Astragalus, traditional Chinese medicine that has been scientifically shown to increase the filtration rate of the kidney and improve blood flow. You can also drink a higher volume of water each day to help the kidneys flush out toxins. Keto & Intermittent Fasting are also two amazing eating plans which can help to reverse kidney damage and balance blood pressure.
7. Sleep
If you are not sleeping well at night, it is gonna make your blood pressure higher.Sleep apnea is one of the leading causes of secondary hypertension in Americans and in the world.If you are overweight and chronically inflamed. If your insulin levels are chronically high, you are more likely to have sleep apnea. And that is just one of the ways that getting poor sleep can raise your blood pressure.
If you do not sleep well at night or whenever you sleep, then your adrenaline levels will chronically be higher, your cortisol levels, and insulin levels. You are going to be tired and when you are tired and grumpy from not sleeping well, that makes it much easier to reach and grab some crappy carbage,some carbohydrates that you do not need, some processed foods, some grains, some sugar.
Whereas if you slept well when you are alert and really really awake, you are much more able to make better decisions when it comes to your diet. So you have got to follow the principles of getting good sleep, you have to have meticulous sleep hygiene, especially as you get older. When you are 17, you can sleep deeply, and someone can come and just kick you out of the bed and you do not even wake up, you just keep sleeping, right. But as you get older, it gets harder and harder to get those seven to nine hours of good deep quality sleep and that is vital for keeping your blood pressure lower.
8. Inflammation
You do not want chronic inflammation in your body, this is going to lead to all the damage that leads to all the secondary bad outcomes.But it is also going to keep your blood pressure higher.And once again, the ketogenic way of eating is the most un inflammatory diet. It has almost miraculous anti-inflammatory benefits when you remove the slow poisons of all the sugars, all the grains,and all the vegetable oils from a human’s diet,they just start to heal and get better.
And they lower their insulin level which gets rid of all the extra fluid that lowers the blood pressure. They also get rid of chronic inflammation. This can be inflammation in their gut, in their brain, in their joints, or many many other places in the body including those tiny arterials that feed the heart, the brain, and the other vital organs. So lowering the inflammation is vital. You have to get inflammatory things out of your diet and out of your life. Anything that chronically inflames you is bad and you need to get that out of your life.
9. Alcohol
The last principle is alcohol. Now, if you are young and healthy and you do not have blood pressure problems, you can have a mixed drink or two that is carb-free every night, and that is not a big deal, right. But as you get older, as you get more insulin resistant, and get more chronic inflammation, as you get more stress in your life, the alcohol, especially. If you take one or two or three medications for your blood pressure, you are going to stop the alcohol.
What are the Required Steps to Fix it?
And Now once you have taken care of all of these principles and gotten your blood pressure and your weight and your insulin and everything fixed.You may be able to go back and have a mixed drink or two that is carb-free every now and then and it is not a big deal.But why in the world you wanna have two or three drinks at night. If that is contributing to your high blood pressure and you can stop that voluntarily and maybe get one or two or three medications.
Start Implementing These Principles
So if you are currently on any medication for hypertension or high blood pressure, do not stop those medications without going to see your doctor. You can start implementing these principles right now to start to lower your blood pressure immediately. You do not stop medications until you talk to your doctor about your plan. And also start keeping up with your blood pressure. You wanna get a blood pressure cuff at home that checks on your upper arm, not on your wrist. And check your blood pressure twice a day when you are calm, cool, and relaxed. Do not wanna be in pain, and be pissed off. You do not wanna be super tired when you check your blood pressure. It is going to be high, that is normal.
Have Perfect Blood Pressure Measurement
If you are rushed and you go to the doctor’s office. Then Also, do not let your doctor start a blood pressure medicine, immediately. And they rush you in and set you down and check the blood pressure. It is high because you are under stress and you are rushed. A lot of doctors will inappropriately start you on a blood pressure medicine based on that one blood pressure reading. That is inappropriate, that is not a proper medical practice, do not allow that to happen. Now if your blood pressure is running consistently high at home right now. You might need a temporary medication or two to get that blood pressure down.
But when you follow these seven principles for long enough, you are going to be able to get off most. If not all of that blood pressure medication. But you are going to do it hand in hand with a learned health advisor, which is your doctor.
Needs to Rule Out Other Causes of Secondary Hypertension
Also, your doctor needs to rule out other causes of secondary hypertension like sleep apnea. There are several other ones that involve the kidneys and the adrenal glands. But if you have a secondary cause of high blood pressure. You may have to be on a medication or two and that is just how it is going to be. But most people, if they will follow these seven principles, they do not need any blood pressure medication whatsoever.
Myths About the Causes of Blood Pressure
Now let’s talk about the three myths that you hear all the time in the media and maybe even from your doctor. If he is behind on his reading
1. Salt
Number one is, the number one myth is salt. Oh salt, if you eat salt, it will make your blood pressure go up. This has been proven incorrect multiple times in huge medical studies. Don’t worry about salt. Maybe one or two people out of a million have a genetic predisposition and are very salt-sensitive. But once you have worked on these seven principles that I have talked about earlier. Salt has no meaningful effect on your blood pressure whatsoever. You can enjoy your salt, that is how we get our minerals, do not worry about salt. If you want you can switch to pink salt also.
2. Caffeine
The second myth is caffeine. Oh if you drink coffee or tea, you are going to raise your blood pressure. This has been shown multiple times to not be true. You might have a transient elevation in your pulse and blood pressure. The short term when you drink a cup of coffee. But that is not the definition of hypertension or high blood pressure. That has nothing to do with the big picture. There are so many good benefits to drinking good quality coffee or tea. Do not worry about them raising your blood pressure, that is a myth.
3. Smoking
Then the third myth, this is kind of a complicated myth and so listen carefully. Many many of them, the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, imply that smoking will raise your blood pressure. And as much as doctors would love for this to be true, as much as we would love to have one more thing. We can throw on the pile of reasons why you should quit smoking, which is that it raises your blood pressure. But we have tried it in multiple large studies and we can not prove that it increases your blood pressure in any meaningful way. Now, I strongly encourage you to stop smoking. Smoking may indirectly be related to blood pressure through oxygen flow but not directly related.
Conclusion
As you can see high blood pressure is always a symptom of an underlying problem, that needs to be fixed. Learn more about the best foods, diet, and lifestyle changes.
Thank you very much for reading, alike is always appreciated, and remember to subscribe for more health-related articles. You can go to my related articles also. I wish you great health, wealth, and happiness.
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