High blood pressure is one of the most common health conditions in the United States. Most people diagnosed with high blood pressure are treated with medications. This article will teach you five easy steps you can use to lower your blood pressure without medications.

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[edit] Steps

Avoid Salt (sodium). Sodium causes you to retain fluids, which makes your blood have more fluid volume. When your blood has more volume, your heart has to pump harder to move that excess volume throughout the body. This causes the blood pressure to go up. Remember, it's not just the salt that you put on your food while cooking or at the table, it's also the amount of sodium that's in the food that you buy. You should become "label conscious" and buy "low sodium" foods. Preserved foods, tinned foods, bakery products and MSG, all tend to have sodium content. Many American diets include up to 5,000 milligrams of sodium daily which nearly all medical professionals consider extremely unhealthy. Medical professionals often prescribe LOW sodium diets that consist of between 1100 and 1500 milligrams daily. The American Heart Association advises that the human body actually can function with as little as only 200mg of sodium daily. If one can't live without a "salty" flavor, there are multiple brands of what amounts to fake salt products on the market. Not just low or "lite" salt products but salt substitutes.
Avoid Caffeine. Even one or two cups of fresh ground coffee can raise blood pressure into the unhealthy Stage 1 level. If a person already has Stage 1 Hypertension, coffee usually complicates the problem even further. Caffeine is a stimulant. This causes the heart to beat faster. When the heart beats faster, the blood pressure raises. If you are a person who drinks a lot of caffeine (more than 4 caffeinated drinks/day), you may need to taper yourself off of the caffeine to prevent withdraw symptoms such as headaches.
Stop Smoking. Smoking causes your blood pressure to elevate because of the stimulants in the cigarette smoke. If you stop smoking, you can not only lower your blood pressure, but you can also help your heart to become more healthy and reduce your chances for other health-related problems like lung cancer.
Lose Weight. Carrying around this extra weight causes your heart to work harder all the time and this increases your blood pressure. Imagine having an extra 20 pounds (9 kg) on your body. That would be the same thing as carrying around a 20 pound (9 kg) bag of dog food. Try walking around the block while carrying this bag of dog food. Soon, your heart will begin to beat faster and harder, you'll become out of breath, and you'll feel very tired. Eventually, you'll get to the point where you can't wait to put that bag down. Imagine how hard it is for your body to carry around that extra weight all the time! Unfortunately, most of us are carrying around a lot more than just an extra 20 pounds (9 kg). By losing this extra weight, your heart won't have to beat as hard and you'll lower your blood pressure. An inexpensive and very user-friendly software product titled "Fit Day" can be downloaded from their website and is incredibly easy to use in weight and health monitoring. This product is highly recommended, and costs approximately $40
Avoid Drugs and Alcohol. Excessive use of drugs and alcohol can damage many organs in the body including the liver and the kidneys. When these organs are damaged, they can cause a build-up of fluids in the body. Like we talked about in step one, extra fluids make the heart beat harder and this increases the blood pressure. Also, many drugs are stimulants. These cause the heart to beat faster. As we stated earlier, the faster the heart beats, the higher the blood pressure goes. By cutting out drugs and alcohol, you'll succeed in reducing your blood pressure. Also, remember above where the common warning about sodium was described? Some over the counter medications such as simple headache remedy Ibuprofen cause the body to RETAIN sodium. So, people who are already complicating their high blood pressure condition with sodium also are retaining that sodium more than the body naturally would which causes even higher stress on your system.
RelaxMany people have a temporary raise in blood pressure when they are under stress. If you have high blood pressure because you are over weight or have a family history of hypertension, then stress raises it that much more. This is because your adrenal gland releases a stress hormones which tend to put your cardiovascular system to work. If you are under chronic stress where you give of that stress hormone every day then your cardiovascular system will naturally go in a state where it is over working. This occurs due to the fact that the stress hormone increases your pulse, respiration and heart rate in an attempt to cause you to fight. Fight, because your body thinks you are in need of fighting or running and naturally gets your body ready for either one. After prolonged stress one can imagine what kind of work your heart is placed under. Try taking a walk, meditating or listening to relaxing music to take the edge off a stressful day. Make time for decompressing each and every day. A hot bath for 15 minutes actually will suppress one's blood pressure for anywhere up to several hours. Taking a hot bath just prior to bedtime can help the body retain lower blood pressure for hours or even the entire night.
Exercise Walk every day for at least 30 minutes at a moderate speed of about 3.0 miles per hour. Study after study has demonstrated that the mere act of walking has a suppression effect on hypertension. Can't walk outside? Used treadmills can be found at all sorts of online sites for as little as $250. The advantage: walk even as it rains or snows outside. You can even walk in your pajamas without the neighbors seeing you! But do yourself a favor. Walk every day without fail. 30 minutes is all it takes, daily.
Meditate Simply observing and slowing the breath produces a significant reduction in blood pressure.
Monitor your blood pressure You can monitor you blood pressure by using a sphygmomanometer and knowing the different ranges in reading your blood pressure. This will keep you on track to lower your blood pressureaccording to the levels listed below
- Normal blood pressure - 120/80 and below
- Pre-Hypertension blood pressure - 120-139/80-89
- First stage hypertension - 140-159/90-99
- Second stage hypertension - : 160/100 and above

[edit] Tips

The following list is not a daily intake description but what one finds on a food label for a specific food item. For example, a piece of fruit would be "low sodium" with a content of less than 140 mg.
Low Sodium = 0 mg - 140 mg
Moderate Sodium = 140 mg - 400 mg
High Sodium = 400 mg or higher
Regular exercise such as walking is useful for lowering blood pressure
Meditation distresses and lowers high blood pressure
Listening to or voicing rhythmic chants causes breathing tempo to stabilize, which in turn, can be beneficial.
Taking fish oil tablets regularly can reduce your blood pressure.
Broccoli sprouts may reduce your blood pressure if eaten regularly.

[edit] Warnings

While all of these tips are effective in lowering your blood pressure without medications, sometimes they are not enough. If your blood pressure stays at 140 mmHg over 90 mmHg (usually written 140/90) or higher even while using these tips, you should see your doctor. The consequences of untreated or unchecked hypertension include stroke which can put a person in a wheelchair for the remainder of his/her life. Stroke sometimes can alter a person's brain function enough such that speech is permanently disrupted. Kidney failure is another consequence which can require that a person be put on kidney dialysis for life. If you find that engaging in prevention tactics is boring to you, just write stroke and kidney failure on a piece of paper & tape that to your refrigerator as a reminder of what can happen to you with high blood pressure.