What Does Your Blood Pressure Tell You?
It is very important to stay away from any kind of cardiac or cardiovascular disease because if these diseases are left untreated, they can cause fatal health problems in the future, as a person gradually grows old. High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is a cardio-vascular condition when blood flows in higher pressure through your arteries and veins. Conditions like high blood pressure, if left untreated, can lead to serious heart-related disorders such as cardiac arrest, heart failure, and also increase the chances of developing diseases like heart strokes, high heart rates or palpitations, and heart blockage. According to several experts and cardiologists, there are some significantly effective ways that will be sufficient enough to lower high blood pressure levels.
What Is High Blood Pressure Or Hypertension?
High blood pressure is a medical condition that measures the rate at which your red blood cells rush through your arteries, veins, and blood vessels while moving into and out of your heart and circulating throughout the body. The blood pressure levels increase when the blood flows in greater force through the channels of veins or blood vessels, and this force when exerted on the walls of your blood vessels creates extreme pressure and makes the entire circulation process inefficient and impaired.
High blood pressure is a serious health issue that can cause severe adverse conditions in your heart. One must keep a record of the blood pressure levels regularly so that any sudden fluctuation can be easily measured and can be treated as soon as possible.
How To Measure Blood Pressure?
Experts advise monitoring your blood pressure every day to understand the heart conditions and the circulatory system. Blood pressure is generally monitored by folding a cuff around your arm that gradually tightens and records the blood pressure.
Blood pressure levels are generally recorded in two systems:
- Systolic blood pressure (the first number) — Systolic blood pressure is the upper rate of blood pressure. This number shows how much pressure or upward thrust is being pushed by your blood cells against the walls of the blood vessels, arteries, veins, and ventricles while the heart is pumping the blood.
- Diastolic blood pressure (the second number) — Diastolic blood pressure is the lower rate of blood pressure that indicates the amount of pressure that is being exerted by the blood against your artery walls while the heart is beating.
Ways to Lower Down High Levels of Blood Pressure:
It is necessary to lower high blood pressure levels and to keep your blood pressure within limits. Doctors and experts advise you to maintain a healthy lifestyle and to follow a proper and balanced diet to keep your high blood pressure in control. There are a number of ways that are immensely helpful to lower high blood pressure. Some such ways are listed below:
1. Concentrate on regular workout and exercise regularly:
Regular workouts and daily exercise are considered the key ingredients of a healthy and disease-free life. A recent study shows that when a person continues to exercise daily, he or she is in better mental and physical health. It also suggests that exercises, particularly aerobic and resistance exercise can significantly help to lower high levels of blood pressure, for instance, by almost around 3.9 percent of the systolic pressure and 4.5 percent of the diastolic pressure, and can thus help to get rid of heart complications and serious ailments related to the circulatory system.
Apart from these, experts say, daily workouts and aerobic exercises, like breathing exercises along with yoga can also help to keep your heart disease-free and healthy, because this helps your heart to pump easier and in a more relaxed manner and does not exert any kind of pressure over the cardiac muscles or on the walls of blood vessels or veins and thus promotes lowering down the blood pressure levels and by regulating the heart rates at an optimum. Cardiologists often prescribe to divide your workout schedule into three halves throughout the day and perform the workouts and physical exercises that might vary from moderate to rigorous in intensity, for at least 15 minutes during the segments.
Recent studies now suggest that apart from workouts, yoga, and exercises there are some simple ways to perform for lowering high blood pressure or hypertension. Such as:
- Substitute using lifts by climbing along the stairs
- walking instead of driving or using a public transport to close distances
- Try doing household chores on your own without leaving them for your servants
- Try gardening and caring for plants, because gardening requires lot of physical work and keeps good care of both your physical and mental health
- Playing a team sport
- Try cycling
Besides these, there are some other exercises too that will help to reduce high blood pressure such as:
- Aerobic exercise
- Resistance training
- Moderate to high-intensity interval training
- Short bouts of exercise throughout the day or in intervals
- Walking 10,000 or more steps each day
2. Consider stress management:
Stress disorder is considered one of the major factors that are responsible for increasing the levels of blood pressure. There are periods when people go through extreme mental turbulences and stresses, accompanied by times of depression, anxiety, and many others. Excessive stress can spike up your blood pressure levels and in worst cases can lead to headaches, heart failure, stroke, and cardiac arrest. Try to lower your stress levels to keep blood pressure within control. If necessary, seek professional help to take care of your mental health and stress management. You can also reduce stress by meditation, yoga, or by practicing deep breathing exercises, listening to your favorite music, watching films, or reading a book.
3. Dark chocolate might help:
Research and recent studies are revealing that dark chocolate contains essential health extracts like powerful antioxidants such as flavonoids that significantly helps to lower high blood pressure because the rich components in dark chocolate, which are filled with around 60 to 70 percent of cacao helps to loosen the pressure within the channels of blood vessels and veins that causes to reduce blood pressure. Try having at least two cubes of dark chocolate each day to cure conditions of high blood pressure.
4. Get enough sleep and adequate rest:
Recent studies suggest that the majority of the population do not get enough sleep and proper rest as they live an awfully busy life in today’s world. To reduce high blood pressure, one should positively get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep each day and enough rest after a tiring day. According to experts, here are some techniques that will help in the process:
- Set a proper schedule for sleeping regularly according to that particular time.
- Spend time relaxing before bedtime.
- Exercise every day.
- Avoid daytime naps.
- Make your bedroom comfortable.
- Avoid watching TV or scrolling phones before going to bed.
5. Reduce obesity:
If you are suffering from obesity or overweight, it is very much advisable to lose some weight, at least 5 to 10 pounds. This will significantly help your body to lower down high levels of blood.
6. Try having a proper diet:
A proper and balanced diet is necessary for a healthy and disease-free body. Recent studies are now showing that it is important to lower the intake of foods with added sugar or use artificial sweetening agents in the food you have in your regular diet. Moreover, reducing added sugars and substances like carbohydrates from your regular diet can help you to keep your blood pressure levels within control.
Some researches are suggest that one with cardiac and circulatory problems must positively limit or avoid the consumption of processed and packaged foods or junk foods. Cardiologists suggest limiting or avoiding the following fast-food items:
- Deli or processed meats
- Canned soup
- Pizza
- Chips or packet nachos
- Other processed snacks
There are some kinds of food substances that are labeled as “low fat” but they generally contain high amounts of salt and sugar that will increase your blood pressure levels. Besides, doctors prescribe having more potassium-containing foods and to reduce the intake of sodium-rich foods. It has been concluded by experts that when potassium-rich foods can help to keep your heart healthy and reduce high blood pressure levels.
Doctors prescribe to consume the following foods that are rich in potassium:
- milk or dairy- based food products, such as milk and yogurt that are low in fat
- fish, whole grains like rice, wheat, maize, barley, poultry, and beans
- fruits like bananas, apricots, avocados, and oranges
- fresh green vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, tomatoes, and spinach
7. Avoid smoking:
Smoking or consuming tobacco is considered highly injurious to your health. Smoking not only damages your lungs but the components in tobacco are harmful enough to pose a great threat to your heart and can cause high spikes in your blood pressure levels. So, in order to lower your blood pressure levels, avoid smoking immediately. If you find it difficult to avoid smoking at once, try to get the professional help that might help to smoothen the process of quitting smoking.
8. Medicinal herbs can reduce blood pressure:
There are some medicinal herbs that contain the essential plant components that have been used in several countries since ancient times to treat various diseases, including cardiac disorders.
Some such medicinal plants that will essentially help to lower high blood pressure levels are as follows:
- Black bean (Castanospermum austral)
- Cat’s claw (Uncariarhynchophylla)
- Juice of celery plant (Apium graveolens)
- Chinese hawthorn (Crataegus pinnatifida)
- Ginger root
- Giant dodder (Cuscutareflexa)
- maritime pine bark (Pinus pinaster)
- River lily (Crinum glaucum)
- Sesame oil (Sesamum indicum)
- Tomato extract (Lycopersicon esculentum)
- Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa)
- Indian Plantago (blond psyllium)
- Tea (Camellia sinensis), especially green tea, chamomile tea, and oolong tea
