Hypertension: Natural Approaches and Solutions
1 in 3 adults has high blood pressure (i.e. hypertension). But what exactly is blood pressure?
Blood pumps through your body and causes a certain type of pressure when doing so. That is blood pressure. When this pressure against the artery walls of your heart becomes too great, it results in elevated force and leads to high blood pressure. This condition of high blood pressure puts stress on your blood vessel walls and organs. Over time, this can lead to many health issues including small aneurysms (bulges) in blood vessels, enlarged heart, and pressure on vessels in the kidneys and eyes. Hypertension is often referred to as the “silent killer” because you can’t typically feel that your blood pressure is high unless it is a crisis-level type of elevation. Uncontrolled hypertension can lead to stroke and even be fatal.
Whoa. That sounds scary.
Deep breath.
That takes years and years. There is so much you can do to be proactive!
The people most likely to get high blood pressure are:
African American
Over the age of 55
Overweight
Inactive
Heavy alcohol drinkers
Smokers
There is also risk when you use NSAID medications (i.e. ibuprofen, naproxen, Celebrex, etc.), illicit drugs such as cocaine, or decongestants. Conventional medicine blames salt intake as a cause of high blood pressure, but that is a debate for another time.
2 Types of High Blood Pressure
The first is essential hypertension which accounts for 95% of all diagnosed cases. That means that the cause cannot be determined. Secondary hypertension is the second cause of high blood pressure. This means there is a cause, and it is usually from the kidneys. It can also be from an adrenal gland tumor or birth control pills.
High blood pressure treatments:
Conventional medicine standard of care is to try diet and lifestyle modifications first, then if there are consistently elevated blood pressure readings, start anti-hypertensive medications. There are many different types of prescription medications that can be used. It’s not uncommon for 2 or even 3 medications to be needed to bring blood pressure levels to an optimal state. Unfortunately, this doesn’t ever fix the problem. It just makes the blood pressure reading look better. Does research show that blood pressure medications reduce morbidity and mortality? Of course! But, don’t confuse that with thinking that they’re FIXING the actual problem causing the high blood pressure.
Functional medicine treatment of any illness or diagnosis is finding the root cause. This would apply to high blood pressure, too. We are always asking, “Why did it develop in the first place?”.
One thing all forms of medicine can agree on is that lifestyle change has to be one of the first things to address with high blood pressure. If the person is otherwise healthy to begin with, changing their diet, exercising, and losing weight can decrease blood pressure significantly. Eliminating consuming alcohol and smoking cigarettes is also extremely important. Another key factor is managing stress to calm down the nervous system response.
Natural solutions to high blood pressure consist of the previous paragraph and further evaluating nutrient status, potential triggers, how detoxification systems are working, and ruling out an identifiable obvious cause. Each individualized person’s cause may be different.
The following are steps you can take to try to lower your blood pressure:
Diet rich in whole foods - No processed foods and eating nutritious vegetables, fruit, good quality meats, and some gluten free grains
Increase water to make sure you’re hydrated
Exercise - Start by walking and start to incorporate aerobic exercise
Get good sleep - If you do not get good quality sleep, your body will be stressed and this can cause elevation in blood pressure
Make sure you have enough vitamin D and C, as low levels can cause high blood pressure
Treat your inflammation - Listen to your body and figure out what makes you feel swollen or worse and eliminate it
Low levels of potassium in relation to sodium can cause high blood pressure so make sure you are getting enough potassium
Prediabetes causing elevated blood sugar levels can increase blood pressure, so watch your sugar/carbohydrate intake
Last Thoughts About Hypertension Control
Pick one of these things you found helpful in this article and act on it. That’s right. Just one. Which is it? Do that consistently for a week or even several weeks. Once you’re comfortable with that one change, pick another item you want to act on. Rinse and repeat.
As always, if you’re looking for practitioner to guide your healing, give you a strategic plan to meet your wellness needs, and help with accountability, give us a call. You deserve a long, healthy life!
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The Shore Integrative Health Team
(443) 339-9713
kristin@shoreintegrativehealth.com
508 Idlewild Avenue, Unit 5
Easton, MD 21601
Written by Virginia Conner, PA-C