Hypertension guide

When our hypertension is confirmed, the first thing the doctor often does is to prescribe medication to control our condition. This is usually followed with general advice about losing weight, having a healthy diet and reducing our alcohol consumption. The recently published results of long-term term research in Finland suggest that far greater importance should be placed on simple lifestyle changes to lower or prevent high blood pressure.

The Finnish Hypertension Study

The study followed 9,637 men and 11,430 women aged between 25 and 74 who did not have hypertension. Their lifestyle factors were recorded and followed up over a 16 year period. The factors common to the study group were that they:

consumed less than six units of alcohol per week;exercised at least three times per week;consumed a variety of vegetables, including green vegetables, each day; andhad normal weight.

Of the study group, 709 men and 890 women developed the condition. What is significant is that the risk of developing hypertension among those having all four of the above healthy lifestyle factors is one third of the risk for those having none of the factors.

The results of the study were presented to the European Cardiology Congress in August 2012 by Professor Jousilahti of Finland's National Institute for Health and Welfare

In developed countries, such as the United Kingdom, the lifetime risk of developing hypertension is now 90%. Six million Britons are prescribed medication to control their condition. There are 350 preventable strokes or heart attacks each day in the United Kingdom that are caused by hypertension.

Healthy lifestyle reduces hypertension as well as or better than drugs

A review of studies into drug treatment for mild hypertension, carried out by the charity Blood Pressure Association UK, found:

no benefit in taking medication to control mild hypertension; andmaking lifestyle changes not only lowers high blood pressure naturally, but could be more effective than taking medication in such cases.

Healthy lifestyle reduces hypertension

Although the participants in the Finnish study were healthy at the start of the study, the findings also showed that making lifestyle improvements naturally benefits those who already have hypertension.

The Finnish study and the review of studies into drug treatment for mild hypertension, carried out by the charity Blood Pressure Association UK, confirm that by improving four of our lifestyle factors, it is possible to reduce our hypertension to normal levels using natural methods.

Robert Reddin suffers from high blood pressure. He lowered his blood pressure to normal levels using natural methods. Click here if you want to lower your blood pressure naturally.  http://how-to-lower-your-blood-pressure.com/

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Hypertension has many causes. The most common of which are associated with our "Western" diet and increasingly sedentary lifestyles. Those of us with high blood pressure are exhorted to adopt a healthy balanced diet to help manage our condition. However, little or no explanation of this entreaty is given. Instead, medication that undermines some aspects of a healthy diet is prescribed.

Our bodies are complex organisms that require a certain balance of nutrients for optimum performance. Hypertension can result from an imbalance of nutrients. Ironically, the medication prescribed to lower our high blood pressure can strip out some of these essential nutrients and indirectly compound the condition it was meant to manage!

Diet and hypertension:

Our modern "Western" diet is often low in fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables. These are the main sources of the nutrients we need to maintain our blood pressures at healthy levels. Whilst our diet often has an over-supply of sodium, more often than not, there is a deficiency of potassium. That deficiency is a common cause of hypertension.

The recommended daily amount of potassium for an adult is 4,700mg. Most people's diet gives them less than half of this amount. Bananas are a good source of potassium, with a medium size banana providing about 10 % of our daily requirement for that mineral. Bananas are especially beneficial because they contain almost no sodium.

Potassium and hypertension:

Potassium plays a role in regulating blood pressure. A 1997 study carried out at John Hopkins University in the USA, and which focussed on the role of potassium, suggested people would have to eat five bananas a day to have half the effect of anti-hypertensive medication. With the knowledge we now have, the finding is not unexpected given that:

there is an inverse relationship between our B P and the amount of potassium we consume; andfive bananas only provides half of the RDA for potassium for an adult.

Research conducted by scientists at Kasturba Medical College in Manipal in southern India, after the John Hopkins University study, found that BP readings fell by 10% in people who ate two bananas daily for a week. This is as effective as some anti-hypertensive medication, but without the side effects.

How eating 2 bananas a day reduces hypertension:

This is achieved in two ways:

As has been noted above, bananas area rich source of potassium and have almost no sodium. Eating two bananas a day boosts our potassium intake, which helps regulate our BP levels; andBananas contain natural angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. ACE produces a substance called angiotensin-2 that constricts blood vessels and raises the pressure inside them. Eating bananas has been shown to stop this happening.

Bananas have many health benefits. Including two bananas a day in our diet is a healthy way to reduce our hypertension naturally.

Robert Reddin suffers from high blood pressure. He lowered his blood pressure to normal levels using natural methods. Click here if you want to lower your blood pressure naturally. http://how-to-lower-your-blood-pressure.com/

View the original article here