How To Treat High Or Low Blood Pressure

Stress and High Blood Pressure – Three Tips to Manage Stress and Lower Blood Pressure

Stress, regardless of the source, is interpreted by the body as a threat. The nervous system will kick in the fight or flight mode and that has a number of physical effects on the heart and blood vessel system.

The fight or flight response is essential to our survival and always has been. When the cave man was about to be attacked by the saber tooth tiger, his body needed to be super charged in order to fight back or flee. The same is true today. We need to be able to get super charged if we are facing a real threat. However, our threats are not always “real” in the sense that they can do physical harm to us, but more mental as in what happens if I don’t get to work on time.

Unfortunately the body can’t tell the difference between the two. The more you stress on the mental threat, the more the body responds with the fight or flight response.

So what happens when this occurs? The purpose of the response is to get the body ready for an exertion that is beyond normal.

To accomplish this:
The heart pumps faster to rush blood to the body increasing blood pressure.
Breathing becomes more rapid to get nutrients and oxygen to the muscles and the brain.
A natural coagulant is produced to encourage blood clotting if we get cut.
Blood sugar and fat are released into the blood system to give us the extra energy we need to handle the threat.
Adrenalin is manufactured and released to give us a sense of heightened awareness.

The body wasn’t designed to maintain this response for long periods of time. In a perfect world, the threat would be assessed and then the effects of the response would be burned off either by fighting or running.

In the modern world we tend to have stress through out our entire day.

Many people do nothing to relieve it so the system continues in a mini mode, raising blood pressure and putting blood clotting agents in our blood stream. This obviously is not a good situation in a healthy person. Take someone with hardened blood vessels and plaque and you have created a dangerous situation.

Three Quick Tips To Reduce Stress

Exercise

Exercise is the natural way to reduce stress as it replicates the fighting or fleeing. Thirty minutes a day of a good aerobic and light resistance routine will have immediate effects on your stress level and blood pressure. However, time it so you get the best benefit.

I used to work out before going to the office. By the time I finished my hour and fifteen minute commute in Los Angeles traffic, I had completely used up my exercise benefit. I joined a club near my office and started to exercise after work. The hour spent at the gym worked wonders and the bonus was rush hour was over by the time I was done.

I would arrive home relaxed and could better enjoy my family. And the big bonus was the ability to go to sleep.

Get Some Sleep

Most Americans get less than 6 hours of sleep a night. Sleep is a natural stress management system and can’t be ignored. Find a way to get the sleep you need be it warm milk or an herbal tea.

Take A Garlic Supplement

Garlic is kind of a miracle food. It acts as a vasodilator encouraging the blood vessels to expand making less resistance for the heart. In addition, it has a property that thins the blood making it easier to pump and assisting in lowering blood pressure. Lastly it keeps vampires away.

Stress can kill. Follow these tips and you will be that much closer to a healthier blood pressure.

Reduce Blood Pressure Naturally With These Tips

Though it may seem to be an oxymoron it is true that exercising regularly will reduce blood pressure. The release of hormones and oxygen into the blood stream and making the heart work are excellent ways to reduce the stress on the muscles, of which, your heart is one. Tension in the shoulders is awful. When the heart feels the same way, it is strained.

The heart works much like a hose for watering the lawn. If you kink it, it will still try to push water through the narrowed passageway. If you put your thumb over the end while watering, the water is forced through it and it goes farther. This pressure can burst the hose if you are not careful. The same goes for the heart.

To reduce blood pressure naturally without having to purchase high cost pills from a pharmacy there are many ways to go about it. You should definitely stop smoking as a starter. Cigarettes contain carcinogens which are poisons that are willingly put into the body. People claim that smoking helps them to relax. Yes, for a second before the poison takes over. Then doing without a cigarette will cause stress and affect the blood pressure. Limit alcohol intake. This too is a poison that people love to imbibe. Alcohol poisoning is the hangover that is experienced afterward. It may not seem like it but this causes the pressure to go up too.

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There are other ways to reduce blood pressure as well. Eat a well balanced diet. This is not easy with the taste of fast food being so delicious. Eating more fruits, vegetables, meats low in fat and keeping your hands away from deep fried foods, such as french fries and chicken strips, is good advice. The more fat you ingest the faster the arteries throughout the body will become clogged and you will be back to the hose metaphor.

Many doctors tell you that to reduce blood pressure you must lower your sodium intake. Though this is good advice it will not affect everyone the same. Some children eat rock salt and it does nothing to cause them harm. The same goes for some adults. They thrive on salt. However, this is not the best for everyone. Too much sodium will cause the blood to become harder to push through the vessels.

Losing weight is a hobby for most people. Being overweight causes many problems with health because there is too much fat pushing on every organ, blood vessel, and the joints as well. Blood vessels will have to be pressurized to get the blood through the whole body. This is very unhealthy and can cause them to burst. If this happens in the brain, it causes strokes, aneurysms and death.

Lowering blood pressure is easy if you try. Making your body healthier will allow you to enjoy life more and also give the family less stress because they won’t be worrying about you.

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