3 out of 4 people who have a stroke had high blood pressure first.
High blood pressure is often fixable by “life style changes.”
- Get fitter (work out, achieve an ideal weight, work your blood vessels into a more healthy state)
- Eat beets (or beet powders i.e. neogenis.com has a great black cherry beet powder drink and i get no money for saying this) and lots of greens (spinach, salad, arugula, etc.) all that help your body produce “nitric oxide” that promotes healthy blood vessels
- Make sure you are not on any medication that is raising your blood pressure (yep, shockingly lots of them do)
- Achieve deep restorative sleep (less caffeine/sugar, take fast acting and time released melatonin and magnesium ½ hr. before bed, and in some peri and postmenopausal (and even some males) add oral progesterone which when swallowed goes into the liver that then makes a natural Ambien-like metabolite that “quiets” the brain – allopregnanolone; loose weight if you have sleep apnea and/or get the apnea treated)
- Avoid regular licorice-intake, which can raise blood pressure
- Add exercise with high interval bursts (30 second to several minute “all out” exercise that creates healthier blood vessels more than less “active” workouts
- Chocolate (with stevia, not sugar) lowers blood pressure though not helpful for the percentage of folks allergic/reactive to it
- Don’t smoke (worst vasoconstrictor of blood vessels)
- Anger and severe chronic stress (more vasoconstrictors)
- Eat lots of green veggies (high in magnesium, a quality vasodilator)
- Don’t drink in excess (more than 2/day for males and 1/day for females)
- Consume 2 fishmeals a week (fish low in pollutants like sole, wild salmon and cold water halibut, avoid shell fish and bottom feeders i.e. tilapia)
- Eat less meat and more plant based foods in general, which causes less inflammation in the body, including blood vessels
- Folks with resistant hypertension may need to see a hypertension specialist, but check the list above and see what you can do by making the best choices for yourself
- Get hormones tests (and treated individually and as needed) as hormones produce NO and contribute to healthy blood vessels
PS You know, too often blood pressure readings are taken incorrectly when folks first get into an office. Patients are supposed to be fully rested for 5 full minutes. To check, should take your own pressures twice a day for several days in a row at home and make sure it isn’t really high as blood pressure meds when you don’t need them can potentially damage your eyes while you sleep by your pressures and blood flow going way to low in the middle of the night.
You can have too low of blood pressure from meds and this is not good either.
I wonder how many get glaucoma from being on excessive dosages of blood pressure meds or shouldn’t have been on them in the first place.
You are your best doctor and healthy life style choices are your best medicine.
If U could really get how short this HUMAN LIFE is… you’d lighten up.
If U could really get how long this SPIRITUAL LIFE is… you’d lighten up.