5 Lifestyle Factors That Influence Blood Pressure

However, many of these are no more realistic than prescription medications. In reality, they are often potent chemicals with unforeseen negative effects. Furthermore, they may cost as much as prescription pharmaceuticals, if not more, since they are often not covered by insurance or national health systems. Only truly natural techniques, such as lifestyle modifications, work from the inside out. Fortunately, a few easy changes may significantly influence your blood pressure and general health. Of course, hypertension is not always caused by a change in lifestyle. There are shining instances of people who live a healthy lifestyle while having high blood pressure and vice versa.

Furthermore, this is not about preaching or adhering to specific ideals. Constant lifestyle lectures get tedious. Healthy people come in diverse forms, sizes, and habits. However, if you have high blood pressure, the first place to seek answers is your lifestyle. Here are five important considerations to consider:

1. Obesity and dieting

These two themes are inextricably linked. I didn't mention "obesity" since a few pounds may cause blood pressure to rise in certain circumstances. What matters more is how and where you carry your extra weight. As we get older, it's natural for males to loosen up around the waist and hips. We may also get the dreaded "moobies" at the same time. 

These symptoms are often associated with low testosterone levels. It causes the growth of soft and fatty tissues in certain body areas. This involves the heart, weakening it. It's no wonder, however, that this condition and stage of life are also linked to an elevated risk of hypertension! A 10% weight loss might be enough to alleviate excessive blood pressure in such circumstances. I knew a guy who was just around 20 pounds overweight. It was hardly evident on his 6'4" body, yet decreasing just this modest amount entirely resolved his hypertension condition.

Obesity may not necessarily result in high blood pressure, although it is a significant risk factor. If you are obese and hypertensive, decreasing weight should be your first priority. Diet is usually a topic of discussion when it comes to losing weight. The only long-term solution to decreasing weight is a sensible, balanced diet combined with portion management and exercise. Forget about fad diets! The DASH diet includes specific guidelines for managing high blood pressure, such as avoiding salt and high-sodium meals and increasing grains, fruits, and vegetables.

2. Lack of activity

Because they are so closely related, inactivity closely follows excess weight. They frequently go hand in hand, one contributing to the other. It's safe to assume that you're also likely to be physically inactive if you're overweight, which raises your risk of hypertension. And if you believe you're safe because you're not overweight, think again. Inactivity may either cause or contribute to high blood pressure. It is likely to raise your weight over time, but inactivity slows the metabolism, changes body chemistry, and weakens the heart even if it does not. A weakened heart needs to work more to pump blood, which raises blood pressure.

On the other hand, exercise reverses these circumstances and decreases blood pressure. Increased activity and exercise, like decreasing weight, may frequently be all that is required to treat hypertension. You've probably heard it before, but you don't have to climb a mountain to find out. Walking for one hour a day may have a significant effect.

3. Excessive alcohol consumption

Excessive drinking nearly always raises blood pressure. A rare excess recovers rapidly, but persistent usage nearly usually develops in hypertension. And you don't have to be an alcoholic to feel the effects. There is always a delicate line between what our bodies can endure and what they cannot recover from fast, particularly as we age.

If you exceed your safe level, you will often experience symptoms such as disrupted sleep, weariness, and/or nausea... not to mention high blood pressure! The issue may be solved by reducing your intake as far as necessary to reestablish your balance. Remember that moderate drinking may even be beneficial to our health, but there is a thin line between what is medicine and what is poison. Obviously, if you cannot minimize your intake, you have alcoholism and should seek treatment.

 4. Anxiety

For many years, physicians refused to acknowledge that stress may cause hypertension. It should be self-evident. When you arrive home from work or after a disagreement with your spouse, take your blood pressure. Isn't it terrifying? The body heals rapidly from occasional stress, but like with alcohol, hypertension is unavoidable if high amounts of stress remain constant in your life. If your high blood pressure is caused by stress, you may be "fortunate." That's because true relaxation may often reverse it. The issue is, how frequently do we really relax? It's not very soothing to sit in front of the TV and drink beer! Sleep, which should be a period of profound healing and re-energizing, is often difficult.

 If chronic stress is an issue in your life, you must use deep relaxation immediately. There are several methods to get it, and what works for one person may not work for another. We often think about meditation or yoga. However, relaxing may also include listening to music, reading, participating in an interesting activity, gardening, or doing nothing. The main thing is to just do it and interrupt the stress cycle.

5. Inhaling and exhaling

Breathing? Yes, breathing is a lifestyle element linked to both hypertension and stress. This implies that breathing may be a vital technique for relaxation while simultaneously significantly impacting high blood pressure. In what way? When we are anxious, we tend to breathe quickly and shallowly. Tense diaphragm muscles restrict major blood arteries, increasing the stress on our hearts and raising blood pressure. That isn't everything. According to Dr. David Anderson of the National Institutes of Health, "inhibitory breathing" upsets the blood's chemical equilibrium, making it more acidic. This makes the kidneys less effective in excreting salt, raising blood pressure.

So it's no surprise that a natural technique known as slow breathing has been shown to considerably decrease blood pressure. According to the study, breathing slowly and in a certain manner for 10 to 15 minutes a day decreases blood pressure. What's more unexpected is that the effects build up over time and persist around the clock after just a few weeks of sluggish breathing. This is accomplished by reversing the two harmful processes discussed above. Breathing gently relaxes chest muscles, enabling blood vessels to expand and blood pressure to fall. Simultaneously, slow breathing rebalances blood chemistry and decreases blood pressure by lowering salt levels in the body.

 These two mechanisms work in the same way as two of the most popular blood pressure drugs, beta-blockers, and diuretics, but without the negative effects. This makes breathing (specifically, slow breathing) one of the most crucial lifestyle elements, particularly because it can do all of this in only 15 minutes each day!