What helped you most in reducing blood pressure?

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  • Dr_Waffles
    Dr_Waffles Posts: 141 Member
    divorce
  • kalywilliams
    kalywilliams Posts: 3 Member
    Everyone has a set of situations/issues/physical factors that can affect BP. How high is your BP? I work carefully with my chiropractor on nutrition and supplements to keep my BP at or below 120/80, and for me, I had to increase potassium and magnesium...and get more exercise. I have situations in my life that cause great stress, but when I exercise even 20 minutes a day--a walk, the stationary bike--my numbers seem to stay in line better. However, if there comes a day that these interventions don't work as well, then I'll have to consider prescription meds. Keep at it! Good luck!
  • benol1
    benol1 Posts: 867 Member
    I have lost about 40 pounds now and have about 30 more to go. A lot of my health markers have improved quite a bit, but my blood pressure hasn't come down as much as I would have hoped.

    I know I need to get more regular exercise and that is in the works. Meditation is something I've done on occasion, I could make that more a more regular occurrence.

    I have been under an incredible amount of stress recently (my mom was in an accident and ended up passing away a week later :( ) so I am sure that is not helping.

    Any tips would be appreciated, and I'll probably need some science to back it up if I don't want to hear what you are saying. :laugh: :flowerforyou:

    I'm sorry to learn of your mother passing away. I don't have any science for you - just my own experience.
    My doctor wanted me to go on blood pressure medication for about a year before he gave me an ultimatum. I then decided to get serious about my health and started exercising regularly again for the first time in years and adopted a calorie controlled diet. My exercise routine is essentially cardio-based. Initially it was almost exclusively RPM classes at the local gym but now I mix it up a bit with RPM and different cardio machines including treadmill, eliptical trainer, rowing machine and stationary bike. At this point in my training, I am focused on cardio-vascular training rather than strength.

    Four months after the ultimatum I went to see him again and he was ecstatic with my progress, my weight loss and reduction in blood pressure and told me that whatever I was doing, to keep doing it.

    The only change I have made to my lifestyle since then is that recently I have adopted a vegan diet. I was a vegan many years ago but I was recently watching videos on www.nutritionfacts.org and it just seemed like a good thing to do. If you have time, I also recommend CERG/NTNU: http://www.ntnu.edu/cerg/advice

    Other aspects of my lifestyle which probably have an impact on my blood pressure is that I neither smoke nor drink and I do practice meditation regularly.
    I wish you all the very best and feel free to "friend" me if you are looking for support.
    kind regards,

    Ben
  • Tigg_er
    Tigg_er Posts: 22,001 Member
    divorce

    Well that too.
  • youngmind
    youngmind Posts: 2
    I do think meditation can help, but it has to be done in combination with other exercises. I don't know whether that will help you, but there is a program that combines meditation with stretching, qigong (a Chinese TCM exercise) and zen thoughts. You may want to take a look at it at meditationwise.com
  • DianneP6772
    DianneP6772 Posts: 272 Member
    Fortunately, i do not have high BP - actually too low sometimes.
    But my husband has been trying to control his for years.
    Best thing - lose weight
    Limit Sodium
    Exercise - he has found that even if he is doing everything else right, if he doesn't do some aerobic type exercise every few days,then his BP starts elevating. He cycles - and that works so well.
    Good luck - it takes experimentation to find the best formula for you. At least it did for him.
  • mel4bee
    mel4bee Posts: 225 Member
    Low sodium, good diet, less stress and more exercise.

    I was not overweight but I have anxiety disorder so my blood pressure was kinda out of control sometimes. (it once was like 180/110 when in a panic attack at the hospital - white coat syndrome big time) Before I started exercising and looking at what I eat it would be around 120/80-85

    Now it is more like 110/70 and more stable
  • jedigrover
    jedigrover Posts: 21 Member
    Power walking. Really, any type of exercise, but the "slow cardio" seems to do it best. Note that my "slow cardio" is walking at 4mph (15 minutes to cover a mile) or faster. As fast as you can walk without jogging. Every time I exercised, the next day my BP would be down. If I did not exercise, my BP would be up. That is regardless of medication & diet.

    For myself personally, I've found no correlation between my sodium intake and BP. As with anything that people try to fix with a hammer (just eliminate sodium, just eliminate fat, touch your nose while turning left on Thursdays...); test it yourself to see if it works for you.

    I now eat a Primal diet, and as such, eat almost NO processed foods. This probably helps a lot as well.

    The combo of exercising, and its result (weight loss) helped me. My BP meds have been cut in half 3 times. I'm now on the minimum dose & my doc has encouraged me to experiment going without it to see if my body will regulate it on its own. That's my last med. Even with the weight-loss, I was on a statin until I started Primal. I've responded so well to that, that I'm now off the statin (even though I eat more eggs and saturated fat than before--so much for the accepted "facts" and "settled" science).

    Everyone is different, and (IMO) the amount anyone actually knows about how the body works as a system is dwarfed by what we DON'T know.

    As an aside, I just did 23andme, and one of the genetic markers shows I'm pre-disposed to a higher risk of hypertension. This was not a surprise, as everyone on both sides of my family for 2 generations (at least) has had this issue. But just because I'm at a higher risk for it doesn't mean I have to succumb to it (just like alcoholism). I can choose to discipline my body.

    Experiment & see what works for you. Exercise probably plays a part. Diet probably plays a part. Other things also play a part (e.g., do you smoke?).
  • VeganLexi
    VeganLexi Posts: 960 Member
    Aim for no more than 1500mg sodium per day.


    http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash/new_dash.pdf
  • Howbouto
    Howbouto Posts: 2,121 Member
    I had borderline HBP. I lost 40 pounds, quit eating processed foods and started running. My BP is now 110/70. I can't say just one of them did it, I think it is a combination of all 3.
  • Gkfrkv
    Gkfrkv Posts: 120
    Increase of Potassium rich foods. Decrease in sodium.

    QFT
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    I am very sorry to hear about your mom.

    I think the combination of increasing my potassium, watching my sodium intake, exercising daily and taking a 15 minute chill out break during the work day helped my numbers to drop. I also drink a blend of hibiscus and hawthorne tea a few times per week.

    Now I have to monitor everyday to make sure it doesn't get too low although I can now feel when that starts to happen (dizzy, feeling a little weak).

    Good luck OP.

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