“Under Pressure”.. Your blood and You!
People don't understand just how important keeping a healthy blood pressure is in overall health and wellbeing. Your blood pressure actually affects the performance of every single organ in your body. Having high blood pressure is no joke and should be taken very seriously.
It can cause the following: STROKE, heart attack, Erectile Dysfunction and loss of sexual libido, Headache, Enlargement of intestinal tract, Eye disease, and Fainting just to name a few off the top of my head. Men who have high blood pressure are often "red in the face" because the blood is rushing to the brain and is literally pounding.
Controlling blood pressure is a serious thing too. There are many drugs on the market. But there are also non pharmaceutical ways of helping yourself.
First of all changing your attitude is the biggest thing. If you are someone who has road rage for example, you might want to reconsider how you react. Screaming and yelling at cars only hurts you. If you are a yeller in general, you might consider getting some counseling so that you can learn other methods of effective communication. Give yourself better tools.
Making sure you have plenty of laughter in your life is a great way of helping lower your blood pressure. Its true. When you laugh, you release endorphins into the body that relax and lower your blood pressure. So taking time to watch more comedies and less stressful chop-em-up or depressing movies will help lower your blood pressure.
Having a pet dog or a cat or other animal is known to significantly lower blood pressure in a high number of patients! The simple act of stroking an animal, calms a human extremely quickly. Having that unconditional love that an animal gives often is helpful to mental well-being of a person and therefore lowers blood pressure. Doctors are even starting to prescribe animals to patients!
Meditation. I know I say this alot, but meditation can lower stress and therefore lower blood pressure. Using this as a tool in your life can really help. Meditation doesn't have to be you sitting cross legged hugging a tree singing Kumbya you know. It could be a simple counting backward from 10 to 1 and breathing, or closing your eyes and imagining the stress leaving your body for a moment.
Diet. Lowering your intake of fat and cholesterol can really help. Also your carbohydrate and sugar intake. Why? Because if you are constantly on the sugar highs and lows your mood goes with it. Much better to be even with your blood sugar and even with your temper. Adding a glass of red wine to your daily routine is also a good thing. There are proven anti-oxidants in the wine that lower blood pressure. Of course this needs to be done in moderation. The consumption of dark chocolate (coaca of 70%) is proven to decrease blood pressure too. Removing caffeine (coffee, tea, soda) from your diet too will help reduce your blood pressure.
Stress. Everyone has stress in their lives. Jobs, home, family. But there are always things that you can do to help eliminate unneeded stresses and worries. Maybe it is a change of career that is needed, or a change in lifestyle. Take a look at what is really important and re-evaluate. You might be surprised at the answer you come up with.
Smoking. If you smoke and have high blood pressure, you need to stop. You are a walking time bomb awaiting a stroke or a heart attack. You don't want to be a vegetable do you? Imagine a world where you could do nothing for yourself, you can hear in but can't speak out. Are the cigarettes worth that really? Are you willing to do that to yourself or your loved ones? How would they survive without you? How would everyone cope financially? Think about it.
Exercise. I cannot tell you enough how important this is to your overall health and well-being. This is truly the most important thing you can do to help yourself. It helps you both mentally and physically. It does not need to be big, it can be a simple walk each day. But it needs to be regular.
Sleep. Getting the right amount of rest for your body helps lower blood pressure. It only makes sense since lack of sleep makes a person irritable, and lowers your bodies ability to function properly.
Music. Music is a great relaxer and stress reliever. Playing music in the car for example helps the time go by faster and the drive less stressful therefore lowering your blood pressure. The right kind of music can also help put you in a semi-meditative state.
Finally there are the pharmaceutical solutions on the market. There are many out there. But they have side effects. For men, they cause alot of E.D. issues. For women they cause depression. You have to figure out what is the right combination for you. There are different types available on the market. Some are more effective than others. Make sure that you work with your doctor and tell him/her if you don't feel right. Be brave enough to ask to change medications. You aren't stuck with one.
My friend inspired this post today by mentioning a great song by Queen. I'll leave you with it to round out your day.
disclaimer: I am not a doctor, nor do I have any FORMAL medical training. The information that I provide is from my years of study due to my own disease. It is not intended to replace medical advice nor should you not seek medical advice. Use this information in addition to the stuff the doctor tells you.