Lowering Blood Pressure Naturally - The Lifestyle Connection

One of the best ways of lowering your blood pressure is to make a lifestyle change that incorporates exercise and a healthy diet designed to lower HBH (high blood pressure) Here is a video with Robert Kowalski (Author of the Blood Pressure Cure) where he talks about a diet that will lower your HBP naturally. You have probably heard of the DASH diet. It stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. The Mediterranean diet would be part of this. A delicious way to eat, stay healthy and lower blood pressure by about 6-8 points. The Dash Study A landmark study called DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) looked at the effects of an overall eating plan in adults with normal to high blood pressure. Researchers found that in just eight weeks, people following the DASH diet saw their blood pressure decrease. Weight and sodium intake were held constant and thus were not a factor in the blood pressure reductions observed. The lowering of blood pressure among DASH participants were comparable (systolic 11 to 12 mm Hg and diastolic 5 to 6 mm Hg reductions) to those observed with single drug regimens.The DASH authors also noted that their results were generalizable to the entire U.S. population since the blood pressure reductions did not stratify based upon age, gender, weight or race. The conclusion of the study was that a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy foods and with reduced saturated and total fat can substantially lower blood pressure. This diet offers an an additional nutritional approach to preventing and treating hypertension as opposed to a drug treatment.

Exercise Reduces Blood Pressure...

... But too few doctors recommend it to their patients, study finds

Two-thirds of doctors don't take the time to tell their patients with high blood pressure about the importance of exercise and physical activity. "Patients do follow physician recommendations to exercise when instructed to, and patients who follow exercise recommendations tend to have lower systolic blood pressures than those who do not," said lead researcher Dr. Josiah Halm, a hypertension specialist at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. 71 percent of patients with high blood pressure saw a drop in their blood pressure when they increased their physical activity, which means that they listened when doctors told them to exercise more, according to the report.
In a clinical trial, the participants in the Healthy for Life program ate a healthy diet and increased their exercise instead of taking drugs. After the trial, their systolic blood pressure dropped an average of 10 points and diastolic blood pressure dropped an average of 6 points in just 12 weeks. This is comparable to the DASH trial. The difference is that you will get more support with this program than trying to do the DASH program on your own. How would that affect your blood pressure if it dropped that much in 12 weeks? How long would it take to get off your meds?

Check out the Healthy For Life program by Dr. Ray Strand. The information on this site could help you to get on your way to lowering your blood pressure naturally. In a clinical trial, the participants in the Healthy for Life program ate a healthy diet and increased their exercise instead of taking drugs. After the trial, their systolic blood pressure dropped an average of 10 points and diastolic blood pressure dropped an average of 6 points in just 12 weeks.