Hypertension: 3 Things I Have Learned About High Blood Pressure

I have high blood pressure. When I was diagnosed with hypertension, my doctor immediately prescribed a synthetic enzyme conversion enzyme (ACE) angiotensin inhibitor and put me on a regular monitoring regime. The goal is to reduce the risk of heart disease or to have a cardio-vascular accident. Laudable for that purpose, it strikes me as strange that my condition is taken care of, not treated. I decided to find out more.

Among the wealth of information I have about hypertension, I learned three things that have been verified by my doctor. Here's what I learned:

# 1. Why there is no cure for hypertension:

I was being treated as if I were sick, but high blood pressure was not a disease or illness. Because of this, there is no cure. This condition can only be managed to ensure that the reading is as normal as possible to minimize the risk of other potentially serious conditions.

# 2. These are symptoms of underlying health problems:

Hypertension is an important body sign such as your pulse and temperature. Increased blood pressure over a period of time can indicate the cause that needs to be investigated - such as running a fever showing health problems that need to be treated.

To complicate matters, there are over 300 possible causes of hypertension. Some doctors have the time to eliminate all potential causes systematically until the real cause is discovered. It is much easier and more time-consuming for them to manage our situation than to find and treat real problems.

Usually, however, the main causes can be associated with a combination of lifestyle choices such as poor diet, inactive lifestyle, smoking tobacco products and heavy alcohol consumption.

# 3 Diet and exercise can reduce hypertension:

My doctor prescribed a synthetic ACE inhibitor to manage my condition and I was given brief, very general food advice and recommended to be more active. My own research soon revealed that there is a natural ACE inhibitor that works just as well as the synthetic type I have prescribed, but without any potentially harmful side effects.

For example, bananas contain a natural ACE barrier. Eating two medium-sized bananas a day has been shown to reduce high blood pressure by 10%; and, eating three days reduces the risk of stroke. Bananas are also a rich source of potassium and having the recommended amount of potassium can also help lower blood pressure.

Garlic also contains a natural ACE inhibitor, and cucumber and parsley are light diuretics. There are many other foods that can help lower our blood pressure. Keeping our body hydrated is also helpful when studies have shown that in a healthy subject, 6% of water loss is from the cells in our body. It makes the muscles of our blood vessels thinner and increases our blood pressure.

It became clear to me that diet was an important factor in reducing my hypertension.

Regular exercise, such as running fast, for 45 minutes to an hour a day can reduce high blood pressure to 20 points and benefit nearly 24 hours. That makes daily exercise important.

I am not sick and I consider my high blood pressure not as a disease or a disease, but as an indication of something unbalanced in my body. Combining a healthy diet with a more active and healthy lifestyle is, as I have found, the key to reducing high blood pressure naturally.

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