High Blood Pressure
Find Natural Remedies for High Blood Pressure
Have you been diagnosed with high blood pressure (HBP)? Also known as hypertension, high blood pressure can be dangerous. But it doesn’t have to be a death sentence. We understand how the diagnosis can be scary. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We believe the first step in managing your blood pressure, or preventing hypertension, is understanding the science behind HBP and the root cause behind yours.
What Is High Blood Pressure?
To understand HBP, you need to know a little about how your heart works, and what the blood pressure numbers mean. Your heart is the center of your cardiovascular system – the network of arteries and veins that transport blood to your organs, tissues, and cells. It pumps more than 2,000 gallons of blood through your arteries, arterioles, and capillaries daily. Blood circulates back to your heart through venules and veins.
Blood Pressure Numbers
Your blood pressure is the pressure exerted on the walls of your arteries when your heart pumps blood. Your blood pressure is expressed in two numbers, such as 122/80. The first number is called your systolic blood pressure, and the second number is your diastolic blood pressure.
- Systolic blood pressure is the pressure your heart exerts on your arteries each time it beats.
- Diastolic blood pressure is the force exerted on the arteries between beats.
Hypertension, or HBP results when something causes the pressure to rise above normal levels. Normal blood pressure is a systolic pressure less than 120, and a diastolic pressure of less than 80 or lower.
What is considered high blood pressure?
It’s helpful to see the various blood pressure categories, so you know the difference between normal, elevated, hypertension state 1, hypertension stage 2, and a hypertensive crisis. The American Heart Association has produced this handy chart that helps to do just that.
Q: How common is high blood pressure?
A: It’s very common. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly half of the adult population in the US has high blood pressure. That’s 116 million people!
Q: Why is high blood pressure bad?
A: Because left untreated or out of control, high blood pressure can lead to a heart disease, heart attack, or stroke. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the US.
Symptoms of High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure is also known as “the silent killer” because some people don’t show any symptoms until they have a massive heart attack. The only way to know if you have high blood pressure is to get it checked. You can visit your local pharmacy and get it checked on a machine there, but the best way to get an accurate reading of your blood pressure is to visit a health care provider. Catching it early is the key to lowering it and reducing your risk of heart disease or stroke.
But you may have high blood pressure if you have some of the following symptoms:
- Headache
- Fatigue
- Blurry or double vision
- Lightheadedness or fainting
- Nosebleeds
- Shortness of breath
- Heart palpitations
- Nausea, vomiting, or both
You should schedule a visit to a medical provider if you’re experiencing any of these symptoms. They can point to high blood pressure, but also to other conditions.
Q: How do you feel when you have high blood pressure?
A: You may feel completely normal. But you may also have a mild to severe headache, especially when you’re stressed, nosebleeds, heart palpitations, or any of the symptoms above.
What Causes High Blood Pressure?
The exact cause of high blood pressure is unknown, but there are a lot of risk factors that can increase your chances of developing hypertension. Some of these risk factors you can control, while others you can’t. The more risk factors you have, the more likely it is you will develop HBP.
Risk Factors You Cannot Control
Studies and research have shown some people are more likely to develop hypertension than others, all other things being equal. These risk factors are beyond your control:
- Your age. Your risk increases after the age of 30.
- Your sex. Men are slightly more likely to develop high blood pressure. (50% vs 44%)
- Genetics.
- Your race. According to the CDC, high blood pressure is more common in non-Hispanic black adults (56%) than in non-Hispanic white adults (46%) or Hispanic adults (39%).
Risk Factors You Can Control
The good news is that there are a lot of risk factors you can control, by modifying your lifestyle or managing with treatment. These risk factors include:
- Being overweight or obese
- Leading a sedentary lifestyle
- Having high cholesterol or narrowing of the arteries
- Excessive alcohol use over the years
- Excessive salt intake (more than the recommended maximum of 2,300 mg of sodium)
- Smoking or using drugs for several years
- Extreme stress
- Thyroid disease
- Diabetes
- Sleep apnea
- End-stage renal disease
- Some medications
You can also develop high blood pressure during pregnancy, which puts both baby and mother at risk for complications during and after pregnancy.
Q: Does dehydration cause high blood pressure?
A: Yes, but usually only temporarily. This is because when you’re dehydrated, your blood vessels constrict, making it harder for your heart to pump blood. Once you’re properly hydrated again, your blood pressure will decrease.
Q: Can anxiety cause high blood pressure?
A: Yes, in the short term. Your blood pressure reading might be high in the doctor’s office if you have white coat syndrome or you’re anxious about your health condition. But it does not cause long-term hypertension.
How to Reduce and Prevent High Blood Pressure
There are many ways to reduce and prevent high blood pressure. While that can include going on one or more blood pressure medications, there are many ways to reduce high blood pressure naturally. They include:
- Make dietary changes
- Lose weight
- Exercise more
- Reduce stress
- Stop smoking
- Treat other conditions
But you don’t have to do it alone. Managing and lowering your blood pressure is easier if you have a support team.
How Cima Health Can Help
Cima Health provides restorative, lifelong solutions that target the root cause of your high blood pressure. Your care will start out with a comprehensive evaluation to assess your overall health. We will also ask questions about your work and home life, lifestyle, and habits before making recommendations for an integrative plan of care. Together, we come up with non-invasive and successful treatments. The goal is to help you reduce your blood pressure to a normal level, and keep it there. We want to inspire you to achieve whole-body wellness, and live a long and healthy life.
Helping you reduce your blood pressure and possibly avoid taking medication involves several treatment modalities, all of which you can receive in one location. They include:
Let’s take a look at how each of these areas works together to help you reduce high blood pressure now and prevent hypertension in the future.
Chiropractic Care
Did you know that chiropractic care may help reduce your high blood pressure? Research shows that the Atlas vertebrae, the uppermost vertebrae in your cervical spine (neck) can cause high blood pressure if it is not aligned properly. Chiropractic adjustment of the Atlas bone is “is associated with marked and sustained reductions in BP similar to the use of two-drug combination therapy.” So, if you’re looking to reduce your blood pressure without medication, a trained chiropractor can help.
And if back pain or joint pain is keeping you inactive, we can provide adjustments to relieve your pain and inspire you to increase your physical activity.
Our Palm Beach Gardens chiropractors are all highly trained professionals and include:
If your child has high blood pressure, you may want to book an appointment with Dr. Natalie, as one of her specialties is pediatric care.
Medical Care
If you have hip pain, knee pain, or ankle pain that is stopping you from leading an active lifestyle, you may be a candidate for joint injections from our medical care team. Steroid injections reduce inflammation and provide pain relief, allowing you to exercise pain free.
Functional Medicine
Our functional medicine team will play an integral part in you or your child learning how to lower your high blood pressure and prevent high blood pressure in the future. We’ll start with a blood chemistry analysis that can help identify the root cause of your high blood pressure. Testing will also show if you have sensitivities or nutrient deficiencies, and more. Based on the test results and our conversations with you, we’ll develop a plan that may include:
- Meal plans for the optimal high blood pressure diet
- Weight loss supplements
- Weight loss tips
- Stress reduction tips
- Calls for you to stop smoking if you currently smoke
Since obesity is a major risk factor for high blood pressure, if you’re overweight, we’ll start with a customized weight loss program. Eating a lower calorie, nutrient-rich diet that keeps you feeling full longer can make it easier to lose weight. We don’t promote crash diets or quack weight loss pills. Our goal is to help you shed excess pounds in a healthy manner, and learn new ways of thinking about food to so you maintain a healthy weight and keep your blood pressure in the normal range.
Physical Fitness
An integral part of any plan to reduce high blood pressure is getting plenty of exercise. A strong and healthy heart will not struggle to pump blood. Combined with a healthy diet, exercising more will help you lose weight faster and get your blood pressure under control. Our physical fitness team of personal trainers can help develop an exercise plan that works with your current capabilities and inspires you to meet or exceed your weekly goals.
As you gain strength and increase endurance, you can increase your aerobic exercise, increase weight on the machines, and increase your reps. We’ll be with you every step of the way to keep you motivated and on track. You’ll feel more energized, sleep better, and feel better overall. And since our gym has 24/7 availability, you can exercise no matter what your schedule is.
Massage Therapy
Massage therapy is another modality we offer that can target back pain from a strain right at the source for fast relief. The massage therapist will stretch and massage your back muscles for optimal effect. Depending on the location of your pain, the therapist may also massage your gluteus medius muscle, as a problem with your hip muscles can also cause back pain.
See What Our Patients Have to Say
Book an Appointment
High blood pressure can be dangerous. If you’re ready to reduce your blood pressure naturally and prevent high blood pressure, book an appointment today. One of our chiropractors will do a comprehensive examination to get to the root cause of your HBP and develop an integrative plan of care to help you reduce your blood pressure for good, and inspire you to achieve whole-body wellness.
