Blood pressure is the measurement of how much tension your blood puts against the walls of the blood vessels as it is pumped around your body. High blood pressure occurs when too much tension is on the vessel walls, and this can be dangerous because it means your heart has to work harder to get the blood pumped around your body.
What Causes High Blood Pressure?
Many times, the cause of a person's high blood pressure is unknown. Some of the factors that are known to contribute to the development of high blood pressure, or hypertension, are:
- Air pollution
- Poor diet in childhood
- Obesity and insulin resistance
- Stress
- Smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke
Treatment of High Blood Pressure
The treatment for high blood pressure includes diet and exercise changes and medication. Whether or not you need medication is best decided by you and your doctor.
Ways to Lower Your Blood Pressure Naturally
There are some ways that you can work on your daily life to lower your blood pressure, and these are beneficial to all people, whether you've been diagnosed with hypertension or not. They include:
- Taking in proper Omega-3 fatty acids
- Getting enough vitamin D
- Eating garlic regularly
- Adding celery, watermelon, broccoli, and spinach to your routine diet
- Consuming beetroot juice daily (beets are high in sugar, so keep this in mind if you have diabetes)
- Avoiding processed foods as much as possible
- Eating lots of vegetables
- Avoiding or quitting smoking
- Decreasing your stress by utilizing yoga, deep breathing, acupuncture, meditation, exercise, and good sleep
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