“Is there a way to treat high blood pressure naturally?”

Managing high blood pressure (hypertension) naturally is a common concern, and there are several lifestyle changes and natural remedies that can help. However, it's important to note that while these methods can be effective, they should be pursued under the guidance of a healthcare professional, especially if your husband's blood pressure is significantly elevated or if he has other health conditions.

Here are some natural approaches to managing high blood pressure:

### 1. **Dietary Changes**
- **DASH Diet**: The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet is specifically designed to help reduce blood pressure. It emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and low-fat dairy while reducing salt, red meat, and added sugars.
- **Eliminate table salt**: Eliminating processed table salt and replacing with Real Salt or Celtic Sea Salt can improve potassium-to-sodium balance, helping to reduce blood pressure.
- **Increase Potassium**: Foods rich in potassium, such as bananas, oranges, orange juice, coconut water, and all types of potatoes, can help balance sodium levels and reduce blood pressure.
- **Healthy Fats**: Incorporate sources of healthy fats like coconut oil, butter, and olive oil, and reduce intake of liquid seed oils, polyunsaturated fats and trans fats.

### 2. **Regular Physical Activity**
- **Aerobic Exercise**: Activities like walking can help lower blood pressure. Aim for at least 150 minutes of low-intensity aerobic exercise per week.
- **Strength Training**: Incorporating strength training exercises at least two days a week can also be beneficial.

### 3. **Weight Management**
- **Healthy Weight**: Maintaining a healthy weight or losing weight if overweight can significantly impact blood pressure. Even a small amount of weight loss can help reduce hypertension.

### 4. **Stress Management**
- **Bag breathing**: Taking deep breaths into a paper bag can increase carbon dioxide levels which can help reduce stress and lower blood pressure.
- **Adequate Sleep**: Ensure that your husband is getting enough quality sleep, as poor sleep can contribute to high blood pressure.

### 5. **Limit Alcohol and Quit Smoking**
- **Alcohol**: Limit alcohol consumption to moderate levels—up to one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men.
- **Smoking**: Quitting smoking can improve overall cardiovascular health and help lower blood pressure.

### 6. **Natural Supplements and Herbs**
- **Garlic**: Garlic supplements have been shown to help reduce blood pressure.
- **Hawthorne Berry**: Hawthorne berry capsules can help lower blood pressure.
- **Hibiscus Tea**: Drinking hibiscus tea has been linked to lower blood pressure.
- **Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10)**: Some studies suggest that CoQ10 supplements can help lower blood pressure.

### 7. **Monitor Blood Pressure at Home**
- Regularly monitoring blood pressure at home can help track progress and make necessary adjustments to lifestyle changes.

- **Consult a Healthcare Provider**: Before making any significant changes or starting new supplements, it's crucial to consult with a healthcare provider to ensure safety and appropriateness, especially if your husband has other health conditions or is currently on any medication.

While medication is sometimes necessary, many people can successfully manage high blood pressure through natural methods. Combining dietary changes, regular exercise, stress management, and possibly natural supplements can make a significant difference. However, it’s essential to work closely with a healthcare provider to create a personalized plan that’s safe and effective.

Feel free to reach out if you have more questions or need further guidance!

There are a number of natural treatments for blood pressure, however, it’s very important to get blood pressure under control. Sometimes using medications can be a short term solution while the other tools- like diet and exercise- is the best way to support the heart while making the changes. If we catch it early enough, there are supplements that can make the medication not necessary.

Hi! Yes, there are ways to treat high blood pressure naturally and without prescriptions. However, the exact way(s) depends on the cause and the severity of his condition. I recommend reaching out to a local naturopathic or functional medicine doctor for your husband to get help with his specific situation.

Lifestyle changes (e.g. diet, exercise, stress management) are key. If the case is severe, we may need supplement support.

Yes, it's possible.

Hello,

There can be several underlying causes of high blood pressure. Certain mineral deficiencies, especially magnesium, can be one of them. Plaque building up on the artery wall can be another. Stress of course can be another, when the flight or flight part of the sympathetic nervous system is firing too much, leading to elevated adrenaline. Lack of sleep, especially REM (rapid eye movement) sleep can be an issue.
Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Dr. Haskell

There are many options. The best option is to find the root cause(s). You need to find a naturopathic doctor for those conditions.

Hello, thank you for your question. Several dietary patterns have shown to lower blood pressure. Vegetarian dietary patterns have been associated with lower systolic blood pressure (the blood pressure during contraction phase of the cardiac cycle). The DASH diet (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension), which includes lean meats and nuts while emphasizing fruits and veggies, is found to very effective, though, I need to put in here as well that less active people are 30%-50% more likely to develop hypertension than the more active individuals. There are many benefits to physical activity and exercise in reducing disease. Low to moderate activity 30-45 minutes most days is important inclusion for the prevention of hypertension.

There are ways to help with blood pressure depending on how high it is. Some options to try are hibiscus tea or CoQ10. See your Naturopathic doctor for more help with dosages.