Systolic pressure belongs to the most important health indicators. Usually, a systolic pressure increases with age; therefore, adult people and especially elderly should measure their blood pressure within the circulatory system.

There are several definitions of systolic pressure. But in simple words, a systolic pressure shows the pressure of blood in the vessels, when heart contracts and pushes out the blood into the arteries.

The relevance of abnormal systolic pressure as a risk factor of arterial hypertension is beyond any doubt these days. Many clinical trials have proven that high systolic pressure causes different heart pathologies, stroke and kidney disease more often than high diastolic blood pressure does.

Symptoms of abnormal systolic pressure

The main signs and symptoms of high systolic pressure can be – dizziness, headaches, fatigue, dyspnea and nervousness. The symptoms of low systolic pressure are – reduced working capacity, poor memory, problems with concentration and low body temperature.

A long-term high or low systolic pressure can be the symptom of many serious diseases. People, who often have such symptoms, should undergo medical examination.

Normal systolic pressure

For most people, ideal systolic blood pressure is 120 mm Hg (diastolic pressure – 80 mm Hg). When the systolic pressure exceeds 140 mm Hg – it means a great risk for patient’s health.

The higher the systolic pressure the more often small and large blood vessels in organs are damaged. These are for example, the blood vessels in the liver, kidneys or the brain. Uncontrolled high systolic pressure can cause the damage to the heart, heart failure and heart attack.

How to lower the systolic pressure?

Healthy lifestyle is the best method to prevent diseases and pathologies. A regular motor activity provides a beneficial effect and normalizes the blood pressure.

The range of systolic pressure may vary during workouts and after. Therefore, you should measure the systolic pressure before doing physical exercises. In addition, you may check your blood cholesterol and blood sugar from time to time.

It is recommended to be physically active at least 30 minutes a day. The loss of couple of extra kilograms may reduce the systolic pressure to 3-10 points. The main thing is that this method can improve your blood pressure without drug treatment.

Balanced diet

Physical activity along with proper nutrition can help to control the variation of systolic pressure. People with abnormal blood pressure should increase the consumption of fruit and vegetables and reduce the amount of high-calorie and fatty food.

People should consume less amount of salt and alcoholic drinks. Smoking provokes high systolic pressure, worsening the condition of heart and blood vessels. Therefore, for an effective control of systolic pressure, it is better to quit smoking.

Drug treatment of abnormal systolic pressure

Some people just have to change their lifestyle to normalize the systolic pressure. For other people, such changes are not effective enough and they need to use special medications to regulate the systolic pressure.

Modern medicine offers a bunch of various medications to control the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Because of great variety of causes of high systolic pressure, there is no standard treatment program.

For each case, doctors prescribe an individual treatment plan. However, one drug of the following five groups of drugs is usually prescribed:

• Diuretics
• Beta-blockers
• ACE inhibitors
• Calcium antagonists
• Angiotensin II receptor antagonists

If these drugs cause side effects, then other medications are prescribed. However, most of modern drugs can stabilize the systolic pressure quickly and safely.

Potential side effects

At the initial stage of treatment of high systolic pressure, the body needs to adapt to a new blood pressure level. You may have such side effects as headache, dizziness and any other unusual sensations.

Usually, to control the systolic pressure, people just have to take one pill of antihypertensive drug a day. The dose can be increased, if needed. Some medications start working only a few days after you start using them.

In order to reduce the risk of side effects, you should take medications when needed only. If you stop the drug therapy on your own, it may cause high systolic pressure again.

Unfortunately, the number of people with high or low systolic pressure is not decreasing annually. Especially, this refers to the growing number of patients in developing countries.

The total percentage of high blood pressure in adults is about 40% all over the world. The number of people with uncontrolled hypertension has increased from 600 million in 1980 to almost 1 billion in 2008.

The blood pressure level is one of the main indicators of human health. Everybody should check out his or her blood pressure regularly and cure abnormal blood pressure levels if needed.

What is ideal blood pressure? There is no clear answer to this question, unfortunately. The blood pressure may depend on many factors and can change many times throughout the day.

In addition, ideal blood pressure depends on age and sex of a patient. The blood pressure in children and adolescents is usually lower than in adults. Herewith, ideal blood pressure in men differs from the ideal blood pressure in women.

While growing up, the blood pressure increases stepwise. Boys and girls under 6 years old have almost equal blood pressure. Generally, teenage boys have a little bit higher blood pressure than teenage girls do.

There are no strict assessment criteria for ideal blood pressure in men and women over 60-70 years old. Usually, high blood pressure in this age increases the risk of stroke and irreversible necrosis of the heart muscle.

You can measure the blood pressure at home. To do this, you don’t need special knowledge or skills. Using a tonometer, you can measure and check out the dynamics of your blood pressure easily.

Systolic and diastolic blood pressure are measured in millimeters of mercury and usually recorded in two digits. The ideal blood pressure reading is 120/80 mm Hg. Normal indices are considered the range between 120-130/80-85 mm Hg.

Modern electronic tonometers allow you quickly and easily read your blood pressure data. Please note that in some people, the blood pressure results on the right and left arm may differ.

If the blood pressure slightly differs from the ideal blood pressure, the wellbeing does not necessarily worsen. When a blood pressure level is above the norm by several tens of mm Hg – this is a sign of hypertension.

Most adult men and women do not have an ideal blood pressure. Herewith, the blood pressure can be both very high and abnormally low. Low blood pressure (hypotension) is as dangerous as hypertension.

Slight increase or decrease in the blood pressure is easily cured. However, if a person did not start treatment of hypertension or hypotension timely, he might need several months or even years to restore his ideal blood pressure.

A healthy lifestyle is the best way to prevent the cardiovascular and many other diseases. To get an ideal blood pressure, you need to move more and to eat healthy food.

Arteries are the main transport “highways” that transport the blood to all organs and tissues of the body. Vasoconstriction increases the blood pressure and may cause the rapture of blood vessels.

Doctors cannot say for sure what are the main causes of high blood pressure, but there are many factors, increasing the risk of hypertension, such as smoking, alcohol abuse, heredity and imbalanced diet.

It is believed that athletes have lower risk of cardiovascular disease. However, in order to reduce the risk of hypertension, you just need to be active (physically) about 15-30 minutes per day.

Unfortunately, most men and women at ripe age do not pay much attention to keep an ideal blood pressure. Therefore, most people have early signs of hypertension, like dizziness, weakness, headaches or difficulty breathing.

“How to reduce blood pressure naturally?” is one of the most topical questions of people with mild hypertension. There are some universal answers to this frequently asked question.

In almost all answers to the question how to reduce blood pressure without medication, people with hypertension are offered:

• To achieve clinically significant weight loss
• To increase the frequency and intensity of physical loads
• To adhere to a hypocaloric diet low in fats
• To limit the consumption of salty foods and alcoholic beverages
• To refuse from smoking and abusing of caffeine-containing beverages.

After performing all of these recommendations, patients with hypertension not only will get the answer to the question how to reduce blood pressure without drugs, but also will significantly improve the overall health.

Only in single cases, all the recommendations are instantly performed to achieve effective control of blood pressure. Herewith, most people choose only a diet as the first step to the non-drug treatment of hypertension.

The list of products that can help to lower blood pressure can be found on blogs about healthy diets and reviews of people who successfully control blood pressure by means of diet.

Almost any person can make a diet plan to improve blood pressure. However, to understand how to fast reduce blood pressure through diet, a consultation of professional dietitian is needed.

Healthy food, physical loads and other non-drug methods of lowering blood pressure are ineffective in moderate and severe hypertension.

Thus, people with poorly controlled hypertension should not try to find an answer to the question «how to reduce blood pressure without pills?», but to discuss with the doctor the possibility of using effective and safe antihypertensive drugs.

In some cases, the use of antihypertensive drugs should be restricted. For example, women of childbearing age who is diagnosed with moderate or severe hypertension should ask the doctor how to reduce blood pressure in pregnancy.

This information is useful for women who are planning pregnancy, as well as women who have learned about an unplanned pregnancy during the medical treatment of hypertension.

Regardless of type of antihypertensive drugs the pregnant woman used before the pregnancy, after confirming the pregnancy, the scheme of hypertension treatment should be reviewed and changed if necessary.

For instance, the use of angiotensin II receptor blockers (including Losartan, Valsartan) should be discontinued immediately after pregnancy confirmation (Category D). Thus, such drugs should be replaced by other antihypertensive drugs, potential benefit of which justifies the potential risk to the fetus.

So that antihypertensive drugs do not create potential risks for the fetus, sexually active women should find out from the treating doctor – how to reduce blood pressure after the test confirmed the pregnancy.

Women with uncontrolled hypertension should always remember about the fact that high blood pressure can be as dangerous for the normal fetus development as the use of powerful antihypertensive drugs.

Therefore, during pregnancy planning, it is better to be ready for all possible situations and obligatorily to get from the doctor answers to the following questions:

• How to control blood pressure in 24 hours (overnight)?
• How to reduce blood pressure during pregnancy through diet, naturally, without drugs?

If you fail to control blood pressure by means of non-drug methods, you can find out from a pharmacist of online pharmacy how immediately to reduce high blood pressure through drugs.

Prescription and over the counter drugs for the treatment of high blood pressure have their own advantages and disadvantages. Information on the key features of different types of antihypertensive drugs you can get by phone or email at any time.

According to data of American Heart Association, over 74 millions of people have high blood pressure (hypertension). The danger of hypertension lies in that this disease poses a serious risk for the cardiovascular system.

Sometimes, hypertension causes obvious symptoms, like dizziness, chest pain, dyspnea, nasal bleeding, headaches and rapid heartbeat. At early stage of hypertension, the doctor can advise some home remedies for high blood pressure.

In timely diagnosis of hypertension, home remedies for high blood pressure help reducing the risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney disease and other pathologies, caused by very high blood pressure.

In uncontrolled hypertension, home remedies for high blood pressure are not effective. Therefore, patient with severe hypertension must be prescribed some prescription antihypertensive drugs.

At early stage of hypertension, the most effective home remedies for high blood pressure that really work, are:

• Smoking cessation
• Weight loss
• Reduction of salt consumption
• Reduction of alcohol consumption
• Increase in physical activity
• Keeping a low-fat diet

Numerous trials have shown that smoking of just one cigarette can increase the blood pressure by almost 10 mm Hg. Heavy smokers may have high blood pressure for a long time.

Even passive smoking causes a great risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, smoking cessation is one of the most effective remedies to reduce the high blood pressure.

As home remedies for high blood pressure, doctors suggest to quit using too much salt. Excessive amount of salt causes fluid retention in the body, which leads to high blood pressure, swelling and edema. Doctors recommend not to abuse salt and use no more than half a teaspoon of salt a day.

One of other home remedies for high blood pressure that really works is consumption of low alcohol drinks. Doctors claim that a glass of dry wine at the dinner improves the heart work. However, excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages negatively affects the cardiovascular functions and overall health.

Herewith, alcohol increases the blood pressure levels, the number of headaches and dizziness. That is why doctors advise to quit drinking alcohol as one of the home remedies for fast decrease of the blood pressure.

Active lifestyle combined with low-calorie balanced diet is among the best home remedies for treatment of high blood pressure. The consumption of large amount of fresh fruit, vegetables, cereals, nuts, fish and fat-free dairy products help to reduce the cholesterol levels and the risk of blood clots in the blood vessels.

As natural home remedies for high blood pressure, doctors recommend using lemon, garlic, banana, red onions, cayenne pepper and celery as often as you can. All these foods can normalize the blood pressure, improve the immune system and keep normal metabolism.

It is reliably known that the level of blood pressure depends on the person’s age. At mature age, blood pressure starts gradually to rise and thereby the risk of hypertension increases.

The cause of hypertension development is not only in the age. Therefore, it is impossible to make a universal blood pressure chart by age. The study results demonstrate that men under 54 years are at higher risk of hypertension than women of the same age are.

However, besides gender and age differences, weight, height, level of physical activity and overall health of the person can affect the risk of hypertension. Therefore, a standard blood pressure chart by age and weight or blood pressure chart by age and gender do not exist.

In occurrence of hypertension signs, the doctor can recommend to make the individual blood pressure chart where you should indicate:

• Gender (men, women)
• Age (pediatrics, adults, older adults)
• Weight (underweight, normal, overweight, obese)
• Hypertension symptoms (headache, dizziness)

After examining personal blood pressure chart by age, height, weight and other parameters, the doctor can determine the severity of hypertension and other cardiovascular risks.

When drawing up blood pressure chart by age for older adults, it is recommended to pay attention to the events because of which hypertension symptoms are strengthened or weakened.

These events can be:

• Anxiety, worry and stress
• Rapid changes in the body position
• Consumption of certain foods or beverages
• Use of prescription or OTC medications
• Increase or decrease in the level of physical activity

Observation of the hypertension symptoms for several years allows to draw up an objective high blood pressure chart, which shows hemodynamic changes from different angles.

Possessing information on the impact of various factors on the level of blood pressure, the doctor can prescribe a rational antihypertensive therapy and recommend optimal methods of non-pharmacological prophylaxis of hypertension.

In the occurrence of the first hypertension symptoms, you should draw up blood pressure chart by age and weight (or gender) every day within a few weeks. Show your chart the doctor and discuss with him the possible methods of effective control of blood pressure that will help significantly reduce cardiovascular risks.

The hypertension treatment should be started in the cases if blood pressure chart by age demonstrates within 7 days in a row:

• Systolic pressure value is equal to or higher than 140;
• Diastolic pressure value is equal to or higher than 90.

The question «What is hypertension?» has either a very simple or a very complicated answer.

• The simplest answer to the question «What is hypertension?» consists of two words.
• The most complex answer to the question «What is hypertension?» may consist of several pages.

There are two types of hypertension: arterial hypertension and venous hypertension. People are usually diagnosed arterial hypertension. The alternative definition of «arterial hypertension» is high blood pressure. To understand what hypertension is, first we need to know what blood pressure is.

The blood pressure is a pressure of blood to the arterial walls, measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg). To determine the blood pressure level, you need to measure the pressure of blood to the vessel walls during the contraction and relaxation of the heart.

While the heart is contracting, a systolic blood pressure is measured, while the heart is relaxing – diastolic blood pressure is measured. Hypertension is diagnosed if:

• The systolic blood pressure is above 140 mmHg
• The diastolic blood pressure is above 90 mmHg

«What is hypertension?» is the most frequently asked, yet not the only popular question about the blood pressure. Many people would like to know the hypertension stages, not what it is.

• If the blood pressure is slightly different from normal range, prehypertension is diagnosed.
• If the blood pressure values greatly exceed the norm, Stage 1 or Stage 2 hypertension is diagnosed.

What is prehypertension?

• If the blood pressure varies from 120/80 to 139/89 mmHg all the time, a prehypertension is diagnosed.

If man has no other disorders except for prehypertension, a compulsory drug treatment is not required. However, in order to reduce the risk of hypertension, the doctor can give some recommendations to help a patient to greatly reduce the cardiovascular risks.

• What is hypertension stage 1?

When the blood pressure varies from 140/90 to 159/99 mmHg, hypertension stage 1 is diagnosed. Often, hypertension stage 1 is called moderate hypertension.

• What is hypertension stage 2?

If a regular monitoring of the blood pressure shows indices equal or higher than 160/100 mmHg, hypertension stage 2 is diagnosed. The alternative name of hypertension stage 2 is severe hypertension.

Given the fact that moderate and severe hypertension may cause serious cardiovascular pathologies, it requires a timely treatment. The main goal of hypertension treatment is to maintain a normal blood pressure and to reduce the risk of both fatal and non-fatal:

• Cardiovascular diseases
• Cerebrovascular disorders
• Chronic kidney disease

Before prescribing the drug and non-drug treatment courses, a doctor should explain his patient what hypertension is, as well as inform him about potential risks that occur if not to treat the disease.

The complex part in hypertension therapy is that in addition to hypotensive medications, people should change their lifestyle. First of all, patients with hypertension should:

• Quit smoking
• Cut down alcohol drinks
• Try to lose weight
• Increase physical activity
• Cut down salt intake
• Increase the consumption of vegetable food

Non-drug methods of decrease in the blood pressure may compliment the hypertension drug therapy, or prevent hypertension in patients with normal blood pressure and cardiovascular risk factors.

The efficiency of drug and non-drug methods of hypertension treatment in men and women is identical. Special conditions for hypertension treatment are created if woman uses hormonal drugs (like oral contraceptives) or if she is pregnant.

Patients with the history of the following diseases require special attention:

• Metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus, cerebrovascular disease, coronary artery disease, chronic heart failure, atherosclerosis, kidney disease and renal artery lesions, lung disease, or primary

When drug therapy of hypertension is carried out along with drug therapy of other diseases, the effect of hypotensive medications either increases or reduces.

Therefore, before including a hypotensive medication into the combined therapy, the doctor should estimate its potential interaction with other drugs.

If you want to learn more information on hypertension, hypertensive crisis, uncontrolled hypertension or other types of hypertension – ask your questions via email. The answers to frequently asked questions about hypertension will be published in upcoming reviews.

Arterial blood pressure is a pressure of blood in large blood arteries measured in millimeters of mercury.

• The level of blood pressure at the time of maximum heart contraction is called the systolic blood pressure (SBP).
• The level of blood pressure at the time of maximum heart relaxation is called diastolic blood pressure (DBP).

Systolic blood pressure is the most important indicator of the heart functional state. A significant increase in systolic blood pressure is one of the key risk factors for serious cardiovascular and cerebrovascular pathologies, including:

• Coronary heart disease, uncontrolled hypertension, heart failure, myocardial infarction, peripheral arterial disease, and stroke.

High systolic blood pressure is much more dangerous to health than high diastolic blood pressure. Therefore, to reduce cardiovascular risks, a particular attention should be paid to the normalization of blood pressure at the time of maximum heart contraction.

At the end of the 60s, in the early 70s of the last century in Europe, there have been conducted several large studies, including:

• Systolic Hypertension – Europe (SYST-EUR)
• Systolic Hypertension in the Elderly Program (SHEP)

The results of these studies have demonstrated that the decline in systolic blood pressure by only 12-13 mmHg reduces the risk of stroke – by 37%, and coronary heart disease – by 21%.

Furthermore, the study results of SYST-EUR and SHEP indicate that when reducing systolic blood pressure by 12-13 mmHg, mortality from cardiovascular diseases decreases by 25%.

A normal range of systolic blood pressure ranges from 90 to 120 mmHg. Any change in the range of systolic blood pressure may be a sign of hypertension or hypotension.

• Systolic blood pressure above 120 mmHg is a symptom of hypertension.
• Systolic blood pressure below 90 mmHg is a symptom of persistent hypotension.

Hypertension is one of the most common diseases that occurs because of high systolic blood pressure. For the reduction and effective control of systolic blood pressure, it is required a drug therapy chosen individually for each case.

Different types of medications for management of essential hypertension are available at the pharmaceutical market. When one of the hypertension signs is a high systolic and a normal diastolic blood pressure, for the effective control of hypertension, the following medications can be used

• Indapamide
• Amlodipine
• Candesartan

All of these medications are approved for the hypertension treatment, but included in different pharmacological groups.

• Indapamide – is a thiazide-like diuretic.

• Amlodipine – is a calcium antagonists
• Candesartan – is an angiotensin receptor blockers

Each of these medications helps to control systolic blood pressure and to reduce cardiovascular risks. Despite the fact that these three medications have the same effect, there are some differences between them.

• Indapamide is an antihypertensive medication, which is most commonly prescribed at the initial stage of antihypertensive therapy. Just as other antihypertensive medications, Indapamide helps to reduce systolic blood pressure.

However, given the fact that Indapamide does not provide a powerful antihypertensive effect, it should be used only for the treatment of the first and second stages of hypertension.

Indapamide medication for the reduction of systolic blood pressure can be sold under various trade names, including: Mapemid, Cardide, Varbim, Diurelix, Tertensif, Fludex, Tensaid, Indapres, Rawel, Indipam, Natrilix, Lorvacs. All of these medications are available at the UK pharmacies.

If Indapamide diuretic does not provide a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure, it can be replaced by Candesartan medication. Unlike Indapamide, which can be prescribed only to adults, Candesartan can be used to decrease systolic blood pressure in children and adolescents aged 6 years and older.

• Candesartan uniqueness is that it can be used to reduce systolic blood pressure in patients with impaired left ventricular systolic function. Moreover, Candesartan is effective in treating hypertension in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF).

At the UK pharmacies, Candesartan is sold under various trademarks, including Amias, Atacand, and Blopress. If you want to buy medication to lower systolic blood pressure at the lowest price, check with your doctor under what trademarks cheap Candesartan is sold in your city.

If high systolic blood pressure is diagnosed in patients with coronary artery disease, as an alternative to Candesartan, you can use antihypertensive medication – Amlodipine.

• Besides the fact that Amlodipine helps to control systolic blood pressure, it also decreases the symptoms of coronary artery disease (CAD), including confirmed or suspected vasospastic chronic angina.

Just as Candesartan, Amlodipine can be prescribed to children. Therefore, choosing between Amlodipine and Candesartan, the doctor should be guided by cardiovascular risks diagnosed in the patient. The British using Amlodipine to lower systolic blood pressure know this medication under the original names Amlostin, Amolyte and Istin.

It should be noted that the cheapest tablets to reduce systolic blood pressure are sold on online pharmacies. If you want to buy medication to control systolic blood pressure at the lowest price, you can compare the cost of the needed medication on different online pharmacies.

Having bought cheap tablets to decrease systolic blood pressure online, you can significantly reduce your costs of a short-term or long-term antihypertensive therapy.

If you have high blood pressure, it does not mean that you should use anti-hypertensive pills right away. There are many natural ways to lower blood pressure.

Every third person on the planet face problems with his blood pressure from time to time or constantly. Many of that kind of people are subject to several factors that negatively affect the work of the cardiovascular system.

The easiest way to reduce the blood pressure immediately is to drink some water. Cool beverages can lessen the blood pressure, while hot drinks on contrary – can increase it.

Abnormal blood pressure can be caused by the shortage of some substances in the body. Vitamins and minerals can replace some medications for hypertension treatment. Natural additives, containing magnesium, cod-liver oil and vitamins of B group have made a good showing in the therapy of high blood pressure.

You can buy over-the-counter natural additives at traditional pharmacies and on online pharmacies. Natural vitamins and minerals allow normalizing the blood pressure, as well as improving the function of all organs and systems of the body.

Relaxation methods

Some methods of relaxation and stress relief can help to reduce the blood pressure quickly and effectively. Breathing exercises and meditation can calm you down and stabilize your heart rhythms.

According to medical studies, the relaxation not only suppresses the symptoms of psychological disorders, like anxiety, but also provides a significant effect on physiological parameters, including heart rate, blood pressure, the oxygen consumption and brain activity.

In order to get the maximum benefit, use some relaxation methods along with other positive problem solving methods, such as positive thinking, humor, time management, regular sleep and communication.

Natural ways to lower blood pressure without medications can include brain training, concentration and contemplation. Meditation helps to become friends with yourself, makes you free from irritated reaction and teaches you to accept things as they are.

Relaxation allows normalizing the blood pressure and improving the quality of life. People with high blood pressure are recommended to practice daily relaxation methods, directed to the reduction of stress symptoms.

Diets

The main causes of high blood pressure are bad heredity, excess weight, excessive fluid in the body and narrowing of the lumen of the blood vessels (atherosclerosis). Special diets help normalizing the blood pressure in a natural way, thereby reducing the risk of stroke or heart attack.

Cut down salt intake. This will improve the function of your cardiovascular system, as well as remove the excess liquid from the body. Also, cut down the alcohol intake. As clinical research has shown, alcohol refusal can stabilize the blood pressure levels.

Stop eating fast food and other junk foods. Instead, you should eat more fish and seafood. In fact, fish contains many essential substances that are not produced in the human body.

Low-calorie diets to lower blood pressure must consist of fruit, vegetables and fat-free dairy products. Get rid of foods, containing a large amount of cholesterol and saturated fats.

Changing your eating preferences is usually the first step towards the lower blood pressure. If you use some other methods in addition to diets, like change of lifestyle, your blood pressure will be reduced much faster.

Physical exercises

Physical exercises are good for a natural and immediate decrease in the blood pressure. Increased physical activity provides a positive effect on work of the heart muscle in the medium and the long term.

Make sure you do physical exercises regularly, 30 to 60 minutes a day. Start with light-intensity and moderate-intensity exercises. Brisk walk and jogging are perfect for that.

Physical exercises can lessen the blood pressure by 5-10 mmHg in two weeks. Workouts must not be too intense. If you missed an exercise, do not increase exercises intensity, because intense exercises are contraindicated in hypertension.

Even just a usual walk in the park is more effective than medications for hypertension treatment. If you do not know which exercises are best for a good work of the cardiovascular system, consult your personal trainer.

Physical exercises allow to lose weight much faster. Set yourself a goal to lose 5 kg first. This will help you to lower blood pressure and encourage to achieve new goals.

Try to walk instead of driving a car. Do not use elevator too often, you can take stairs when you need to go up and down. Any physical activities involving movement are good for you; while weights lifting and strength exercises on a simulator can even increase your blood pressure.

Natural ways to lower blood pressure during pregnancy may consist of various combined methods, taking into account the causes of high blood pressure. Special diets and other natural ways stabilizing the hormonal level are also effective.

Natural ways to lower blood pressure listed in this review can improve function of the cardiovascular system in just 2-3 weeks. If you suffer from hypertension, it is recommended to measure the blood pressure regularly. The blood pressure control allows you to choose methods of treatment that are most effective for your body.

Hypertonic disease (hypertension) is a disease, characterized by high blood pressure in the human circulatory system. Hundreds of thousands of people in the world are more or less prone to this disease.

Arterial hypertension is one of the most common pathologies of the cardiovascular system, which often becomes the reason of hospitalization. According to some data, a periodical or constantly high blood pressure is observed in 15-25% of adult population.

Factors increasing the likelihood of hypertension

The cardiovascular system is closely connected to all tissues, systems and organs of the human body; hence, there can be thousands of different causes of high blood pressure. There is a range of factors, affecting the occurrence and progression of high blood pressure.

Over 50% of adult people are prone to various risk factors of hypertonic disease. About half of them have more than one factor, resulting in that the disease and dangerous consequences increase significantly. The main causes of hypertension are:

• Age over 35 years
• Heredity
• Overweight or obesity
• Alcohol or nicotine consumption
• Stress and psychological stress
• Unbalanced diet
• Sedentary lifestyle

Symptoms and signs of high blood pressure may absent, but if you notice frequent headaches, noise in the ears or a strong heartbeat, then you need to seek medical help. Many people have no idea that they suffer from hypertension.

Causes and consequences of high blood pressure

Without proper treatment, abnormal blood pressure may damage various systems and organs of the body. The most sensitive parts of the body are heart muscle, blood vessels, brain, eyes and kidneys. Strokes and renal failure are common as well.

The higher the blood pressure, the harder the work of heart to maintain a normal circulation of blood. If hypertension is not cured in time, the walls of the heart may get thicker and hypertrophy eventually.

The high blood pressure can accelerate the formation of fat deposits on the walls of the blood vessels (atherosclerosis). The disease progression can cause clogging or destruction of the blood vessels.

Severe stages of the disease may cause stroke, affecting the speech and memory. The high blood pressure worsens the blood supply to the retina, leading to partial or complete loss of vision.

The hypertension treatment

The hypertension treatment is mostly aimed at eliminating the causes of the disease and normalization of the blood pressure. The drug therapy of the disease may involve vasodilators, diuretics and sedative medications.

All medications must be adjusted individually and depend on the overall health of a patient. For people with hypertension, doctors prescribe special diets that are mostly directed to the decrease in consumption of salt and liquids.

The lifestyle change is one of the most important ways to control the blood pressure. If you are overweight, you should lose weight. Regardless of the high blood pressure causes, doctors recommend to keep a diet that is low in fat and simple carbs.

The prophylaxis of the high blood pressure must involve an increase in physical activity. In addition, doctors recommend daily walking and a get enough sleep. Make sure you eat more fruit, vegetables, and drink skimmed milk. Cut down caffeine and alcohol.

To prevent hypertonic disease, it is very important to diagnose it as early as possible. A systematic control over the blood pressure is one of the main methods allowing to reveal the disease occurrence.

People, having one or several risk factors, should constantly monitor their blood pressure rates. Blood pressure cuff (sphygmomanometer) helps to analyze the heart work by several parameters.

You can buy blood pressure cuff at a traditional or online pharmacy. Depending on your goals causes of the disease, you can choose one type of the blood pressure cuff. To use modern sphygmomanometer, you don’t need any special knowledge or skills.

Hypertension is a disease, which requires a prolonged medical treatment. In high blood pressure, antihypertensive medications should be taken regularly.

Therefore, despite the fact that the cost of a dose of hypotensive medication is not very expensive, the total cost of a year of hypertension treatment may vary from several hundred to several thousand $US.

To reduce the costs of treating hypertension, it is necessary to learn to control blood pressure by means of non-pharmacological methods.

Non-pharmacological prevention of hypertension is absolutely free, so it is affordable for everyone. In order to improve blood pressure control, it is necessary to be physically active, to give up smoking and not to abuse alcohol, as well as to follow a healthy diet.

The consumption of foods that lower blood pressure, as well as active lifestyle help significantly to improve the health and to reduce the costs of antihypertensive therapy by several times.

Herewith, the majority of foods that lower blood pressure help to normalize metabolism. Thus, their regular use helps to lose weight and to maintain a normal body weight.

A list of foods that lower blood pressure consists of hundreds of names, some of them you can find in this review. Remember that when making up a diet plan for hypertension prevention:

• It should include foods that lower blood pressure
• Foods that enhance hypertension should be excluded from it

In simultaneous use of nutrients that increase and decrease blood pressure, a significant hypotensive effect cannot be achieved. Therefore, a diet for hypertension prevention should be balanced with the minimal amount of salt and cholesterol.

Table salt consists mainly of the mineral – sodium chloride (NaCl). A distinctive feature of sodium is that in its excessive consumption, hypertension may develop.

A small amount of sodium does not create a serious health hazard. Therefore, there is no need completely to abandon table salt.

• To maintain a normal metabolism, a person needs no more than 2 mg of sodium per day. Such amount of sodium is contained in about 5mg of table salt.

We should realize that sausage, cheese and other ready cooked foods already contain salt. Therefore, if salted products were included in the daily diet, do not use salt in cooking and do not add salt during the meal.

The danger of table salt is that even if a person consumes foods that lower blood pressure and simultaneously abuses salt, hypertension will progress.

In addition, people with hypertension should:

• Use salt low in sodium when cooking
• Fully refuse from purchase and consumption of very salty products
• Replace salt by natural seasonings when cooking

Given that sodium is one of the key nutrients causing hypertension, food products low in sodium help to reduce blood pressure.

• The minimal amount of sodium is contained in radish, potato, paprika, rutabaga, pumpkin, cabbage, watermelon, carrots, cucumbers, onions, oranges, pears, juices, plums, lemons, strawberry, grapefruit, blackberry, semolina, flour, pasta, cereals, and rice.

• A large amount of sodium is contained in sausage products (bacon, ham, sausages), canned fish and meat, mayonnaise, ketchup, margarine, canned vegetables, ready-to-cook foods, olives, canned mushrooms, canned soups.

To reduce blood pressure, it is important not only to consume less sodium (salt), but also a sufficient amount of potassium. Potassium decreases hypertensive effect of sodium.

Therefore, increasing the intake of foods containing potassium is as important for non-pharmacological blood pressure control as restriction of salt intake.

A large amount of potassium is found in whole grains, berries, fruits and vegetables. Adult women with hypertension should consume at least 3.1 grams of potassium, and adult men – at least 3.5 grams of potassium per day.

To reduce cardiovascular risks, it is necessary to consume not only foods that lower blood pressure, but also nutrients to strengthen the blood vessels. One of the nutrients strengthening the vascular system is calcium.

Besides the fact that the daily consumption of foods containing calcium helps to maintain a normal blood pressure, calcium helps to strengthen bones and skeletal system.

A sufficient amount of calcium is found in milk and dairy products, green vegetables, parsley, spinach, nettle, lettuce. Adult men and women are advised to consume at least 0.8 grams of calcium per day.

It should be noted that products low in fat do not promote decrease in blood pressure, but help to reduce weight and to prevent the development of hyperlipidemia.

Therefore, just as foods that lower blood pressure, hypocaloric food products reduce cardiovascular risks and help to improve overall health.

People with hypertension should always remember that physical activity is as useful for their health, as foods that lower blood pressure. After all, even slight, but regular physical exercise can reduce systolic blood pressure by 4-8 mmHg.

Regular physical exercise, limitation of salt intake and increased consumption of foods that lower blood pressure very often help to achieve the same effect as modern antihypertensive medications.