High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a condition directly related to lifestyle and diet. Each time the heart beats, it sends blood coursing through the arteries. The peak reading is the systolic pressure. Between beats the heart relaxes, and the blood pressure drops. This lower reading is referred to as diastolic pressure. Blood pressure readings are in the millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). A normal blood pressure reading for adults is 120 (systolic)/80 (diastolic). High blood pressure is usually defined as any blood pressure reading higher than 140/90. The 140 refers to how hard your heart is pumping out blood, and the 90 refers to how quickly it's filling back up.
High blood pressure readings can be divided into the following levels:
- Prehypertension (120-139/80-89)
- Borderline (120-160/90-94)
- Mild (140-160/95-104)
- Moderate (140-180/105-114)
- Severe (160+/115+)
Signs and Symptoms - Prehypertension to moderate hypertension is generally without symptoms. Severe hypertension may be associated with increased sleepiness, headache, nausea, and vomiting.
Although doctors can rarely tell you what causes high blood pressure unless it's related to an underlying disease, in 95 percent of cases, hypertension is closely related to lifestyle (stress, lack of exercise and smoking) and dietary factors (high sodium, low-fiber, high-sugar and high-saturated-fat diet low in calcium, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin C), which have a direct effects on the health of the arteries. When the arteries become hard due to the buildup of cholesterol-containing plaque, blood pressure rises. Therefore, it is very important to prevent atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).
Those over the age of 45 with high blood pressure are three times as likely to have a heart attack, six times as likely to have heart failure and seven times as likely to experience a stroke as those with a lower pressure.
Yet half of those affected don't even know they have a problem, because this is one disease that has no symptoms during the early stages. That's why you should have your blood pressure checked once a year, and more often if you're taking oral contraceptives or estrogen, if you're pregnant or if hypertension runs in your family.
If your blood pressure is high, doctors say you may want to cut your total salt intake down to one teaspoon a day, exercise 30 to 60 minutes three times a week, lose a few pounds and learn to relax.
Those with severe hypertension may need the help of medications. If the bottom number on your blood pressure reading is 100 or more- say 180/100-your doctor may want to reduce the load on your heart and blood vessels and bring it down quickly by giving you a diuretic ("water pill"), a drug that flushes excess fluid out of your body and into your bladder for excretion.
But although these diuretics and a group of drugs called beta-blockers have traditionally been the treatment of choice, their role has now become controversial. That's because doctors have been trying to figure out for years why these drugs will reduce your risk of heart failure, kidney failure and stroke but not your risk of atherosclerosis, heart attack or angina. It has come to the point, in fact, where some doctors are asking if diuretics and beta-blockers are not actually increasing the risk of heart problems among people with high blood pressure. In addition, most diuretics change the ratio of sodium to potassium in the blood and as a result dangerous side effects can occur due to either too much potassium or sodium.
Ways to Prevent and Control High Blood Pressure - Achieving ideal body weight is the most important recommendation for those with high blood pressure. However, overweight people who lose even modest amounts of weight experience a reduction in blood pressure. Vegetarians generally have a lower incidence of high blood pressure and other heart diseases than nonvegetarians. A vegetarian diet typically contains more potassium, complex carbohydrates, essential fatty acids, fiber, calcium, magnesium and vitamin C, all of which have a favorable influence on blood pressure.
Numerous studies show that salt restriction alone does not improve blood pressure levels in most people, it must be accompanied by a high potassium intake. Researchers recommend a food potassium-to sodium ratio of greater than 5:1 to maintain health. Most Americans have a potassium-to sodium intake ratio of less than 1:2. The easiest way to lower sodium intake is to avoid prepared foods and table salt, and use potassium chloride salt substitues, such as the popular brands No-Salt and Nu-salt, instead. The best ways to boost potassium levels is to increase the intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes.
Recent large studies have shown clearly that diet can be effective in lowering blood pressure. A diet rich in fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products can reduce blood pressure by 7 mm Hg (systolic) in people without hypertension and by 11 mm Hg in participants with hypertension. This was particularly effective when the sodium intake was below the officially recommended level of 2,400 mg daily.
Special Foods for People with High Blood Pressure - include celery; garlic and onions to lower cholesterol; nuts and seeds or their oils for their essential fatty acids; cold-water fish, such as salmon and mackerel, fish oil for omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA; green leafy vegetables and sea vegetables for their calcium and magnesium; whole grains and legumes for their fiber; and foods rich in vitamin C, such as broccoli, oranges, grapefruits and lemons.
Other Ways to Lower High Blood Pressure - Regular aerobic exercise must be part of your daily routine. Natural products such as anti-ACE peptides - purified mixtures of small proteins derived from muscle of the fish bonito (a mamber of the tuna family) or sardines, have proved to be effective in lowering blood pressure. These proteins relax the arterial walls and reduce fluid volume. Anti-ACE peptides are effective in about two thirds of people with high blood pressure--about the same percentage as with many prescription drugs. They are able to reduce the systolic pressure by at least 10 mm Hg and the diastolic by 7 mm Hg in people with prehypertension and borderline hypertension.
Celery or celery seed extract is usually used if people do not respond to anti-ACE peptides after a two-month trial. Celery acts as diuretic but unlike most prescription drugs, does not alter the ratio of sodium to potassium in the blood. The research on the blood pressure lowering effect of A href="http://www.goodwithchildren.com/food/vegetables/celery.aspx">celery and celery extracts is quite preliminary, but some people have noted significant reductions. Celery extract has been shown to help prevent stroke in animal studies. Some people with high blood pressure will respond to celery extract while others will not. This occurs with conventional drugs as well.
More research is necessary before diuretics and beta-blockers are abandoned, researchers say. But in the meantime, they suggest that only low-dose diuretics be used and the "indiscriminate" use of beta-blockers be questioned. There are, they point out, other anti-hypertensive drugs (clonidine, guanabenz, prazosin, nifedipine, diltiazem, verapamil, captopril, enalapril) that can also lower blood pressure.