High Blood Pressure Alternative Treatments

High blood pressure, or hypertension, affects 20 percent of Americans, according to MSN Encarta. Hypertension is defined as a medical condition in which blood vessels carrying blood away from the heart become constricted. This causes the heart to work harder to move blood effectively throughout the body. If the condition is not treated, a person has a higher risk of suffering a stroke, heart attack or kidney failure. A doctor may treat a patient with high blood pressure by prescribing a type of drug called antihypertensive (reference 1). However, there are many alternative ways to treat hypertension.

What Causes High Blood Pressure?

• Unfortunately, doctors are still unable to pinpoint the exact cause of high blood pressure. However, most physicians believe nearly 95 percent of cases result from genetic factors. The other 5 percent of high blood pressure patients usually have some kind of preexisting condition, such as kidney disease, or their pressure could even be a side effect of a medication they are taking. More general factors that can contribute to hypertension include physical inactivity, obesity and heavy alcohol consumption (reference 1).

Treatments

• One of the easiest ways to lower your blood pressure is by changing your diet. Some of the foods you should include are fruits and vegetables, and foods containing whole grains, fish and nuts. On the other hand, you should stay away from foods high in saturated fats, red meat and sweets (reference 2). Limiting alcohol consumption can also help lower blood pressure. Women should not drink more than one alcoholic drink per day, and men should limit their alcoholic intake to two drinks (reference 1).

  Increasing your daily physical activity is yet another simple way to help lower blood pressure. In fact, some researchers have found exercise to be just as effective in lowering blood pressure as a prescription drug. People can decrease their blood pressure just by including 30 to 60 minutes of exercise, three to four days a week, into their weekly schedule (reference 2).

Alternative Treatments

• Lighter physical activities, such as yoga and Tai Chi, have also proved to be effective in treating high blood pressure. In addition, this method can make people feel less anxious and help reduce stress hormones in the body (reference 2).

  Another less proven method of treating hypertension is by using herbal remedies. Snakeroot, tetrandrine and ginseng are some of the common herbs used to treat high blood pressure. However, these herbal therapies have not been extensively studied, and come with possible side effects. So, it is best to consult with a doctor before choosing this route (reference 2).

  Acupuncture and hypnosis have also been used to treat high blood pressure, but neither of these methods have proved to be 100 percent effective in scientific research. Nonetheless, both treatments have been helpful in lowering blood pressure in some patients (reference 2).