Every year more and more people in the United States, and around the world, are being diagnosed with hypertension and related health disorders. In this post we reveal the best 10 natural high blood pressure remedies. It’s an amazing “Get Well Guide” for anyone struggling with their blood pressure.
Many people still aware unaware that there are natural methods and remedies that can help you to alleviate high blood pressure. And the best news is that they are highly effective and complementary remedies meaning they are safe for all, including those who are already using blood pressure medicines and pharmaceuticals.
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What Is Blood Pressure Hypertension?
Blood pressure is the force exerted by circulating blood on the walls of blood vessels. It is the vital sign used to assess the health of your cardiovascular system. Blood pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and is determined by two numbers:
- Systolic Pressure: This is the number that represents the pressure in the arteries when the heart contracts (or beats) and pumps blood.
- Diastolic Pressure: Th is the number that represents the pressure in the arteries when the heart is at rest (or between beats).
A typical normal blood pressure reading is 120/80 mmHg, where 120 is the systolic pressure and 80 is the diastolic pressure. The levels used to categories blood pressure are:
- Normal: Systolic less than 120 mmHg and diastolic less than 80 mmHg.
- Elevated: Systolic 120-129 mmHg and diastolic less than 80 mmHg.
- Hypertension Stage 1: Systolic 130-139 mmHg or diastolic 80-89 mmHg.
- Hypertension Stage 2: Systolic 140 mmHg or higher or diastolic 90 mmHg or higher.
- Hypertensive Crisis: Systolic over 180 mmHg and/or diastolic over 120 mmHg, requiring immediate medical attention.
Hypertension, is the name given to high blood pressure. It is a condition where the force of the blood against the artery walls is consistently too high. It is often called the “silent killer” because it often has no symptoms but can lead to severe health complications over time. Some of the early warning symptoms that may indicate high blood pressure are:
- regular and severe headaches
- dizziness when you stand or sit up.
- shortness of breath
- nausea or vomiting
- blurred vision and other changes in vision
- feeling anxious
- feeling disoriented or confused
- buzzing or ringing in the ears
- regular nose bleeds
As always we recommend that those taking blood pressure medication, or those who have been diagnosed with hypertension should check with your doctor to ensure these remedies are right for you.
The 10 Natural High Blood Pressure Remedies.
Why choose natural remedies? “Improving your diet can make a significant difference [to your blood pressure] and can boost your gut health, too.” says Christina Vetter of Zoe. She states “Exercise, sleep, and other lifestyle changes are also linked to lower blood pressure and better overall health.”
Adam Bress, PharmD, is associate professor and vice chair of research for population health sciences at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, University of Utah, and chaired an American Heart Association Scientific Statement that guides doctors on how best to take care of people who have high blood pressure while they’re in the hospital. In this report Bress states, “Aggressive treatment of high blood pressure without evidence of target organ damage for hospitalized patients may do more harm than good.” Bress concludes, “Clinicians should avoid “treating the number” when acute care patients have high blood pressure, especially if someone’s high blood pressure isn’t causing immediate symptoms.”
So lets look at what you get with our natural remedies.
- Discover the foods that you should add to your diet!
- Learn the herbs that have been proven to lower blood pressure naturally.
- Get three delicious and healing herbal recipes
Remedies That Lower Blood Pressure Naturally
- Ginger and Cardamom Tea;
- Heart Health Foods and Diet;
- Moderate Daily Exercise;
- Yoga and Meditation;
- Apple Cider Tonic;
- Fish Oil Supplements;
- Blueberry Flavonoid Quercetin;
- Lean Protein;
- Hawthorn flavonoid;
- Herbal Supplements.
Number 1 – Ginger and Cardamom Tea to lower your blood pressure Naturally.
Research carried out published in the Indian Journal of Biochemistry & Biophysics1Blood pressure lowering, fibrinolysis enhancing and antioxidant activities of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) in December of 2009 focused on Cardamom as a key ingredient for the treatment of high blood pressure.
In this study a group of participants, who had recently been diagnosed with Stage 1 hypertension, were given 1 teaspoon of cardamom powder each day for several weeks.
Results showed the pressure in those with hypertension significantly decreased systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure after 12 weeks.
Their antioxidant status was also significantly increased by 90% at the end of the three month study.
Further research is ongoing to identify exactly what is in cardamom that helps. Even though we may not know what part of the cardamom causes these results, it doesn’t really matter! What matters is the evidence of it significantly reducing blood pressure!
Cardamom has proven itself, through scientific study, to be one of the most effective natural remedies for high blood pressure.
The following is a recipe for Cardamom Tea. The addition of ginger and cinnamon boosts the health giving properties as both spices are known to improve circulation.
These three spices create one holistic herbal tea that helps get your heart healthy.
Number 2 – A Healthy diet to control blood pressure
While it may sound like good advice to live life by, the fact is, eating healthy foods is one of the most important lifestyle changes you can make.
Staying healthy requires focusing on your diet. This starts with eating fresh natural products. Inclusing good healthy foods as part of your high blood pressure diet is equally as important for people who are at risk of developing hypertension. It is worth noting studies have shown that Mediterranean-type diets lower blood pressure.
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute2Healthy Lifestyle Changes – If you have high blood pressure, your provider may recommend that you adopt a heart-healthy lifestyle to help lower and control high blood pressure. Choose heart-healthy foods. NHLBI-funded research has shown that D-A-S-H combined with a low-salt eating plan can be as effective as medicines in lowering high blood pressure. promotes the dash high blood pressure diet. Dash is a diet that is rich and filled with fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and low fat or fat free dairy products. Daily diet should also be complimented with whole grains, beans, pulses, chicken and fish.
It also makes sense that if we add healthy produce to our diet, we limit those foods which cause damage. Salt is associated with high blood pressure so we need to cut out sodium. We also need to reduce our intake of processed sweets and sugars, sugary beverages and fatty red meats.
Number 3 – Exercise Helps Hypertension
Adding daily physical exercise is one of the easiest of the natural remedies to implement. Healthy exercise is classed as 30 to 60 minutes of physical activity. Each day. Each day of the week.
The Mayo Clinic3Exercise: A drug-free approach to lowering high blood pressure states that through the addition of daily exercise you can lower your blood pressure by anywhere between 4-9 “millimeters of mercury” (mmHg) .
You don’t need to run marathons, or even jog around the block, simply by going for a walk or taking part in light strength training you can help reduce high blood pressure.
Number 4 – Stress Less Through Meditation Or Yoga.
Mindfulness and meditation has long been used, around the world and in almost all cultures, as a technique to reduce stress, reduce anxiety, and improve mental well being.
In a Massachusetts university studies showed more than 19,000 people were able to improve mental health and lower stress by participating in a meditation and mindfulness program.
Yoga involves learning specific breathe control, physical body posture and meditation techniques. Similar to mindfulness, Yoga is proven to be equally as effective in reducing stress and therefore blood pressure.
Research studies4Effectiveness of Yoga for Hypertension: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the relationship between yoga and blood pressure, found on average participants blood pressure decreased by 3.62-4.17 mmHg.
Number 5 – Include Apple Cider Tonic as An Integrative Medicine!
This is a truly wonderful tonic and definitely worthy of being in the top natural remedies. So how do these ingredients help lower blood pressure and help keep our body healthy?
Lemon
The lemon contains flavonoids, vitamin C and dietary fiber. All 3 of these have been proven to lower cholesterol.
Garlic
Consumption of raw garlic is known to lower triglycerides, glucose and cholesterol levels.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar is a wonderful natural health booster. ACV, as commonly referred to, helps by lowering your total cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
It is well known to be an excellent home remedy for many other ailments such as heartburn or acid reflux, gout, respiratory infections, and many others.
Honey
Honey has been proven to protect arteries against cholesterol build up.
Ginger
In patients suffering from diabetes, hypothyroidism and nephrotic syndrome (even alcoholism) the addition of ginger was shown to lower levels of cholesterol and triglycerides.
So here is the recipe for our Apple Cider Tonic. To really gain the benefits and allow the tonic to be effective you need to take small amounts regularly throughout the day. At a minimum you should take before every meal.
It is a potent mix so if the taste makes it unpalatable you can dilute it in a half glass of water to drink it.
Number 6 – Find A Fish Oil Supplement.
To really help with high blood pressure you should start taking a fish oil supplement (recommended is 1,000-2,000 mg daily). A major cause of hypertension is inflammation of the arteries over a prolonged period of time.
Many clinical studies have shown the consumption of fish oil reduces inflammation in the body. This is attributed to high levels of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids.
By taking high quality fish oil supplements every day with meals is proven effective and perhaps the easiest of the natural remedies to include in your daily routine.
Number 7 – Blood Pressure Lowers With Blueberry Syrup.
Syrups are one of the very best ways to incorporate the health giving benefits of herbs and spices into our diet. They are also amazingly tasty! I know that syrup usually means super sweet and sickeningly heavy, which definitely isn’t what we want, this Blueberry syrup is the opposite. Light, healthy and nutritious.
Commercial store bought syrups are to be avoided. This home made syrup it is an incredibly delicious and healthy way to give yourself a natural heart health boost. It’s also fair to say that many natural home remedies are often too tart and hard to swallow. So this is a great way to get a sweet treat!
Blueberries are loaded with the flavonoid quercetin. Quercetin is incredible for treating inflammatory illnesses such as “hardening of the arteries” (atherosclerosis), high cholesterol, heart disease and circulation problems.
To make this extra heart healthy add a handful of elderberries.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1.5 cup blueberries
- ¼ cup elderberries
- 4 cup water
- 1 cup honey
Instructions
- Add the 1.5 cups blueberries1/4 cup elderberries and 4 cups water to saucepan and bring to a simmer over low heat. Gently simmer until the liquid is reduced by half.
- Strain the solids by pouring into a cheesecloth lined strainer or sieve. Carefully squeeze on the berry solids to get as much of the juice as possible. Pour the liquid back into the saucepan.
- Stir in the 1 cup honey and warm the mix to ensure everything blends together thoroughly (see notes). Let cool slightly before pouring into a storage bottle.
- The elixir will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks. Take 1 tablespoon 3 times per day.
Notes
YOUR RECIPE NOTES:
Nutrition
Number 8 – Eat High-Protein Foods – Prevention Not Cure.
Long term studies5Diets higher in protein predict lower high blood pressure risk in Framingham Offspring Study adults that concluded in 2015 found that those of us who eat more protein have a lower risk of developing high blood pressure.
By eating 100 grams of protein, on average each day, you have a 40 percent lower risk of developing high blood pressure. That’s pretty easy right! It’s very easy to consume 100 grams of good proteins each day. Here’s a checklist of good high protein foods:
Image | High-Protein Food | Portion Size | Protein Content |
---|---|---|---|
Salmon | 3 oz (85g) | 19g | |
Chicken Breast | 3 oz (85g) | 26g | |
Greek Yogurt | 1 cup (245g) | 10g | |
Lentils | 1 cup (198g) | 18g | |
Tofu | 3.5 oz (100g) | 8g | |
Quinoa | 1 cup (185g) | 8g | |
Almonds | 1 oz (28g) | 6g | |
Black Beans | 1 cup (172g) | 15g | |
Cottage Cheese | 1 cup (226g) | 27g | |
Edamame | 1 cup (155g) | 17g | |
Eggs | 2 large eggs | 12g | |
Chickpeas | 1 cup (164g) | 14.5g | |
Turkey Breast | 3 oz (85g) | 24g | |
Pumpkin Seeds | 1 oz (28g) | 9g | |
Peanut Butter | 2 tbsp (32g) | 8g | |
Tuna | 3 oz (85g) | 22g | |
Tempeh | 3 oz (85g) | 21g | |
Hemp Seeds | 3 tbsp (30g) | 10g | |
Seitan | 3 oz (85g) | 21g | |
Milk | 1 cup (240ml) | 8g |
Number 9 – Heavenly Hawthorn For Heart Health.
Hawthorn is an amazing herb and incredibly rich in:
- flavonoids:
- oligomeric procyandins (OPC’s)
- quercetin.
Flavonoids are often reported as having dozens of health benefits. It is the positive affects on the many various forms of heart disease that dominate clinical studies. Research6The Effects of Flavonoids in Cardiovascular Diseases has shown flavonoids to have good impact upon:
- arrhythmia,
- palpitations,
- improving the function of capillaries,
- regulation of glucose metabolism,
- reducing arterial blood pressure and,
- reducing risk of hypertension.
This is reported to be due to flavonoids helping to widen the blood vessels, so an excellent support when our blood pressure is too high.
While most natural remedies recommend hawthorn in the form of a tea, which is great, the following recipe gives you a delicious snack treat “of “heavenly hawthorn balls”.
These balls have the added benefit of having cinnamon and ginger as ingredients. Both of which are great for helping circulation. One of the best natural high blood pressure remedies.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp hawthorn berry powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1 tsp ginger powder
- 1 tsp honey
- 30 ml water
- 20 g cacao powder or carob
Instructions
- Heat oven to 150 degrees Fahrenheit. In a bowl add the 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder, 1 teaspoon ginger powder and 4 tbsp hawthorn berry powder and mix well. Add just enough of the 1 teaspoon honey and 30 ml water to make a smooth paste – think smooth peanut butter consistency.
- Thicken the mixture with the 20 g cacao powder or carob. You want a consistency where the dough can be rolled on the palms of your hands without sticking.
- Roll into small balls about the size of index fingernail – think Maltesers! Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and place in the oven until dry. Approximately 30 minutes but may take longer.
- These balls will keep indefinitely when stored in a cool dark place, in an airtight container.
Video
Notes
YOUR RECIPE NOTES:
Nutrition
Number 10 – Include Medicinal Herbs As Part Of Your high blood pressure diet
In many cultures, some for centuries, medicinal herbs have been the standard practice for treating a variety of ailments.
The herbs listed below have been shown, through research7Role of natural herbs in the treatment of hypertension to lower blood pressure.
If you are taking any form of prescription medication always check with your healthcare provider or pharmacist before taking herbal supplements. Herbal supplements are safe but there is a possibility some might interfere with medications. Be safe not sorry! The following herbs have shown to be awesome in their effects to lowering blood pressure.
Lower Blood Pressure With The Following Herbal Remedies For Heart Health
- black bean (Castanospermum australe)
- cat’s claw (Uncaria rhynchophylla)
- celery juice (Apium graveolens)
- Chinese hawthorn (Crataegus pinnatifida)
- coffee weed (Cassia occidentalis)
- ginger root
- giant dodder (Cuscuta reflexa)
- Indian plantago (blond psyllium)
- maritime pine bark (Pinus pinaster)
- river lily (Crinum glaucum)
- roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa)
- sesame oil (Sesamum indicum)
- tomato extract (Lycopersicon esculentum)
- tea (Camellia sinensis), especially green tea and oolong tea
- umbrella tree bark (Musanga cecropioides)
So there you have it. 10 tips, and many natural remedies! Please do let me know which you try and how you find the results!
Do you know of any other remedies that should be shared? Which other solutions for lower blood pressure have it under control Please let us know by leaving a comment below.
References
- 1Blood pressure lowering, fibrinolysis enhancing and antioxidant activities of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum)
- 2Healthy Lifestyle Changes – If you have high blood pressure, your provider may recommend that you adopt a heart-healthy lifestyle to help lower and control high blood pressure. Choose heart-healthy foods. NHLBI-funded research has shown that D-A-S-H combined with a low-salt eating plan can be as effective as medicines in lowering high blood pressure.
- 3Exercise: A drug-free approach to lowering high blood pressure
- 4Effectiveness of Yoga for Hypertension: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
- 5Diets higher in protein predict lower high blood pressure risk in Framingham Offspring Study adults
- 6The Effects of Flavonoids in Cardiovascular Diseases
- 7Role of natural herbs in the treatment of hypertension