You Rarely Go Outside
Binging a new show on Netflix for days on end while quarantining inside your home should protect you from COVID-19, but it could increase your blood pressure or worsen existing hypertension, suggests a study in the Journal of American Heart Association. And why is this? It’s the lack of sunlight that’s boosting your blood pressure.
In the observational study, researchers analyzed 46 million blood pressure readings from 342,000 patients in 2,200 dialysis clinics and found that exposure to UV sunlight was associated with lower systolic blood pressure. For decades, scientists have known of seasonal variation in blood pressure, but had linked it to factors such as air temperature and vitamin D, which is produced when sunlight hits the skin. This new study found that temperature played a role, but “half the seasonal variation in blood pressure is independent of temperature. It’s due to the UV alone,” said lead author Dr. Richard Weller of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
Drink The Right Amount Of Water
When it comes to drinking water, the most common suggestion is eight 8-oz. glasses per day. However, as a more personal approach, divide your body weight by two, and aim to drink that amount in ounces daily.
For instance, a 200-pound person should consume about 100 ounces of water daily. Drinking a glass of water before taking a bath can also help flush toxins from the body and reduce blood pressure.
What Are Some Other Ways To Reduce Your Blood Pressure Naturally
There are some other ways to reduce your blood pressure. These are:
-eating foods that are good for your cardiovascular system, in general, will help lower what blood pressure is. These include things like lean meats, fish , vegetables and fruits!
-Exercising regularly can also help boost heart health overall, which means youll get the benefits of lower blood pressure.
-Reducing stress can also be a great way to help keep high numbers from being a problem in the future!
-Avoiding cigarettes and tobacco products is essential when it comes to lowering your blood pressure quickly since these things have been proven to cause levels in men and women to rise quickly.
-quit drinking alcohol completely when you are trying to lower what blood pressure is! Alcohol can raise what levels in the body, making it harder for what numbers to be what they should be.
-quitting smoking or picking up an active sport like biking, swimming or jogging! These things will help lower what blood pressure is.
Also Check: Does Spicy Food Cause High Blood Pressure
Does Drinking Water Lower Blood Pressure
Disclaimer: Results are not guaranteed*** and may vary from person to person***.
Does drinking water lower blood pressure? The link between water and blood pressure is a rather common one. For instance, water is known to play a key part in preventing dehydration and maintaining normal blood pressure levels.
The body cries for water, and without it, dehydration can lead to low blood pressurealso called hypotension. This is due to a reduced blood volume that lowers pressure against the artery walls. At the same time, can dehydration cause blood pressure to rise?
This article will explore the link between drinking water and blood pressure in greater detail, including how drinking water lowers blood pressure, the link between dehydration and blood pressure, the effect drinking too much water has on blood pressure, and the dos and donts when it comes to drinking water and blood pressure.
In This Article:
Controlling Blood Pressure Naturally:
Many health professionals deal with hypertension by prescribing medications. That is understandable since medical school frequently focuses on drugs. But there are a surprising number of natural approaches that might work as well.
Blueberries: A study from Florida State University reported that blueberry powder reduced blood pressure by 5 to 6 percent. That is about as good as some medications.
Beet Juice: Beetroot has also been shown in scientific studies to lower blood pressure. This is accomplished by raising levels of nitrite in the bloodstream and increasing nitric oxide in the body. This can make blood vessels more flexible. One study demonstrated a reduction of 11 points in systolic blood pressure and 9 points in diastolic blood pressure. There are few drugs that can do that well.
To learn more about other natural approaches to controlling blood pressure, you may wish to check out our Guide to Blood Pressure Treatment. We would also welcome reader stories about other ways to control hypertension.
Revised, April 28, 2016
Read Also: Onions And Blood Pressure
You Don’t Know Your Numbers
If you don’t check your blood pressure, you won’t know if there’s a potential problem. Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey shows that 13 million people in the United States are not aware that they have hypertension and therefore are not making lifestyle changes or taking medication to help control it.
Amazing Health Benefits Of Lemon Water
Lemons are full of nourishing elements like vitamin C, A, B6, E, folate, pantothenic acid and potassium.It helps to prevent diabetes, cancer, diarrhea, kidney stones, constipation, high blood pressure, fever and aids the digestive system.
Here are 12 Amazing Health Benefits of Lemon Water:
1.Balances pH Levels:Alkaline presence in lemon juice balance the pH of the body.2.Flushes out Toxins:Drinking lemon juice is most important to flushes out toxins and good for your health.3.Good for Skin:Lemon juice help to decrease blemishes, blackheads, wrinkles and give healthy glowing skin.It also helps to reduce sun burn, acne and give a healthy glowing skin.4.Good for Hair:
Lemon juice is good for your hair. Apply lemon juice on scalp which remove dandruff and give shine hair.5.Helps to Weight Lose:Drinking lemon water help to maintain weight and increased metabolism. Pectin fiber and ployphenols presence in Lemon which helps to fight hunger cravings and weight loss solution.
Drink lemon juice and honey mixed with warm water early in the morning help reduce weight.6.Reduce Nose Bleeding:Dip small cotton ball in lemon juice and place it inside nose. It helps to reduce nose bleeding.7.Helps Digestion:Lemon juice help flush the digestive system and it also helps to rehydrate the body.8.Boosting the immune system:Lemon juice is rich source of vitamin c which prevents body against immune system.9. Stress:
Also Check: Do Onions Lower Blood Pressure
What Is Emergency Treatment For High Blood Pressure
Vasodilators such as nitroprusside and nitroglycerin are also used to treat a hypertensive emergency. The goal of therapy for a hypertensive emergency is to lower the mean arterial pressure by no more than 25% within minutes to 1 hour and then stabilize BP at 160/100-110 mm Hg within the next 2 to 6 hours.
Why To Drink Water Before During And After Exercise
Water is about 60% of our body . During exercise, the body loses water and sodium. Water loss can lead to dehydration in addition it causes a substantial drop in athletic performance.
Dehydration of 2% reduced physical abilities by 20%. The most common disorders are digestive and muscular, especially cramps or tendonitis.
Don’t Miss: Does Vodka Raise Blood Pressure
Tested Drinks That Can Help In Lowering Blood Pressure
Let Your Body To Adapt Higher Water Intake
You may to go overboard on your water intake, while your body may only take in adequate amounts. If you fail to have excessive amount of water currently, you have to increase your water intake gradually and thereby, allow your body to adapt it easily. This is because despite, drinking more amount of water reduces your high blood pressure problem, drinking higher than 96 ounces water daily may create increase stress on your kidneys and the digestive system.
You May Like: Is High Blood Pressure Heart Disease
How Does Drinking Salty Water Affect Health
Previous work at Imperial College London has shown that the health of pregnant women in southern Bangladesh was possibly affected by drinking water with high levels of salt. The researchers found that women drinking highly salty water were 5 times more likely to suffer from pre-eclampsia a condition during pregnancy characterised by high blood pressure than women drinking water with low salt concentrations .
Given these results, it seemed likely that drinking salty water might also affect blood pressure in the general population. However, since high blood pressure often goes without symptoms and routine blood pressure measurements in non-pregnant adults are rarely performed in these areas, the scale of the problem remained unknown.
Could Adding Minerals To Drinking Water Fight High Blood Pressure
If you have high blood pressure, chances are you’ve been told to cut back on salt. You might even be taking medication. These are good strategies, as nearly half of all adults in the United States work to keep hypertension at bay.
What if there were an easier way to make sure nearly everyone took at least one small step toward reducing their blood pressure every time they drank a glass of water?
A new study, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, suggests adding calcium and magnesium to drinking water potentially could help lower blood pressure levels across the population. The strategy stems from research that looked at the impact of drinking water sources on the health of people in an area of coastal Bangladesh affected by seawater intrusion. The residents relied upon pond water or groundwater as their main water source.
The study compared blood pressure levels among people who drank salinated water with those who drank freshwater. Even though sodium is known to increase blood pressure levels, study participants who drank the salinated water had lower blood pressure. That wasn’t because of the sodium, the researchers believe, but rather because of two other minerals in the water calcium and magnesium.
That’s good news for people in Bangladesh, who lack alternative sources of drinking water, unlike people in more developed countries, where treatment plants desalinate contaminated groundwater.
Also Check: Onion Blood Pressure
Does Water Reduce Dizziness & Fainting
The American Red Cross conducted a study of water drinking as a method for reducing fainting.
The study found that drinking 16 ounces of water before blood donation reduced the fainting response by 20 %. This is not only applicable for blood donation also people with low blood pressure, because blood volume problem is common among them.
Thus, drinking water reduces dizziness and other low bp symptoms.
How To Reduce Your Blood Pressure Without Medication
This past November, the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology issued new guidelines for when high blood pressure should be treated. For the first time in 14 years, theres no more prehypertension. If your blood pressure is running over 130/80, you officially have high blood pressure.
I never gave much thought to my blood pressure. Its always been spot on at 120/80 or a little bit lower . But like the rest of the world, Im getting a bit older, and Ive been dealing with some stressful stuff in my life recently, and apparently, its starting to affect my blood pressure. Not quite enough to require medication, but I do need to keep an eye on it.
Needless to say, Im pretty upset, because Im one of those people who eats well, exercises most days, Im not overweight, and I do all the right things to stay healthy. Unfortunately, Im also very much of a type A personality, so I get stressed easily, and I let too many things bother me.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is the leading risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Damage to your blood vessels occurs every time your pressure is elevated. The new guidelines are meant to make people more aware of that earlier. Its their hope that more awareness earlier can help prevent the damage that would occur if you waited for a later diagnosis.
Learn the risk factors for hypertension, which include:
Lifestyle changes can reduce your blood pressure naturally
Also Check: Is Vinegar Good For High Blood Pressure
Don’t Miss: Spicy Food High Blood Pressure
Different Types Of Hypertension
Essential hypertension
In 95 percent of high blood pressure cases, the underlying cause cannot be found. This type of high blood pressure is called “essential hypertension.” High blood pressure tends to run in families and is more likely to affect men than women. Essential hypertension is also greatly influenced by diet and lifestyle. Most people with high blood pressure are salt sensitive, and a slight increase in salt intake may increase their blood pressure.
Secondary hypertension
When a direct cause for high blood pressure can be identified, the condition is described as secondary hypertension. Among the known causes of secondary hypertension, kidney disease ranks the highest. Hypertension can also be triggered by tumors or other abnormalities that cause the adrenal glands to secrete excess amounts of the hormones that elevate blood pressure. Birth control pills and pregnancy can boost blood pressure.
Health Benefits Of Polyphenols
Foods that are highest in polyphenols include:
- spices: cloves, peppermint, star anise, oregano, sage, ginger
- cocoa powder and dark chocolate
- black, green, yellow, white, oolong tea
- berries: elderberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, cranberries
- red wine
- nuts
- olive oil
Youve probably seen tea along with these other foods on lists of foods with tremendous health benefits. Interestingly, theyre all part of the Mediterranean diet too.
The polyphenols in tea and all of these foods help protect cells from oxidative damage. They also help reduce inflammation in your body, blood vessels, and brain.
Eating more polyphenol-rich foods is linked with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attack, stroke, and high blood pressure.
Read Also: Onion And Blood Pressure
Final Thoughts On Drinking Water And Blood Pressure
How does drinking water lower blood pressure? Here are a few key takeaways from this article on drinking water and blood pressure:
- Dehydration is a key result when you fail to drink enough water, and this can lead to high blood pressure.
- Not drinking enough water also leads the blood to thicken. In turn, drinking more water can help thin thickened blood.
- Avoid drinking too much water. This can lead to overhydration and a condition known as hyponatremia.
- To maintain healthy blood pressure levels, drink a glass of water every two hours and follow a plant-based diet with lots of water-rich vegetables and fruit.
Also Read:
Do Compression Socks Raise Low Blood Pressure
One lifestyle measure often recommended to raise blood pressure are compression socks, which are stockings that put gentle pressure on your legs to move blood up to the heart.
“Compression socks increase the blood return to the heart, which helps to raise the overall blood pressure,” says Keyes. This is critical for anyone who is experiencing blood pooling in the legs, which frequently occurs with orthostatic hypotension.
However, Keyes says it’s important to talk to your doctor before wearing compression stockings, since they may not be recommended in the presence of other health conditions, such as certain forms of heart failure and peripheral vascular disease.
Don’t Miss: Omron Bp785 Calibration
Hibiscus Tea And Blood Pressure
My favorite herbal tea that lowers your blood pressure is hibiscus tea . Just as the name suggests, its made from hibiscus flowers. And when you make hibiscus tea, your tea isnt just healthy, its also a gorgeous red color.
Studies show, in people with stage 1 hypertension . drinking 2 cups of hibiscus tea each day is an effective medicine to reduce blood pressure.
Hibiscus is another source of polyphenol antioxidants. It works by protecting your blood vessels from damaging cholesterol plaques. Hibiscus also has compounds that cause nitric oxide to be released, so it works like a vasodilator and helps your blood vessels to widen.
Hibiscus works much like my other favorite blood pressure lowering drink beet juice.
How Drinking Water Lowers Blood Pressure
How does drinking water lower blood pressure? Normal blood pressure is the main benefit of drinking water. Although drinking water lowers blood pressure, it can also increase blood pressure to help maintain proper levels.
In a study published in the journal Circulation in 2000, researchers at Vanderbilt Universitys Autonomic Dysfunction Center would report on waters potent blood pressure-raising effect in patients with autonomic nervous system failure.
Keep in mind that low blood pressure is among the symptoms associated with autonomic dysfunction.
On average, 16 ounces of tap water had increased blood pressure by 40 mmHg in autonomic failure patients. Blood pressure had started to increase within two to three minutes of water consumption.
There would then be a rapid increase over the next 15 minutes, before a blood pressure reduction after about an hour. Drinking water at the 60-minute mark led to blood pressure being sustained for another hour.
Recommended Reading: What Foods Help High Blood Pressure