How To Stop Low Blood Pressure

When Is Low Blood Pressure Too Low Hypotension And More

Low Blood Pressure HYPOTENSION (How to self treat)

Some people naturally have low blood pressure, known as hypotension. However, when high blood pressure suddenly becomes low blood pressure, it could be cause for concern.

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Low blood pressure, or hypotension, may be a sign of good health and of a decreased risk of heart disease. But not always. At times, continually low blood pressure or a sudden drop in blood pressure can lead to worrisome symptoms and even serious health problems.

Drink Plenty Of Water

Dehydration can sometimes lead to low blood pressure. Some people may have hypotension even with mild dehydration.

You can also get dehydrated by losing water too quickly. This can happen through vomiting, severe diarrhea, fever, strenuous exercise, and excess sweating.

Medications such as diuretics may also cause dehydration. Drink more water by using a portable water bottle. Use an alarm or timer to remind you to take a sip.

Regular Exercise To Reduce High Blood Pressure

The Journal of the American Heart Association reports on a review of trials involving the effects of exercise training on blood pressure. The results of 95 trials found that regular exercise and resistance training lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Even less vigorous exercising such as walking can also help to remedy hypertension. One study found that moderate walking can help to lower blood pressure naturally and reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.

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What Causes Low Blood Pressure

Many systems of the body, including organs, hormones, and nerves, regulate blood pressure. For example, the autonomic nervous system sends the fight-or-flight signal that, depending on the situation, tells the heart and other systems in the body to increase or decrease blood pressure. Problems with the autonomic nervous system, such as in Parkinsons disease, can cause low blood pressure.

Other causes of low blood pressure include:

Blood loss from an injury that causes a sudden drop in blood pressure
Dehydration

Managing Low Blood Pressure

Having low blood pressure once in a while isnt likely a cause for concern.

Tell your doctor about any related symptoms. Keep a journal of your symptoms and what you were doing when they began.

This can help your doctor diagnose the cause of your low blood pressure, especially if youve tried making changes to your diet and lifestyle and still arent seeing your BP at a healthy level.

Your Healthcare Provider Can Help You Make An Informed Decision About Treatment

Lifestyle changes can help you control high blood pressure .

Some people who make positive changes no longer need hypertension medication. But you shouldn’t just stop taking your medication.

This article looks at what to consider before stopping hypertension drugs, when you shouldn’t go off of them, and how to make the best decision for your health.

Whey Protein For High Blood Pressure

Whey protein is good for helping to manage elevated blood pressure levels.

One double-blind study found that taking 59 g of whey protein a day helped to lower blood pressure naturally over an 8-week period. Researchers also noted improvements in levels of cholesterol.

You can learn more about why taking whey protein can be good for your heart and blood pressure.

Low Blood Pressure When You Stand Up

Sometimes, changes in your posture can cause your blood pressure to drop, for example, going from sitting or lying down to standing up. You might feel the symptoms listed above when you stand up, such as feeling dizzy or faint. They will pass quickly as your body adjusts, but can put you at risk of falls.

This is called postural hypotension or orthostatic hypotension. Its caused by changes to your arteries which happen as you get older and if youre taking medications to lower your blood pressure.

The animation below provides information on the causes, symptoms and potential interventions related to orthostatic hypotension.

This film was produced by Newcastle University for work completed by Dr James Frith, supported by the NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre.

What Medications/treatments Are Used

How to lower blood pressure in MINUTES

Treating hypotension directly usually happens in one of three ways:

Increasing blood volume. This method, also known as fluid resuscitation, involves infusing fluids into your blood. Examples of this include intravenous fluids, plasma or blood transfusions.
Making blood vessels constrict. Just as there are medications that lower your blood pressure by relaxing blood vessels in your body, there are also medications that have the opposite effect.
Change how your body handles fluids. Your kidneys are responsible for maintaining the fluid balance in your body. Certain medications can make your kidneys keep fluid and salt in your body, which can help with low blood pressure.

Complications/side effects of the treatment

The complications of either treatment depend on the exact medication or treatment you receive. Your healthcare provider can best explain the possible complications or side effects. Thats because they can consider your specific circumstances, including other health conditions, medications you take and more.

Should You Use Herbal Remedies To Treat Low Blood Pressure

Certain herbs like licorice18, arnica 19, guarana20, and Asian ginseng21 have been known to increase blood pressure. However, do keep in mind that these herbs may have significant side effects and may also raise your blood pressure to undesirable levels. High blood pressure, in turn, is associated with serious conditions like heart failure, kidney failure, and stroke. So, on balance, it might not be advisable to use herbal remedies to raise your blood pressure. In case you are considering it, get your doctors go-ahead and have them under the guidance of an expert practitioner.

References

Ways To Reduce Stress And Keep Blood Pressure Down

When it comes to preventing and treating high blood pressure, one often-overlooked strategy is managing stress. If you often find yourself tense and on-edge, try these seven ways to reduce stress.

Get enough sleep. Inadequate or poor-quality sleep can negatively affect your mood, mental alertness, energy level, and physical health.

Learn relaxation techniques. Meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, deep breathing exercises, and yoga are powerful relaxation techniques and stress-busters.

Strengthen your social network. Connect with others by taking a class, joining an organization, or participating in a support group.

Hone your time-management skills. The more efficiently you can juggle work and family demands, the lower your stress level.

Try to resolve stressful situations if you can. Don’t let stressful situations fester. Hold family problem-solving sessions and use negotiation skills at home and at work.

Nurture yourself. Treat yourself to a massage. Truly savor an experience: for example, eat slowly and really focus on the taste and sensations of each bite. Take a walk or a nap, or listen to your favorite music.

Ask for help. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from your spouse, friends, and neighbors. If stress and anxiety persist, talk to your doctor.

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The Dash Diet Helps To Lower High Blood Pressure

You can bring down your blood pressure naturally by following the principles of the DASH diet.

The DASH diet is the âDietary Approach to Stop Hypertensionâ and includes dietary guidelines if you have hypertension. The main principles of the diet to treat high BP is to eat more vegetables, fruits, and lean meat and cut down on sodium.

Foods to eat for hypertension on the DASH diet include:

Complex carbohydrates such as green leafy veggies, whole-grain foods, and legumes.
Healthy fats such as olive oil, nuts, oily fish, and flaxseeds are all recommended to lower blood pressure.
Low-fat protein that contains essential micronutrients such as fish, eggs, beans, and lean meats.

One study on the benefits of the DASH diet to manage hypertension found that it has great potential to reduce complications associated with heart disease. For example, it is estimated that, if followed, these dietary guidelines could help prevent 400,000 cases of heart disease.

If you are interested in finding out more about what to eat to lower blood pressure fast, read the information about the cardiac diet for improved health.

When To Contact A Medical Professional

If low blood pressure causes a person to pass out , seek treatment right away. Or call 911 or the local emergency number. If the person is not breathing or has no pulse, begin CPR.

Black or maroon stools

Hypotension Blood pressure – low Postprandial hypotension Orthostatic hypotension Neurally mediated hypotension NMH

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How Is It Treated And Can It Be Cured

Treating hypotension usually starts with finding out why its happening. If that cause is treatable directly, hypotension will usually get better on its own. An example of this is hypotension that happens because of an injury and blood loss. Repairing that injury and replacing the lost blood will stop hypotension as long as the repair to the injury holds. If you take medications that affect your blood pressure, your healthcare provider may change your dosage or have you stop taking that medication entirely.

If the cause remains a mystery, its also possible to treat it directly. However, curing hypotension is only possible if theres an underlying cause thats curable.

Keep Yourself At A Healthy Weight

Having overweight or obesity increases your risk for high blood pressure. To determine whether your weight is in a healthy range, doctors often calculate your body mass index . If you know your weight and height, you can calculate your BMI at CDCs Assessing Your Weight website. Doctors sometimes also use waist and hip measurements to assess body fat.

Talk with your health care team about ways to reach a healthy weight, including choosing healthy foods and getting regular physical activity.

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Hypotension: A Clinical Care Review

Manouchehr Saljoughian, PharmD, PhDAlta Bates Summit Medical CenterBerkeley, California

US Pharm. 2014 39:2-4.

Hypotension can be just as seriousas hypertension. But the good news is that low blood pressure can beeasily recognized by key signs and symptoms. Low blood pressure occurswhen blood pressure drops below a normal range . Though itvaries from person to person, a reading of 90 mmHg or lower of systolicblood pressure or 60 mmHg or lower of diastolic blood pressure isgenerally considered hypotension. Low blood pressure is often anindicator of an underlying problem and is especially dangerous when thepressure drops suddenly. Hypotension causes an inadequate flow of bloodto the body organs and may cause stroke, heart attack, kidney failure,and shock if not treated.1

The main causes of low blood pressureinclude decrease in cardiac output, dilation of blood vessels, decreasein blood volume, inhibition of brain centers that control bloodpressure, impairment of the autonomic nervous system, and certainmedications. Treatment is determined by the cause of the low bloodpressure.1

In this clinical review, we will look at the signs and symptoms, causes, risk factors, and treatment of this condition.

What Are The Symptoms

Natural Ways to Lower Blood Pressure

Many people with low blood pressure don’t have any symptoms.

Symptoms to watch for include:

Feeling dizzy, lightheaded, or faint.
Feeling sick to your stomach or vomiting.
Feeling more thirsty than usual.
Having blurry vision.
Breathing very fast.

If you have symptoms of low blood pressure, especially dizziness or fainting, call your doctor.

Watch for symptoms of low blood pressure. Tell your doctor when the symptoms happen so he or she can treat them.

What Is Low Blood Pressure

Hypotension, or low blood pressure, is when your blood pressure is much lower than expected. It can happen either as a condition on its own or as a symptom of a wide range of conditions. It may not cause symptoms, but when it does, it can require medical attention.

Hypotension has two definitions:

Absolute hypotension: Your resting blood pressure is below 90/60 mmHg .
Orthostatic hypotension: Your blood pressure drops within three minutes of you standing up from a sitting position. The drop must be 20 mmHg or more for your systolic pressure and 10 mmHg or more for your diastolic pressure. Another name for this is postural hypotension because it happens with changes in posture.

Measuring blood pressure involves two numbers, top and bottom, in mm/Hg.

Systolic : Your systolic pressure is the pressure on your arteries each time your heart beats. To find your systolic pressure, a healthcare provider* inflates a cuff that squeezes your arm. At the same time, they listen to your pulse at a point below the cuff. Your systolic pressure is when they cant hear your pulse anymore because the cuffs pressure is stronger than the pressure from your heart pumping.
Diastolic : That number is how much pressure your arteries are under between heartbeats. The provider will keep listening for your pulse to find your diastolic pressure while they deflate the cuff. Your diastolic pressure is the number where they can again hear your heartbeat as the cuff deflates.

Easy Things You Can Do To Lower Your Blood Pressure

High blood pressure is dangerous. It can lead to many health problems, including heart attack, stroke, heart failure, angina, coronary artery disease, peripheral artery disease, kidney disease, vision loss, sexual dysfunction and more.

Fortunately, high blood pressure can often be prevented or controlled.

Here are some easy things you can do to lower your blood pressure or help prevent high blood pressure in the first place.

Exercise. Doctors recommend at least 150 minutes per week of exercise to help reduce blood pressure. Brisk walking is excellent for reducing blood pressure and improving overall cardiovascular health, but other exercises can work too. Try jogging, riding a bike, swimming, dancing, or interval training to get your aerobic exercise. Strength training is also important to your heart health and can help reduce blood pressure.

Eat a heart-healthy diet. Eating a well-balanced diet with lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds that is also low in sodium, saturated fat, added sugar, and cholesterol is important for your heart. There is a diet specifically geared toward lowering blood pressure. Its called the DASH diet, which stands for dietary approaches to stop hypertension. Talk to your doctor or make an appointment with a dietitian if you need help making changes to your diet.

Set small, easily attainable goals, and when you reach them, set bigger ones. Step by step, you will take control of your health and your blood pressure.

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New Findings Focus On Diastolic Blood Pressurethe Second Number In Your Blood Pressure Reading

Image: mangostock/Thinkstock

Of the two numbers that make up your blood pressure reading, the first one typically gets more attention. That’s because as people age, their arteries lose their elasticity, and the inner walls are more likely to accumulate cholesterol-laden plaque. These factors tend to raise systolic blood pressure, a measure of the pressure inside the arteries when the heart contracts to pump blood throughout the body.

Current guidelines suggest that most people should aim for a systolic blood pressure reading of 140 millimeters of mercury or lower. But last year, a widely publicized clinical trial suggested that a target of 120 mm Hg could further reduce the dangers associated with high blood pressure .

Yet reaching that lower target required an average of three blood pressure medications, which resulted in more side effects. Now, two recent observational studies highlight some concerns about blood pressure that’s too low, particularly with regard to diastolic blood pressure. Diastolic blood pressure represents the pressure between beats when the heart relaxes.

Changing The Diameter Of Arterioles And Veins

8 Effective Ways To Treat Low Blood Pressure

Muscle tissue within the walls of arterioles allow these blood vessels to widen or narrow . The more constricted arterioles are, the greater their resistance to blood flow and the higher the blood pressure. Constriction of arterioles increases blood pressure because more pressure is needed to force blood through the narrower space. Conversely, dilation of arterioles reduces resistance to blood flow, thus reducing blood pressure. The degree to which arterioles are constricted or dilated is affected by

Nerves that contract smooth muscle in the arterioles, thus reducing their diameter
Hormones Endocrine Function The main function of endocrine glands is to secrete hormones directly into the bloodstream. Hormones are chemical substances that affect the activity of another part of the body … read more that are primarily made by the kidneys
Certain drugs

Veins also play a role in the control of blood pressure, although their effect on blood pressure is much less than that of arterioles. Veins dilate and constrict to change how much blood they can hold . When veins constrict, their capacity to hold blood is reduced, allowing more blood to return to the heart from which it is pumped into the arteries. As a result, blood pressure increases. Conversely, when veins dilate, their capacity to hold blood is increased, allowing less blood to return to the heart. As a result, blood pressure decreases.

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Hypertension: What You Need To Know As You Age

You cant see high blood pressure, also called hypertension. And most ofthe time, you cant feel it. But if youre among the 78 million Americanswith hypertension or are one of the 70 million with prehypertension, its important to understandits effects on your healthand to take action today to bring your numbersdown to healthier levels.

Blood pressure is the force of blood against the inner walls of yourarteries. It has normal fluctuations throughout the dayfalling when yourerelaxed or asleep, rising naturally in the morning, and increasingtemporarily when youre under stress, excited or exercising. But when yourresting blood pressure level rises too high, it can scar, stiffen and/orweaken blood vessels. This effect can double your risk for aheart attack quadruple your odds for astroke raise your risk forheart failure, vision loss, kidney problems,dementiaand circulation problems such asperipheral artery disease weaken your bones and contribute toerectile dysfunctionin men.