High blood pressure affects more than 50 million Americans and hundreds of millions worldwide. The number of high blood pressure cases keeps increasing because more and more people are living stressful lives and eating junk-food that is rich in fats. Those who drink alcohol and smoke for a long time are also at a great risk of having high blood pressure.



High blood pressure itself is not an illness that damages the body, but if you suffer from high blood pressure for a long time then you are at a great risk to have a stroke or a heart-attack, or to develop a heart disease. Most of the people who have heart disease started with a high blood pressure that they did not treat.

High blood pressure doesn't have any visible symptoms, so many people have it and they aren't aware about it. It is usually discovered during routine medical controls, but a single measurement is not enough to discover it, because anyone can have high blood pressure after a stressful event or after practicing sports. If the doctor measures the blood pressure and its values are high every time then you have high blood pressure.

If you want to lower your blood pressure then you have two choices: medication and natural treatment. Many prefer to lower their blood pressure without medication because the drugs must be taken for the entire lifetime and they may not be effective or may have side-effects.

If you want to lower your blood pressure without medication you need to do two main things: to change your lifestyle and your diet.

The lifestyle must be changed so that it contains as little stress as possible, and you must start to exercise regularly. You can also try some relaxation tehniques such as yoga. Some experts state that yoga can lower blood pressure in short time if it's done properly. If you are overweight you need to lose weight. Every lost pound can lower the blood pressure a little.

Finally, alcohol and tobacco must be eliminated completely since they seriously increase the blood pressure.

The diet must be changed so that it contains as little sodium as possible. Sodium is an important mineral that the body needs daily, but if the needed quantity is exceeded it can raise the blood pressure dramatically. Salt is the main sodium source. A teaspoon of salt contains twice the normal amount of sodium, and many types of food also contain sodium, so it's easy to consume much more sodium than the body needs. The easiest way to cut down sodium is to eat very little salt or none.

After studying the effects of several types of food on blood pressure, scientists have developed an eating plan called DASH - Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension. DASH states that you should eat only fruits, vegetables, grains, fish and low-fat dairy products, and very few red meats, sweets and other foods that are rich in fats.

It's simple to lower blood pressure without medication, but always consult a doctor before deciding on a diet plan or on any natural method of lowering blood pressure.