Effective Home Remedies for High Blood Pressure

If you are diagnosed with high blood pressure, you need to make some lifestyle changes to keep your blood pressure under control. Uncontrolled blood pressure can damage the blood vessels and lead to heart attack, kidney disorders, etc. 

Let’s discuss some wonderful home remedies for high blood pressure. 

7 home care remedies for high blood pressure:

1. Stay physically active:

Regular physical activity is the best home care for high blood pressure. It helps the heart to pump blood efficiently and lowers high blood pressure. It also reduces the risk of diabetes and other heart problems. Moderate physical activity of 150 minutes or intense physical activity of 75 minutes per week will help you to lower blood pressure. 

It’s a common opinion that vigorous activity only provides benefits. But low-level exercise also provides you with enough benefits if you are consistently doing it every day. Go for a brisk walk for 30 minutes every day. Try jogging, cycling, swimming, or dancing. Reduce your sitting time during the day. 

2. Limit salt intake:

Limit your daily salt intake between 1500 to 2300mg. Having 1500mg or less of salt will be even ideal for lowering your high blood pressure. Cook foods with less salt. Spice your food with herbs. You can add cardamom, dill, curry, ginger, bay leaf, and basil. 

When buying foods, look for labels on food packages. Buy if the sodium content per serving is less than 140 mg.

3. Achieve healthy weight:

If you are overweight, losing even a little weight will help to reduce high blood pressure.  Body mass index (BMI) in the range of 18.5 – 24.9 is a healthy weight. It is calculated from your weight and height. BMI= Kg/m2. 

Even if you are a healthy weight, if you have belly fat, it will raise your blood pressure and many health problems. Men should keep the waist the waist-length below 102 centimeters. Women should keep the waist length below 89 centimeters. Stay physically active and lose weight.

4. Say no to alcohol and smoking:

Smoking can damage your blood vessels and increases blood pressure dangerously. It can cause worse health problems. Drinking alcohol not merely increases your blood pressure; it also decreases the effectiveness of blood pressure medications. 

Quit smoking and alcohol drinking and lower your blood pressure. If you can’t completely avoid drinking alcohol, minimize your drink size. Men should not take more than two standard drinks per day. Women should not take more than one standard drink per day.

5. Follow proper sleep habits:

Lack of proper sleep will raise your blood pressure. The less you sleep, the higher your blood pressure will be. Lack of sleep can influence hormones and increase blood pressure.

Here are some tips to get proper sleep:

• Reduce using electronic gadgets before sleep.
• Lower the light and noise in your bedroom.
• Follow a regular schedule for sleep, even on weekend days also.
• Try to have at least 7 to 8 hours of quality sleep per night.

6. Follow a healthy diet:

A healthy diet is the best part of home care for high blood pressure.

• Include plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
• Choose healthy protein-rich foods (beans, lentils, peas, seeds, nuts, and fish).
• Choose skim milk.
• Limit red meat, fat, added sugars and sweets.
• Include potassium-rich foods in the diet. It can lower the effects of sodium on blood pressure. Bananas, dates, oranges, raisins, kiwi, mushrooms, potatoes, broccoli, pumpkin, and apricots are rich in potassium.

7. Manage stress:

Stress narrows your blood vessels and causes your heart to beat faster. High stress levels can raise your blood pressure. Reacting to stress influences a lot in raising blood pressure. Instead of smoking, drinking alcohol or overeating, follow healthy ways to reduce your stress. Find out the factors that cause your stress. 

It will help you to figure out a way to avoid stress. Exercising for 30 minutes per day lowers your stress. Listen to calming music. Try meditation or yoga. It will help to strengthen your body and lower your blood pressure. Plan your schedule to avoid stressful work situations.

The bottom line:

Physical activity is a wonderful home remedy for high blood pressure. Physical activity also helps with improving sleep, losing weight, and reducing stress. 

These home remedies for high blood pressure not only lower your high blood pressure it also protects you from the risk of various chronic diseases. Start following the remedies and be consistent with them. It will definitely help to lower your blood pressure. Stay healthy. Stay happy.