pill bottle saying miracle cure

‘Cure’ your high blood pressure

“Cure” your high blood pressure

Can you really “cure” your high blood pressure? Conventional wisdom says not. Once you are taking medication then you are on it for life. But let us step back a little and take stock of the problem.

Life expectancy has gradually increased over the past 100 years. In the past, people had generally shorter lives because of a lack of effective medicine and poor sanitation. They often died from infections especially in early childhood. The discovery of antibiotics and use of childhood vaccinations has changed all that. Improved sanitation and waste disposal was also a major factor in reducing these types of infectious diseases. Modern healthcare with new medicines and surgical techniques means that we do not need to worry about these old causes of death and disease.

However, we now live in a new era of chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. Even HIV is now a chronic disease instead of the killer it used to be. We manage these conditions rather than cure them. That means life-long medicine for most people affected by them.

Many chronic diseases such as high blood pressure are caused by lifestyle choices which we discussed in the previous section. You can therefore manage them better by improving some of your habits.

However, what if you want to reverse these changes so that you no longer have the disease or need to take medicine? In that case, it follows that you will need to make more dramatic changes. This is because you are not trying to manage something but actually trying to undo all of the unfavourable changes in your body.

Dr Dean Ornish showed that you can reverse heart disease changes with the lifestyle heart trial and the intensive lifestyle trial. The principles he used can also be used to ‘cure’ your high blood pressure. He describes this really well in his book ‘Undo it’ in which he emphasises 4 things:

– Eat well

– Move more

– Stress less

– Love more

Arguably the most important of these is maintaining a healthy diet that is plant-based. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone thinking about making dramatic changes that can actually reverse disease processes.

A plant-based diet

In the previous section you read about the DASH diet. The DASH diet is based on the fact that vegetarian populations have generally better (lower) blood pressure than those consuming a standard Western diet. The DASH researchers assumed that people would not be able to make such a big change to their diet to become completely vegetarian. The DASH diet was therefore a compromise diet which contained elements of both. However, the main effect of the DASH diet is from the addition of fruits and vegetables, not the low fat or white meat.

Does that sound paternalistic? It should do, because that’s exactly what it is. Why not tell people that the best diet for blood pressure is a plant-based diet and then let people make up their own minds? They did not give people a choice.

There is no doubt that changing what you eat is one of the most difficult things you can do. However, it does not need to be done all at once and is easier if done gradually especially if you have been eating one way all your life. Your taste palate changes as you try different foods and become easier the longer that you do it.

Changing what you eat to a more plant-based diet is the most beneficial thing that you can do to improve your health. A number of studies have shown that you do not need a different type of diet for every type of disease. One of the most important of these was The China Study, the biggest nutritional study done in humans. Whether it is high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease or cancer; in all cases, a plant-based diet is best.

What is a plant-based diet?

A plant-based diet is rich in vegetables and fruits, legumes (beans and pulses), whole grains and nuts/seeds.

Vegetarians and vegans are defined by what they exclude rather than what they include in their diets. A vegetarian does not eat meat or fish. A vegan does not, in addition, eat eggs and dairy products.

However, a plant-based diet is defined by what it includes. So you might be plant-based 60% of the time or 80% or 95%. The main thing is that you are trending in the right direction of eating healthier food. This is not only good for your blood pressure but also for virtually every other disease!

obesity

Weight loss

It is possible to reverse and cure high blood pressure just as it is with type 2 diabetes. I witnessed it myself 15 years ago when I saw the first patients undergo weight-loss surgery. As they lost weight, I had to reduce and stop their blood pressure and diabetes medicines as the underlying disease improved.

Now, I am not advocating that everyone with high blood pressure should have weight-reduction surgery. But it does proves a principle, that weight loss can aid in blood pressure control for those who are overweight.

Changing to an unprocessed, plant-based diet makes weight-loss much easier. That is because processed and animal foods are generally high in calories. You can lose weight without feeling hungry or calorie-counting on a plant-based diet.

natural-remedies

Natural remedies

Many people will advise you to eat this food or that supplement to help your blood pressure. However, occasionally eating certain foods or taking supplements is never going to undo the damage of a bad diet.

The main principle is to eat a healthy plant-based diet to begin with. Then, certain foods can act as the fine tuning to improve your blood pressure further. We have scientific evidence for the following foods.

Eat whole grains

Most people know about the harmful effects of sugar. However, fewer are aware that eating refined carbohydrates is almost just as bad. By this, I mean white bread, white rice and white pasta. Some people have made the switch to wholemeal/brown bread, but much fewer have made the switch to wholegrain rice or pasta.

Why is this important? It is because refining these starchy foods to their ‘white’ form removes all the fibre. Fibre helps to reduce the rate at which the carbohydrates are absorbed into your bloodstream as sugars making it more metabolically healthy.

We have sound evidence that eating 3 portions of whole grains per day reduces heart disease and stroke risk by lowering blood pressure. In fact, it reduces the risk by the same amount as taking blood pressure medicine. Making the switch to whole grain foods is a no-brainer!

Flaxseed

Regular intake of flaxseeds has been shown in one study to improve blood pressure even better than some blood pressure medicines. That is powerful.

Make sure to take them in their ground form. You will need to take 2-4 tablespoons per day.

Hibiscus tea

Hibiscus tea comes from the flower of the same name. It is bright red in colour and has a sharp taste like cranberry.

The beneficial effects of hibiscus tea are thought to come from its strong anti-oxidant content. Studies have shown improvements in cholesterol but the most powerful effect is on reducing blood pressure.

Nitrates

Nitrate medicines are used to open up blood vessels in the treatment of heart disease. However, nitrates are also found in common foods and have been shown in studies to have benefits in lowering blood pressure.

The most useful foods in this category and beetroot and greens.

Beetroot juice has been found to reduce blood pressure within hours and the effect lasts all day. Furthermore, drinking beetroot juice regularly has been shown to continuously improve blood pressure over a number of weeks. The right amount to drink seems to be 125ml per day.

However, beetroot juice might be difficult to find and adds up to quite a lot of beetroot. How about other foods that contain nitrates. It turns out that the leafy greens contain even more nitrates than beetroot with the most being found in rocket. That should not be surprising because we have known for a long time that eating greens reduces risk of heart disease.

For more information on proven natural remedies, I would recommend Dr Michael Greger’s book with the tongue-in-cheek title “How not to die”.

Summary

To reverse the changes in your body that have caused high blood pressure over many years, you will need to make a big effort. The most important thing is to change to a more plant-based diet. After that, certain foods can also help as much or even better than some blood pressure medicines.

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High blood pressure: Lifestyle changes

sofa-surfing

High blood pressure: Lifestyle changes

High blood pressure is a lifestyle condition

You might be surprised to learn that there is no underlying disease process causing high blood pressure in the vast majority of people. High blood pressure is mostly due to lifestyle factors and this is why doctors call it Essential Hypertension.

Some people also have a family history of high blood pressure and this might increase their susceptibility. At the same time, and contrary to popular belief, our DNA is not our destiny. We inherit not only our parents’ genes, but also their way of living and eating. Lifestyle factors, especially what we eat, have a strong effect on how our genes behave. If you have inherited ‘bad’ genes then it just means that you may have to make bigger changes in your lifestyle.

Medication is the treatment for high blood pressure, but it does not treat the underlying condition. It just treats the symptoms; the high blood pressure. That is why medication needs to be taken life-long to be effective.

If high blood pressure is caused by lifestyle choices, then it makes sense that the solution is to make changes to that lifestyle.

In essence:

Cause = lifestyle choices

Cure = lifestyle change

The DASH diet

DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.

The DASH diet became popular after a number of studies showed that dietary changes can improve people’s blood pressure. The studies were based on the observation that vegetarian communities have the lowest blood pressures of any dietary group. Several studies since then have shown this to be true; i.e. that vegetarian diets are best for blood pressure.

The DASH diet consists of:

– Eating fruit, vegetables and whole grains

– Including fat-free or low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry, beans, nuts, and vegetable oils

– Limiting foods that are high in saturated fat, such as fatty meats, full-fat dairy products, and tropical oils such as coconut, palm kernel, and palm oils

– Limiting sugar-sweetened beverages and sweets.

You can find out more written information about the DASH diet here.

Here is a great video which explains what this means in practical terms:

salt

Lay off the salt

Most people know that excessive salt increases your blood pressure. But what is excessive? There are certain limits to salt intake that are advised such as in the DASH diet. However, I would guess that this is too difficult to calculate in real life, not to mention a huge hassle.

Most salt is found in processed foods and these are best avoided for many reasons. The general rule is that you can add a little salt when cooking your food but avoid adding extra at the table.

Exercise regularly

Exercise is medicine and has been proven to reduce blood pressure. Too often, though, the word exercise tends to put people off as they imagine sweaty, muscle-bound men in the gym. Perhaps a better way of putting it might be to become more active or move more.

You do not have to do a great amount of exercise to get benefit. Follow the FITT principles.

– Frequency: Try to be active at least 5 days per week.

– Intensity: Exercise at a ‘moderate’ level. This varies from person to person so try using the ‘talk test’. ‘Moderate’ exercise level means that you will be a little out of breath and will still be able to talk, but will find it difficult to hold a conversation. You can think of it as the pace you might walk if you are late for an appointment. ‘Moderate’ intensity is therefore the same as a brisk walk. If you are exercising too hard, then you will not be able to talk at all. This would be called ‘hard’ and not ‘moderate’ exercise, and is not necessary to get benefit.

– Time: Try and be moderately active for at least 30 minutes per day. This does not have to be all at one time and you can break this up into three 10 minute sessions. There is even an app from the NHS called Active 10 to help you. You do not need to do 10,000 steps as this is a misunderstanding based on a Japanese marketing strategy, and is not based on evidence. The equivalent distance to 10,000 steps is 5 miles for most people. This is difficult to do in a typical working day.

– Type: Aerobic exercise has been studies most in the management of blood pressure. The main principle is that you should use the large muscles in your legs. Examples include brisk walking, swimming, or cycling. If you get bored doing one thing, then try walking or cycling different routes. You can also do different exercises on different days.

Whatever exercise you choose to do, it would be best to do something that you find easy. Too often I have found people starting with long and intense workouts and then stopping completely as their enthusiasm wanes. Start small and do it life-long.

Reduce weight

Diet and exercise are often mentioned in the same breath when talking about weight loss. For some reason, people mainly think of exercise as the main way to reduce weight, and that includes many doctors. Perhaps that is due to all the fitness videos that are advertised in which fat celebrities become slim and toned. They are selling a lie. It is impossible to lose significant weight using exercise alone.

Healthy eating is responsible for 80% of weight loss with exercise contributing the other 20%. A combination of the two is best. Remember that you can out-eat any exercise.

Exercise is great for physical fitness, toning your body and burning calories. However, some people can actually gain weight initially as they gain muscle mass. Increased muscle mass results in a higher metabolic rate. That means you will be burning calories even when you are sedentary.

The most important part of weight loss is healthy eating. That means avoiding sugar and processed foods. This is common to all weight-loss diets. The main thing is to develop good lifelong eating habits.

What usually happens is that people lose weight by being good. They then gain the weight back when they return to the same way of eating that made them overweight in the first place. The best way to lose weight is to make small changes to your diet and make them permanent.

Prohibition

Reduce or stop alcohol

Alcohol increases blood pressure.

The maximum recommended weekly alcohol intake is 14 units for men and women. This limit was designed to reduce heart disease risk. However, there is no safe alcohol limit for cancer.

Alcohol is high in calories. As a rule, we should avoid drinking our calories in order to maintain a healthy weight.

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No smoking

Stop smoking

It should not come as a surprise that smoking causes high blood pressure. This is just one of the many ways in which it increases the risk of heart disease.

There is widespread awareness of the harmful effects of smoking and no need to go into details. It is sad that awareness itself is not enough to stop people from smoking.

‘Cure’ your high blood pressure

diy-blood-pressure

How to manage your blood pressure

diy-blood-pressure

How to manage your blood pressure

You might like to read ‘Blood pressure basics’ before reading this article.

You have been diagnosed with high blood pressure

It is well known that once you start medication for high blood pressure (hypertension), it is usually lifelong. That holds true unless you do something to reverse the underlying cause.

The reason for life-long treatment is to reduce your risk of the complications of high blood pressure. These include heart attack, stroke, kidney damage and worsening of your eye sight. So it is really important to have your blood pressure controlled to avoid premature death and disability.

Medical treatment

Target blood pressure

The aim of treatment is to achieve a clinic blood pressure of 140/90, or a home blood pressure of 135/85 or better. For people aged 80 or more the targets are slightly higher at 150/90 and 145/85 respectively.

Any blood pressure reading of 180/120 or more is potentially dangerous and you should seek urgent medical attention.

Which medicine to start with

Doctors are really good at adjusting medication to normalise your blood pressure. Most of the time this is easy to do.

At the time of writing, there are five main families of medicine that are used to treat high blood pressure. Any of them can be used to start treatment but the current recommendations go something like this:

If you are a diabetic or your age is less than 55, then you should take medicine called an ACE inhibitor. ACE stands for Angiotensin Converting Enzyme. These medicines end in -pril. Examples include ramipril and lisinopril. Sometimes, patients have side-effects with these and they may be changed to a similar medicine called an ARB (Angiotensin Recptor Blocker). These drugs end in -sartan. Examples include losartan and valsartan. Patients taking ACE inhibitors and ARBs should have blood tests for kidney function at regular intervals. The first test is usually 2 weeks after starting the medicine. Your kidney function is then usually tested every 6 months to 1 year once you are on a stable dose.

If your age is 55 or more or you are an Afro-Caribbean, then it would be better to start treatment with a medicine called a calcium-channel blocker. These drugs mostly end in -pine. Examples include amlodipine and felodipine.

Other blood pressure medicines include diuretics (‘water tablets’). Their names usually end in -ide. Examples include bendroflumethazide and indapamide. Regular blood tests to check kidney function are also important if you are taking these as potassium levels may drop.

The 5th family of drugs are called beta-blockers. Their names end in -olol. Examples include bisoprolol and propranolol. Any of these can also be used as first-line medicines to treat high blood pressure. However, nowadays they are mostly used as add-on drugs when the first medicines do not bring the blood pressure into control.

When one drug does not control your blood pressure

There is a tendency for the dose of blood pressure medicine to be increased over time in order to keep your blood pressure under control. Other medicines may also be added over the years. This is more likely to happen if you are not doing enough to change your lifestyle to fix the underlying problem.

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When is the best time to take your blood pressure medicine?

In a word, bedtime!

A large study of 20,000 people showed that taking blood pressure medicine at bedtime gave the best blood pressure control. It also reduces risk of future heart attacks and strokes.

Monitor your blood pressure

Blood pressure is silent

Studies have shown that blood pressure patients think that they can feel symptoms if their blood pressure is high . Common beliefs that people have are that it causes headaches or dizziness. However, we know that high blood pressure causes no symptoms in most people. You cannot feel it. This is important to know because people sometimes stop taking their medicines because they feel okay. Others take medicine only when they feel that it is high.

Once you start taking blood pressure medicine, it is important that you always take it regularly. You may not feel it but constantly high blood pressure is damaging your body without you knowing it.

Get yourself a blood pressure machine

Since you cannot feel high blood pressure it is important to monitor it. Nowadays this is easy to do with the help of modern blood pressure machines. The type of machine you should purchase is discussed in ‘Blood pressure basics’. Click here to take a look.

Monitoring your own blood pressure will give you more awareness and confidence in your blood pressure control. It will also save you trips to see your doctor.

Work with your doctor

Doctors like to check your blood pressure more frequently when they start you on a new medicine, when changing the dose, or when adding more medicines. They check less frequently when you are on a stable combination and dose of drugs. This might typically be every 6 months or once per year.

You can work with your doctor and save yourself the time and effort of attending the clinic by sending in a home blood pressure diary. The clinic can then store the diary in your electronic medical record so that your doctor can view it.

Click here to download a home blood pressure diary.

Medical consultations are being increasingly done over the telephone and by video. You can really make your life more convenient by having the ability to check your own blood pressure. It may save you many face-to-face clinic visits and car parking problems!

What causes high blood pressure?

Lifestyle

There is no underlying disease process causing high blood pressure in the vast majority of people. It is purely due to lifestyle and this is why it is called Essential Hypertension.

What about genes?

Genes do matter. The Framingham Heart Study showed that you have an increased risk of having high blood pressure only if your parents had high blood pressure before age 55. The risk was found to be double if one parent had high blood pressure, and 3 and a half times if both parents had it.

However, your DNA is not necessarily your destiny. First of all, you not only inherit your genes from your parents but also their way of living, especially what you eat. Secondly, the expression of your genes and how they affect your body can change with your lifestyle especially your diet. What this means is that if you have inherited unfavourable genes, then you will need to change your lifestyle to a greater degree.

High blood pressure in pregnancy increases risk

Some women develop high blood pressure during their pregnancy. This usually returns to normal up to a few months after giving birth. However, about one-third of these women then go on to develop high blood pressure later in life. This can be even as soon as 1 year after having their baby. The main risk factor for developing high blood pressure after their pregnancy is obesity.

We cannot change our genes, but we can change our lifestyle. The next article is all about the things that you can do that will help.

High blood pressure: Lifestyle changes

blood-pressure-basics

Blood pressure basics

blood-pressure-basics

Blood pressure basics

What is blood pressure?

Blood pressure is simply the pressure inside blood vessels (arteries). It is created by the pumping action of the heart and the ease with which the blood flows through the blood vessels.

Why is it important?

High blood pressure is not a disease, but it is a risk factor for heart disease and strokes.

High blood pressure is also usually silent meaning that people cannot normally feel it. This means that it is important to have it checked on a regular basis especially as you get over age 40.

How is it measured?

Blood pressure is measured by using a machine called a sphygmomanometer.

Previously, blood pressure machines used columns of mercury. The blood pressure reading was given by the height of the column of mercury in millimetres. Since Hg is the symbol for mercury, the units of blood pressure even now are mmHg.

Mercury is a poisonous substance so it was banned for medical use in blood pressure machines and thermometers. The new digital automatic blood pressure machines work by sensing the vibrations in the blood vessel walls. They are very accurate and are often used in clinics and hospitals.

What do the blood pressure readings mean?

Blood pressure machines will give you 2 numbers. For example 120/80. Some also give a third number which is the pulse or your heart rate per minute.

The first or top number is always the higher one of the 2 numbers. It is called the systolic pressure and is caused by the actual pumping action of the heart. In the example above the systolic pressure is 120 mmHg.

The second or bottom number is always lower than the first one. It is called the diastolic pressure and is the pressure in the blood vessels when the heart muscle is relaxing between pumping actions. In the example above the diastolic pressure is 80 mmHg.

Some blood pressure machines also give a third number which is the pulse or your heart rate per minute.

You can see these 3 numbers: systolic pressure, diastolic pressure and pulse from top to bottom in the image below.

What is a normal blood pressure reading?

Blood pressure varies with age, gender and weight to name a few things. Many people quote 120/80 as a normal blood pressure but that is the average for a 21 year old, 70 kg man. Currently, guidelines say that anyone with a blood pressure regularly over 140/90 needs to adjust their lifestyle and may need medicine.

Blood pressure also changes with the time of day. It is usually lowest at night when we are sleeping and then rises sharply in the morning and gets steadily higher during the course of the day. It then starts getting less in the evening. Take a look at the graph below which gives you a good idea of what you can expect.

Blood pressure changes during the course of the day

Monitor your own blood pressure

You can check your own blood pressure using machines at your local clinic in the waiting room and at many pharmacies. People who suffer from high blood pressure often buy their own machines so that they can keep an eye on it.

If you are considering buying your own blood pressure machine, then make sure to get the ones where the cuff goes around the upper arm rather than the wrist. You do not usually need to spend a lot of money on them because they are all pretty accurate. The more expensive ones have various bells and whistles but do not measure the blood pressure with any greater accuracy.

I have selected a couple below from the Omron range that we use in UK general practice. However, feel free to choose any other brand as they have all passed tests for accuracy to enable them to be sold in the UK market.

Get the right size cuff for your arm

You just need to make sure that the machine comes with a cuff which is the right size for your upper arm. The first machine below (M2) has a standard size cuff up to 32 cm diameter. The second machine in this list (M6) has a cuff big enough for people with large arms up to 42cm diameter.

How to manage your blood pressure