I am the pharmaceutical industry's staunchest defender in many respects, so when I say, "don't use blood pressure medications" my advice is based on experience, science, and common sense, not some sort of arbitrary bias toward alternative remedies.

High blood pressure has several causes, and each requires a different treatment. Doctors will often choose a medication without any idea as to the root cause of the problem. As a result, prescription medications tend to be "hit or miss". No one cares as much about your health as you do, and no one else understands what's going on with your body and your life. Hence, you are the most qualified to make an intelligent, informed diagnosis. If the home remedies do not work, you can then go to the doctor as an informed patient and work with him to make an appropriate decision.

1. Psychological causes- Stress increases heart rate, which means your blood is moving faster, your heart is pumping harder, and your blood vessels are taking a beating as a result. Addressing psychological stress will go along way toward alleviating high blood pressure.

Ironically, medical experts will often tout the cardiovascular benefits of exercise! However, if you hate exercise as much as I do, to the point where the thought of exercising often makes you so angry and depressed you literally scream and scream at the top of your lungs to relieve the unrelenting hate, the cardiovascular effects are disastrous!

So, how can you tell if stress is affecting your blood pressure? Easy. If thinking about something (for me that would be exercise and weight loss) makes you so upset that your forehead and temples start hurting, you know it's raising your blood pressure. I can actually feel the poor, overloaded vein in my forehead throbbing painfully at the mere mention of weight loss or exercise, or the insinuation that a size 14 woman is less than optimally attractive.

Keeping your mind as far as possible from the hated subject is ideal, but there are other more practical ways to minimize the damaging cardiovascular effects of stress. The herb skullcap has phenomenal calming power and does not cause undue sedation. It has no known side effects, but several other benefits not relevant to this article. If you can remember to reach for it in an agitated state, it will help.

Deep breathing is a sure-fire way to stop a sudden spike in blood pressure. A device called RESPeRATE prompts the user to breath along with a

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