Natural treatments for hypertension

One of the biggest problems with treating high blood pressure is that it is not a single illness with a single cause. This is one reason that so many different kinds of drugs are prescribed for treatment in our increasingly pill popping society. As with so many other illnesses, though, it can be successfully treated with medicinal plants, most of which don't have anywhere near as many or as severe side effects as man made medicines.

It is important to first understand that many of the things that medical doctors have said for a long time are true, and that advice should be followed. Regular exercise, cutting down on sodium intake, increasing potassium intake, and decreasing intake of processed foods, including table sugar, are all good steps in the right direction. These things are well proven to lower blood pressure in the majority of people, possibly because they go after the causes rather than just the symptoms.

Before we actually get into the herbal treatments, it is worthwhile to say a few words about the possible causes. Some of these, you have little control over; if your parents and grandparents had high blood pressure, it is very likely that it is genetic. But if you love salty foods and put lots of salt on everything, there is a good chance that your sodium intake is too high, which can lead to hypertension. Adjusting this by using sea salt (potassium chloride) instead of table salt (sodium chloride) can really help. Likewise, if your exercise comes primarily from opening the refrigerator door, it may very well be wiser to exercise more, eat less. The best treatments man or nature has to offer won't do much if the life style is conductive to high blood pressure. And lest we forget, stress is also a cause of high blood pressure, so in addition to treatments, meditation and other means of relieving stress can make the treatments much more effective. Even the medical word for high blood pressure, hypertension, eludes to the fact that stress can play a big role.

The plants: There are a few plants that are very tried and true when it comes to lowering blood pressure. The top on the list is garlic, not because of the speed with which it lowers BP nor the amount that it lowers it, but because of the number of things that it will treat besides just BP, many of which are common when a person has hypertension.

The properties of garlic have been studied for centuries, and there are few plants that

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