Reducing Blood Pressure without Drugs
There are many treatments that can lower the blood pressure without using drugs, which invariably come with the cost of their side effects, not to mention the monetary cost. This article will discuss the best of them.
Lifestyle modification
With or without drugs, lifestyle modification should be a primary method of lowering your blood pressure. If you combine the DASH diet (see another article in this site) with low salt, regular exercise and weight loss, you can reduce your systolic BP (the higher number) by more than 10 mm/Hg (millimeters of mercury). Reducing your alcohol intake if you drink 3 or more glasses of alcohol daily will lower it further. The value of stopping smoking should not even have to be mentioned.
Dietary supplements
Eating several dietary supplements will lower the systolic blood pressure. They include the following:
• Potassium
• Calcium
• Vitamin D
• Folate
• Fish oil
• Vegetable protein
• High fiber diet
Herbal/alternative techniques
Many herbal supplements are reputed to lower blood pressure but results are variable:
• Hawthorn
• Mistletoe
• Rauwolfia
• Acupuncture
• Meditation
Devices
Many devices you can use will lower the BP. They include:
• An implanted baroreflex stimulator (Rheos device), which has been tried in patients with intractable high BP and has lowered the BP as much as 44 mm/Hg.
• Symplicity catheter, which is used in patients with high BP due to chronic kidney disease and lowered the BP as much as 32 mm/Hg.
• Paced breathing by the RESPeRATE device, which slows the rate of breathing, leading to widening of blood vessels and lowered BP. The BP is lowered only 5 mm/Hg.
• Isometric handgrip exercises (Zona Plus device), which have only lowered BP by 5.7 mm/Hg.
If you are having trouble lowering your blood pressure, give one or more of these a try.