How to Quickly Lower Blood Pressure at Home?
High blood pressure – a condition characterized by elevated blood pressure – is a serious medical condition that affects several organs, primarily the heart, brain, and kidneys.
Sometimes there’s confusion between high blood pressure and hypertension. It’s simple: high blood pressure is the actual elevated pressure (over 140 over 90), while hypertension is the name of the condition, i.e., the diagnosis directed at the patient.
What do blood pressure monitors display?
The numbers displayed on the blood pressure monitor screen are indicators of systolic and diastolic pressure. The strong heart muscle acts as a pump, contracting and relaxing, causing pressure in the vessels to change periodically – high – low – high – low, and the cycle repeats. High pressure occurs when the left ventricle of the heart contracts. The smaller number is the diastolic pressure, recorded at the moment of maximum relaxation of the left ventricle. The terms for the two different pressures – systolic and diastolic – come from ancient Greek and mean “expansion” and “contraction,” respectively.
More than a billion people aged 30 to 79 worldwide suffer from high blood pressure, and two out of three hypertensive individuals are low-income earners. Unfortunately, high blood pressure can be malignant enough to manifest without clear symptoms. 46% of adults are unaware they have high blood pressure. Only 1 in 5 people with high pressure keep it under control. The rest are at risk of premature death if they don’t start treatment immediately and change their lifestyle. Russian doctors’ data match global statistics, with about 40% of Russians living with extremely high blood pressure. Therefore, everyone should learn how to quickly adjust their pressure. This information may be useful to you or your loved ones.
How to lower blood pressure?
If you see high values on the blood pressure monitor for the first time, there’s no need to rush to buy antihypertensive medications and herbal mixtures, as high blood pressure has many causes, and the appropriate medications should be chosen by a doctor. Treatment depends on the type, degree, and cause of high blood pressure.
Primary and secondary high blood pressure
In global medical practice, a distinction is made between primary and secondary high blood pressure. Primary high blood pressure is a mysterious condition where the pressure is higher than 140/90, but no diseases affecting the pressure are discovered, meaning no kidney, heart, blood vessel, or brain diseases are detected. However, high pressure in such cases is often caused by a combination of genetic factors, occupational activity, and external environmental conditions that collectively affect the body.
Major causes of high blood pressure:
- High blood pressure is more common in the presence of a family history.
- Aging.
- Obesity.
- Consuming food high in salt.
- Excessive alcohol consumption.
- Smoking.
- Lack of physical activity.
Being prepared for high blood pressure is crucial. However, this doesn’t mean that diet and exercise should not be taken seriously. High blood pressure programmed genetically can be delayed for many years if harmful habits are abandoned in time, efforts are made to reduce daily mental and nervous stress, and stopping working long hours and night shifts. Often, people try to compensate for fatigue and stress at work by increasing food intake and consuming alcohol more frequently, leading to an unhealthy level of pressure.
Important Note! Psychological factors are often associated with high blood pressure, such as low-status jobs that require a lot of demands from management, low wages, and decision-making constraints.
Secondary high blood pressure
In cases where the cause of high blood pressure is identified, “secondary high blood pressure” is diagnosed. Pressure can rise to unhealthy levels due to taking certain medications, kidney disease, hormonal disorders, or narrowing of the abdominal or renal arteries.
Symptoms of High Blood Pressure
Sometimes, individuals suffering from very high blood pressure may experience symptoms such as shortness of breath, headaches, blurred vision, seeing black spots before the eyes, irritability, fatigue, and poor sleep. In most cases, malignant hypertension doesn’t show any symptoms. Imagine a fully inflated balloon, with its walls under constant tension, just like the blood vessels in the human body when there’s constant high pressure. They adapt to this extra stress but are constantly working under increased load, which can lead to stroke, heart attack, kidney dysfunction, and other serious conditions.
If you don’t feel anything at all but have high blood pressure, make sure to contact a doctor.
How is high blood pressure diagnosed?
Diagnosing high blood pressure is easy, as regular blood pressure measurements suffice. In the normal state, systolic pressure remains below 120, and diastolic pressure below 80. Concern should be raised when systolic pressure is in the range of 120-129 and diastolic pressure is below 80. High blood pressure is when the upper number is above 130, and the lower number is 80 or higher.
What to do in case of a sudden rise in pressure?
In a hypertensive crisis, blood pressure rises sharply: the upper number exceeds 180, and the lower number exceeds 120. This can happen in cases of chronic hypertension without treatment, when treatment is incorrect, or when there’s a kidney function defect. Regardless of the cause, pressure should be adjusted as quickly as possible. Call emergency services, and before their arrival, you can take rapidly acting, short-acting medications that dissolve under the tongue for quick entry into the bloodstream. Do not overdose. If the pressure is very high, sudden lowering, especially in the elderly, can lead to cerebral blood flow disturbances. If you have captopril, nifedipine, or clonidine on hand, consult the emergency doctor about the appropriate dose to take.
How to treat high blood pressure to avoid recurring hypertensive crises?
Sometimes, blood pressure can be restored to normal limits by changing lifestyle, while in other cases, medication is required.
Warning! In some cases, specific medications may be needed with concomitant diseases. There’s no need to try medications taken by relatives or friends “for pressure.” There are no universal digestible drugs to lower blood pressure.
The doctor will provide information about your normal pressure and choose the appropriate medication dosage. Of course, it’s always best to take medications after consulting a doctor, but often, we buy pain relievers we saw on TV commercials or those that helped our neighbor with headaches. Medications for lowering blood pressure shouldn’t be chosen in the same way; individual medication and treatment plans are important in case of high blood pressure.
What medications are used to lower blood pressure?
Medications should be taken to treat high blood pressure for a long time, often for life. In this context, blood pressure should be regularly measured. Prescribed medications should be changed if they are ineffective and the health condition worsens. The ideal solution is to use a medication that maintains normal blood pressure throughout the day with a single dose.
How to quickly lower blood pressure at home?
If blood pressure rises slightly due to stress or work pressure, simple methods can help alleviate stress:
- Sit in a comfortable position.
- Close your eyes and try to relax.
- Breathe deeply and slowly. Inhale for 5 seconds and exhale for 5 seconds. Breathe calmly for a few minutes and determine the breathing rhythm that suits you.
- Take a hot bath for hands or feet. Blood flow to the blood vessels in the limbs will increase, and overall pressure will decrease slightly.
- Prepare warm tea with mint.
- Take a valerian tablet.
Non-medication treatment plan for high blood pressure
Lifestyle greatly influences blood pressure levels. Gradually replace harmful habits with healthy ones. You may be able to overcome high blood pressure without medication, or achieve normal pressure using small doses of medication prescribed by a doctor. Medical protocol for treating hypertensive crisis:
- Lose excess weight.
- Exercise regularly. Moderate exercise helps lower blood pressure, but strenuous physical activity should be avoided for patients with high blood pressure. Blood pressure should be regularly measured to understand which activities help lower pressure by a few points.
- Eat healthily. Consume fewer high-calorie foods and increase fruit and vegetable consumption.
- Reduce salt and sugar intake, especially in processed products and fast food containing large amounts of salt and sugar.
- Quit smoking.
- Avoid alcohol.
- Reduce coffee consumption. Two to three cups a day may be suitable for some people, but the appropriate amount for you should be determined under regular blood pressure monitoring. If pressure rises after a cup of coffee, look for an alternative to this beverage.
- Try to reduce stress at work and in personal life. Identify what bothers you the most. Many complain of stress from traffic and industrial noise, but light noise from the street or neighbors can be very annoying.
- Monitor blood pressure regularly at home and at work to identify psychological factors that lead to high blood pressure.
- Respect work schedules, avoid working overtime, and, at the very limit, avoid working at night. Take breaks to have a healthy meal.
Share information about your blood pressure with friends and family. Care and attention from relatives reduce stress and also facilitate lifestyle changes and moving away from harmful habits.