High blood pressure, or hypertension to give its proper name, is a condition that affects millions of people. Some people may not even be aware that they have it, and this in itself is one of the most dangerous aspects, because if left undiagnosed and untreated, it can and will cause problems in later life.
It can cause your health to be seriously debilitated, but most importantly, high blood pressure will cause damage to your vital organs, the heart in particular, leading to strokes, angina, and heart attack.
There is a direct correlation between how hard the heart has to work to pump blood around your body, and to the elasticity of your veins and arteries. As we grow older, our veins and arteries loose much of their elasticity, and harden, making it more difficult for the heart to work to pump blood through them, and thus creating hypertension.
This is one of the main reasons that the incidence of high blood pressure increases with age. Another contributory factor is high levels of cholesterol which causes our veins to "fur up" once again making the heart work harder.
It may seem somewhat strange when one considers that one in five of us suffer from high blood pressure, but that in 90% of cases, the actual cause is unknown. In the remaining 10% of cases, the cause can be any one of number of factors that include being overweight, smoking, diabetes, excessive alcohol intake, lack of regular exercise, eating too much salt, and having kidney disease.
It is also known that high blood pressure can be passed on through family genes, and that lifestyle, and stress in particular can contribute to experiencing hypertension.
However the good news is that hypertension, once diagnosed, can be controlled. It can be managed through a variety of remedies including a carefully controlled diet, lifestyle changes, regular exercise, and medications, either prescription drugs or natural herbal remedies.
From a personal point of view, if you have high blood pressure there are a number of things that you can do to alleviate the condition. Eating a healthy well balanced diet is very important, taking particular care to minimize your salt intake and eat plenty of green leafy vegetables.
Cut down on alcohol, or better still cut it out all together, and try to avoid too much stress both in your work environment and in the home too. Taking regular exercise is another proven way of relieving high blood pressure.
In terms of medications, there are a number of prescriptive medications, but unfortunately many of these have undesirable side effects. Natural herbal remedies are to be preferred, because they are indeed Mother Nature's gifts, and therefore will not cause any unpleasant side effects.
These include Arjuna, which promotes good, strong heart health, Guggul, which is proven to lower levels of cholesterol, and Garlic, which tests have indicated may help to lower cholesterol, can prevent blood clots from forming, (a major cause of stroke and heart attack), as well as being highly regarded for promoting heart health in general.
High blood pressure is very much a disease of the 21st century. By following the simple guidelines outlined above, you can manage hypertension and increase your life expectancy into the bargain.