Do Natural Hypertension Treatments Work?

Did you know that one in three American adults suffers from high blood pressure? Are you one of them? Before you decide to turn to hypertension medication, you may wish to explore different treatments such as natural treatments. What kinds of natural treatments are there to treat your high blood pressure? And much more importantly, do they really work?

What Exactly Is High Blood Pressure?

"Blood pressure" refers to the pressure with which the blood pushes against the walls of your blood vessels, and especially the arteries, as your heart pumps blood all around your body. A person's blood pressure levels depends on a great number of different factors. These could include the strength of a person's heartbeat, how elastic the blood vessels are, both the age and health of a person, and also their blood volume.

High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is a blood pressure that will rise beyond your normal levels. Hypertension, as mentioned earlier, is a very common problem, affecting as much as one in three adults in the United States! Many people actually suffer from high blood pressure levels without even knowing it, because high blood pressure usually does not cause any noticeable symptoms.

When Measuring Blood Pressure, Two Separate Things Are Measured

When measuring your blood pressure, two different things are measured — the systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels. Systolic refers to the blood pressure when the heart is pumping blood around your body, while diastolic is the blood pressure when the human heart is in between two beats. When your blood pressure levels are measured, you will see the systolic number written down before the diastolic.

Have you been diagnosed with high blood pressure by your doctor? Or perhaps you have simply been measuring your own blood pressure levels? A systolic of 140 or more, and a diastolic of above 90 indicates you have high blood pressure. If you notice your blood pressure levels are too high, you should certainly seek medical attention right away.

High blood pressure puts a person at risk of many different health complications. Your arteries can be damaged and can even harden over time. This is known as arteriosclerosis, which can in turn lead to all kinds of complications ranging from eye damage to a heart attack or even stroke. An aneurysm, where a section of an artery weakens significantly and can even rupture, is another possible consequence of hypertension.

Heart damage may be the most obvious risk when you think of of high blood pressure, but you might not know that your brain may very well be in danger too if you suffer from uncontrolled high blood pressure. Believe it or not, hypertension does not just place you at an increased risk of having a stroke as you might first think — dementia is another danger of high blood pressure! Your internal organs can also be damaged if you have high blood pressure that is not controlled in some way.  

It is very clear, in other words, that high blood pressure should never be left untreated as it can lead to many medical consequences. However, many hypertension patients do wonder if they could successfully and permanently bring their blood pressure levels back down to a safe level without the use of conventional medications. There are many natural high blood pressure treatments. Do they work?