Blood Pressure Update
We get many inquiries about different health issues and often high blood pressure comes up in the conversation. That isn't unexpected as something like 100 million adults in the US have hypertension.
Hypertension is easy to check but has few symptoms before something really goes wrong like a stroke.
Hypertension comes in two forms, primary and secondary. Primary is the most common. Secondary hypertension could be the result of another ailment-like kidney or heart disease, diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea for example.
Factors that tend to contribute to hypertension.
Sex-younger men have more of a tendency than women but this ratio changes after menopause. This is another good reason to keep hormones at a healthy level in women after menopause.
Diet-High sodium foods (highly processed foods especially) and unhealthy fats (trans fats and saturated fats).
Family History-close family members with high BP before the age of 60 doubles your risk too.
Medications-the most common suspects are: antidepressants, decongestants, NSAIDs and hormonal contraceptives.
Other common factors are alcohol, shift work, stress and too little physical activity
If you had preeclampsia with a pregnancy, you are at higher risk later in life.
I usually don't talk too much about my personal health picture for several reasons. My wife, Mary and I have had some health challenges over the years and much of what we do at OVitaminPro comes from working to solve these health issues. Everyone has their own issues but since BP elevation is so common, my experience might be helpful for some of you.
I didn't have blood pressure issues until I got treated for my persistent atrial fibrillation with a cryoablation in 2020. I did everything I could think of to fix the AFib with natural means but discovered that this probably had a strong genetic component as several of my close family had similar problems so decided that medical intervention was the smartest approach.
My heart rhythm and blood pressure were somewhat erratic for a few months after the ablation. (Note: why do some people pronounce this ab lay zhun?) The rhythm quieted down nicely as I soon discovered that alcohol, sugar and altitude were triggers and did what I could to avoid those.
The blood pressure problems persisted, however. I was already doing what I could to lower blood pressure like keeping physically active, keeping weight in a decent range, intermittent fasting, no fun with alcohol, avoiding food flavored junk, trying to get good sleep (always an issue for me) and trying to keep stress levels as low as possible.
Even with all of that, my BP was trending a bit high which for me was not acceptable. I found that keeping my nitric oxide (NO) levels up and adding a couple of other supplements did the trick so far.
I have experimented a lot over the years with different approaches to keep NO levels good. You can check this blog for more details.
I check my blood pressure daily with my Omron monitor and have found the following supplement regime to be the best for now.
Pure Encapsulations Nitric Oxide Support-one scoop in a glass of water that I drink throughout the morning
Berkeley Life Professional Nitric Oxide Support-one capsule in the a.m. and one in the afternoon
Now Foods Blood Pressure Health, 2 capsules in the morning
I also use one Himalaya Immunocare capsule in the morning.
Hopefully you will find these tips helpful. I encourage you to check your blood pressure regularly, so you know what works and what doesn't. This is an easy physiological marker to measure and is a great indicator for general health in many ways.
