Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a common disease that can lead to serious health challenges such as stroke or heart attack. It is a symptom that indicates underlying problems. By letting the body take care of these problems you can lower your blood pressure down to its optimal level in an expedient and natural way.
There is an efficient natural high blood pressure treatment that lowers the pressure down, below what is considered normal, to what is considered optimal. The treatment is water only fasting, and it works almost in every single case. This much more efficient and effective than medication. In fact, it is the by far most effective treatment for lowering blood pressure that has been published in the medical literature.
Read about blood pressure and learn what optimal blood pressure is. Find how effective exercise, salt, diet are for lowering blood pressure.
What Is Blood Pressure?
Blood pressure is given in millimeters of mercury (mmHg) in the form: Systolic Pressure/ Diastolic pressure. An example would be 120/80 mmHg.
The systolic pressure is the pressure when the heart is pumping blood.
The diastolic pressure is the resting pressure, between the heartbeats.
Blood pressure varies significantly throughout the day, in connection with the different types of activities we engage in. Physical activity and stress increase blood pressure.
Systolic Pressure – Diastolic Pressure
The difference between the systolic pressure and the diastolic pressure also gives an interesting number.
This can be an indicator of how hydrated the body is. The more dehydrated one is the smaller the blood volume will be. When the blood volume diminishes one will get a lower pressure and the difference between the two pressures will also diminish. In general one wants to have at least a difference of 30 points.
If you have a low blood volume your body will have to increase the pulse in order to increase the blood pressure, so that the blood will be able to reach out to all the cells and provide them with oxygen and nutrients. This means that the heart will have to work much more when you are dehydrated than when you are fully hydrated.
It is also good to know that a large difference between the two pressures can be a sign of hardened, inelastic blood vessels. When blood vessels become hard, they loose their ability to expand as efficiently. This leads to a greater difference between the two pressures.
What Is Healthy Blood Pressure?
According to research it appears that the ideal blood pressure of a grown person should be around 90/60 mmHg. Dr Richard Peto, from Oxford University, sees the optimal blood pressure as 96/67 mmHg.
It is estimated that for each mmHg raise in the systolic pressure the risk of dying that year is increased by 1%.
According to older medical knowledge it was considered that 120/80 mmHg was a healthy blood pressure, while 140/90 mmHg was the lower cut-off for high blood pressure. However, both these pressures carry with them an increased risk of heart disease.
Why Is High Blood Pressure Dangerous?
With every mmHg over 90 of the systolic pressure the risk of dying that year increased with 1%.
As blood pressure rises, so does arteriosclerosis, and the blood vessels become less and less elastic. Less elastic vessels lead to even more increased blood pressure.
High blood pressure is related to problems such as stroke, heart attacks, kidney diseases, poor circulation (especially in the extremities).
How Many Have High Blood Pressure?
If one uses the common definition of high blood pressure as being 140/90 mmHg, then we can use statistical data. Here below you can see hypertension at different ages in people in Sweden. For example, we see that over 40% of persons older than 65 suffer from blood pressure higher than 140/90.
It is often said that blood pressure rises with age in the western societies. This is true. However, it is important to understand that it does not rise because of age but because of the underlying problems, that accumulate with age.
What Are the Causes of High Blood Pressure?
It is commonly stated that in 95% of the cases the cause for hypertension is a combination of life-style choices such as diet, exercise, alcohol use, smoking etc. In the remaining 5% it may be due to a single well definable factor such as hormonal disturbances, secondary effects from medication, kidney disease.
One important mechanism when it comes to high blood pressure is atherosclerosis and inflammation. When there are small chronic inflammations present in the blood vessels these may lead to atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis in turn leads to higher blood pressure. A higher blood pressure and body that is prone to inflammations leads to further atherosclerosis, that leads to even higher blood pressure. A vicious circle is created. See the picture below.
Counteracting Inflammations
Where do the small chronic inflammations come from? Why are some bodies prone to inflammations?
One of the main reasons behind the commencement of inflammatory processes is related to our diet. When we eat processed food that has been heated at some stage we put into our bodies substances that are called Advanced Lipidoxidation End Products and Advanced Glycation End Products. These are known to set off a cascade of inflammatory processes in our bodies.
Is there anything that can help counteract these inflammatory processes? Yes, phyto-nutrients have been show to do just that. Phyto-nutrients are found in fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and fresh green leaves. As soon as they are heated, they are no longer able to protect us.
By maintaining a diet that is rich in fresh fruits, vegetables and leafy greens we can counteract in inflammatory environment in the body. By avoiding foods cooked foods we can also avoid the substances that trigger these inflammations.
One way to see how prone ones body is to inflammation is to get the CRP value measured when taking a blood test. The CRP should be below 1.
How Effective Are the Different Measures for Lowering High Blood Pressure?
- Loosing weight: 3.2 mmHg reduction per lost kilogram
- Fiber-rich vegetarian food: 2.8 mmHg reduction
- Severely diminished alcohol consumption: 4.8 mmHg reduction
- Almost salt-free diet: 16 mmHg reduction
- Regular exercise: 45 min walk 4-5 times per week gives on average a 7 mmHg reduction
- Medications: 12 mmHg reduction. The medicine used in Sweden gives on average a reduction of 10/5 mmHg when used separately.
- Low-fat, Salt-free, Plant-based Diet and Exercise: 17 mmHg reduction
- Water fasting (water only fasting): 37 mmHg reduction on average!
Three or more weeks water only fasting under supervision has so far lead to a blood pressure reduction down to the ideal level in 100% of the cases treated at Tanglewood Wellness Center, where over 2000 persons have water fasted.
At the True North Health Center in California it has been noted that water fasting followed by a low-fat, nearly salt-free plant-based diet leads to the largest reduction in blood pressure ever documented in the scientific literature.
In one study 174 patients were followed through and after a water only fast. The average drop in blood pressure was 37 mmHg. The ones who had very high blood pressure, over 180 systolic pressure, experienced an average drop of 60 mmHg.
In another study patients with a blood pressure between 120 and 140 mmHg systolic pressure were studied. The average length of the water fast was two weeks. After the fast, on average, they had a blood pressure around 96/67 mmHg, which is seen as the optimal blood pressure.
Treating the Underlying Problems, Not Just the Symptoms
Who knows best which blood pressure you should have at each moment?
Answer: Your body.
If you experience a high blood pressure, then there is a reason for it, even if you do not know what that reason is. There is an underlying cause. By water only fasting you can let your body heal, cleanse and deal with the underlying cause on its own. This is a way of eliminating the problem. By continuing to eat food that is anti-inflammatory in nature, providing the body with sufficient nutrition and giving it the opportunity to heal and cleanse we will not re-create the problem.
Hyptertension is a symptom that tells us that there is an underlying problem. The body rises the pressure so that it will be able to work as well as it can, given the circumstances.
If we try to artificially lower the blood pressure, instead of addressing the problem, we will introduce a lack of balance in the body and expose it to risks. This is what usually happens when blood pressure medication is taken.
Doctors will, for instance, prescribe diuretics to their hypertension patients. This leads to an increased elimination of salt via the kidneys and a reduced blood volume. Thereby it leads to a lower blood pressure. The reaction of the body is usually to increase the pulse. The body react this way because it requires a higher blood pressure in order to function optimally, given all the circumstances. And so the doctor will also prescribe medication that lowers the pulse. This way the blood pressure may be reduced.
However, despite the result of artificially lowering the blood pressure, the underlying problem has not been dealt with. Instead the symptom has been masked and new, risky imbalanced introduced into the body.
There is a reason why they body is trying to maintain higher blood pressure. When we lower it artificially, through medication, it often leads to the blood not being able to efficiently carry oxygen and nutrients to all the cells. One of the most common side-effects of blood pressure lowering medication is depression and decreased mental capacity. The brain requires much oxygen and sugar to function optimally. If the blood flow to the brain is reduced, the flow of nutrients and oxygen will be reduced, and the brain will hence no longer be able to perform optimally.
The quickest and most effective high blood pressure treatment that also creates a more healthy body is water fasting for at least three weeks and then going on a low-fat, plant-based raw food diet. This way the body is allowed to come back into balance and deal with whatever underlying problems there may be.
(Read about my water fasting experience.
Read this article in Swedish: Högt blodtryck behandling)
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Basia has worked as an alternative health practitioner in Sweden. Her educational background is in preventive health, massage, and thoracic mobilization (the Lotorp Method). Her current focus is on health promoting diets and lifestyle. 
