Hypertension - Current Natural Strategies to Lower Blood Pressure

Abstract

The prevalence of hypertension (HTN) worldwide is high and is constantly rising. HTN is considered to be a silent killer since often there are no obvious symptoms but long-term, HTN significantly increases the risk of coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular diseases. Those with diagnosed HTN or at high risk of its development, should start blood pressure (BP) lowering therapy based on natural methods including: lifestyle, regular physical activity, respiratory training, reducing body mass, lowering sodium intake with food, potassium supplementation, balanced diet enriched with herbs, reducing caffeine and alcohol intake, smoking cessation, stress avoidance and regular monitoring of the BP. This review focuses on several most common methods of natural BP lowering since it is not possible to consider all of them.

Keywords: Hypertension; alcohol; body mass; caffeine; herbs; natural methods; physical activity; potassium supplementation; respiratory training; smoking; sodium reduction; stress.