Blood pressure diagnoses have exploded as guidelines repeatedly lower thresholds, leaving half of American adults now being labeled 'hypertensive' despite minimal evidence justifying this.
A great report warning about the serious dangers of antihypertensive drugs. It's always better to take the natural route. Junk food alters cell membranes, causing metabolic diseases, high blood pressure, and arteriosclerosis. Hydrogenated fats, sugars, devitalized foods, pesticides, etc., and a lack of potassium, magnesium, and calcium disrupt the sodium/potassium balance, impairing mitochondrial function. The consumption of alcohol, sugar, laxatives, diuretics, and aspirin causes potassium loss. In a meta-analysis of 20 clinical trials, magnesium deficiency was associated with increased blood pressure. Magnesium helps reduce blood pressure² in several ways. Among other things, it helps to: 1) Relax blood vessels. 2) Act as a natural calcium channel blocker. 3) Increase nitric oxide levels. 4) Reduce endothelial dysfunction, which is an imbalance between relaxation and contraction factors in blood vessels. The research demonstrated that magnesium and vitamin D have an interactive effect on reducing blood pressure.
The kidneys filter excess fluid and waste from the blood, a process that depends on healthy blood vessels. High blood pressure can damage both the blood vessels in your kidneys and those leading to them, causing various types of kidney disease (nephropathy). Having diabetes in addition to high blood pressure can worsen the damage.
https://www.kidney.org/sites/default/files/docs/hbpandckd.pdf (2022).--- Peripheral artery disease (PAD) occurs when plaque builds up in the arteries, obstructing blood flow to the legs, arms, brain, and other parts of the body, preventing proper oxygenation. It often first appears in the legs. Diabetes, high triglycerides, high blood pressure, and smoking are risk factors.
Atherosclerosis is a systemic process with cerebrovascular manifestations, and peripheral arterial disease (PAD), involving the renal arteries, is a significant health issue. It is estimated that 8 to 10 million Americans have PAD. The prevalence of PAD is approximately 5% in people aged 40 to 50 years and 18% in those over 80 years of age. Despite the epidemic levels of PAD, the disease remains largely underdiagnosed.
The ankle-brachial index (ABI) is a diagnostic tool used to estimate arterial blood flow to the lower extremities. It relates the systolic pressure of the ankle arteries to the brachial arteries. An ABPI between and including 0.9 and 1.1 is considered normal (free of PAD), while a value less than 0.9 indicates arterial disease. Below 0.6, leg pain appears during exercise, and below 0.3, pain at rest (claudication due to low blood flow to the extremities). An ABI value of 1.3 or higher is also considered abnormal and suggests calcification of the artery walls.
People who smoke or have diabetes at any age are at higher risk of developing this condition. Other risk factors include: 1) Body mass index (BMI) over 30. 2) Family history of PAD, heart disease, or stroke. 3) High blood pressure (hypertension). 4) Increasing age, especially if 65 years or older.
ABI can be considered a marker of cognitive decline, dementia, and cardiovascular disease. Patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) have a higher risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer's disease. Low ABI is associated with poorer cognitive performance in old age due to long-term exposure to atherosclerotic disease. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021915018300790 (2018).---
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a representative dietary active component with many benefits for cardiovascular health. Randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses of these trials have strongly supported the conclusion that CoQ10 has beneficial effects on blood pressure control in patients with cardiometabolic diseases.
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/16/7/1017 (2024).-- Modulating the gut microbiota through dietary interventions and probiotics has shown promise in regulating blood pressure and reducing systemic inflammation, offering a novel approach to managing hypertension. Diets such as the Mediterranean diet, rich in polyphenols and omega-3 fatty acids and low in sodium, promote the growth of beneficial gut bacteria that support cardiovascular health. In addition, probiotics have been found to improve intestinal barrier function, reduce inflammation, and modulate the renin-angiotensin system, all of which contribute to lower blood pressure.
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/16/23/4079 (2024).-- Nitric oxide appears to help your body dilate and constrict blood vessels. This can improve your blood pressure and, therefore, your heart health. Exercise and muscle performance: Nitric oxide may be linked to improved physical performance. Adding more nitrate (beets) to your diet may help increase your nitric oxide levels and improve your exercise performance.
Flavonoids mediate their antihypertensive effects by increasing the bioavailability of nitric oxide (NO), reducing oxidative stress in endothelial cells, or modulating the activity of vascular ion channels.
Patients with high blood pressure often exhibit insulin resistance and have a higher risk of developing diabetes than normotensive individuals. It has been observed that over the past 30 years, the prevalence of insulin resistance (IR) has increased significantly. Consequently, hypertension and insulin resistance are strongly associated with an increased risk of impaired glucose tolerance, diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and endocrine disorders.
There is a strong correlation between oxidative stress, inflammation, and blood pressure (BP). Pomegranate has been shown to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties due to its content of various types of antioxidants and polyphenols. According to these findings, there are studies on the effects of pomegranate consumption on, among other things, hypertension.
Stress is associated with an increased risk of hypertension, and the incidence of stress-related hypertension has increased rapidly in recent years. Gut dysbiosis has been shown to contribute to hypertension and hyperactivation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is common in older adults. The network of blood vessels, known as the vascular system, changes with age. Arteries become stiffer, which raises blood pressure. This can happen even in people who have healthy habits and feel well. See the link for information on blood pressure by age.
Some medical conditions, such as metabolic syndrome, kidney disease, and thyroid problems, can cause high blood pressure. Some people are more likely to have it due to certain factors they cannot change, such as:
1) Age. The likelihood of having high blood pressure increases with age, especially isolated systolic hypertension.
2) Sex. Before age 55, men are more likely to have high blood pressure. Women are more likely to have high blood pressure after menopause.
3) Family history. High blood pressure can run in families.
4) Race. African Americans, or Black people, have a higher risk of high blood pressure.
5) The diurnal cycle influences blood pressure, which is lower in the morning and rises throughout the day until the early evening.
6) Blood pressure can be higher in obese people because the heart has to work harder to perfuse the body's tissues.
7) The sympathetic nervous system is stimulated by exercise, stress, anxiety, pain, anger, and fear, which increases blood pressure. Blood pressure returns to its initial value within five minutes of rest after activity.
8) White coat syndrome refers to elevated blood pressure due to nervousness or anxiety when a healthcare provider takes a patient's blood pressure. This occurs in approximately 20% of patients.
One more area when taking a closer look, stubborn facts contradict a party line dogma. While yes, extreme high pressure levels along with certain conditions cause health problems, but, what seems to have happened over the last forty, fifty years is...business, profits, and easy check the box give a med trumps prescribing to a lower number of patients would actually benefit. Now, the numbers are so low we have to wonder can teenage athletes reach the standard range allowed with no meds? What's next? A high tech robot heart pumping away at a 120 or less points no matter what?
On a personal note; I've noticed if having an infection somewhere raises my numbers. Address the infection and the BP drops. (Antibiotic gut disruptions, another story.)
Lately I've zeroed in on our legs ability to stretch, move in a more complete range, with Just the Gut Speaking, this while directly addressing muscles, also opens up the tendons to allow more movement, trains the ligaments to take unexpected twists, but most of all - also stretching the arteries and veins. It would seem this with the pushing, pulling, reaching out would improve vascular health with BP to follow.
Being as the way the KAATSU bands work would be much of the same. Also, the DMSO works to increase circulation, moves into areas needing healing would be a good addition too.
Our bodies are designed to be healthy if allowed too, or not interfered with by any of the usual suspects. Our ability to get up and go, move in ranges beyond the limited boxes of motion most of us live in. And, more so all the time...a variety of things we have been indoctrinated with over decades to believe either are medical miracles -when they are not - or, misused, or practices said to be healthy when they are not. (I can't believe I'm eating a Heart Attack.) Just Sayn'
With our other article today. Properly grown Livestock and farming bypasses the need for antibiotics, lots of med's in the animals and, the food produced from them reduces our need for antibiotics and lots of meds. Properly grown livestock moves through paddocks in ways that revives, regenerates the soils, producing large varieties of Microbial species, soil structures to hold water, and filter out, clean up the water going to the waterways, and aquifers. They rarely need antibiotics or meds because they have an actual real immune system. Current range habits just let the animals go and they strip the land of grasses and the grasses never actually mature much beyond immature youngsters. The soil is denied the full benefits of the grasses full life cycles, in turn denying the soil what it needs, in a sense "a damaged soil gut."
Biodynamic regenerative sustainable no till, little till allows for healthier soils providing larger, healthier ranges of microbes benefitting our gut, our bodies. Farming methods also leaving behind healthy soils to filter, process, clean up the waters on their journey through the cycles of life.
A great report warning about the serious dangers of antihypertensive drugs. It's always better to take the natural route. Junk food alters cell membranes, causing metabolic diseases, high blood pressure, and arteriosclerosis. Hydrogenated fats, sugars, devitalized foods, pesticides, etc., and a lack of potassium, magnesium, and calcium disrupt the sodium/potassium balance, impairing mitochondrial function. The consumption of alcohol, sugar, laxatives, diuretics, and aspirin causes potassium loss. In a meta-analysis of 20 clinical trials, magnesium deficiency was associated with increased blood pressure. Magnesium helps reduce blood pressure² in several ways. Among other things, it helps to: 1) Relax blood vessels. 2) Act as a natural calcium channel blocker. 3) Increase nitric oxide levels. 4) Reduce endothelial dysfunction, which is an imbalance between relaxation and contraction factors in blood vessels. The research demonstrated that magnesium and vitamin D have an interactive effect on reducing blood pressure.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8108907/ (2011).---
https://healthmatch.io/high-blood-pressure/magnesium-for-high-blood-pressure (2022).----
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.829857/full?gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwyNSoBhA9EiwA5aYlb_WL6Kmm7N3KQqm62Ce174mUBDAtY7vW6tmcyvwrPcRNW70yN_74vxoCKWkQAvD_BwE (2022).----
The kidneys filter excess fluid and waste from the blood, a process that depends on healthy blood vessels. High blood pressure can damage both the blood vessels in your kidneys and those leading to them, causing various types of kidney disease (nephropathy). Having diabetes in addition to high blood pressure can worsen the damage.
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/kidney-disease/high-blood-pressure (2022).---
https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/health-threats-from-high-blood-pressure/how-high-blood-pressure-can-lead-to-kidney-damage-or-failure (2022).--
https://www.kidney.org/sites/default/files/docs/hbpandckd.pdf (2022).--- Peripheral artery disease (PAD) occurs when plaque builds up in the arteries, obstructing blood flow to the legs, arms, brain, and other parts of the body, preventing proper oxygenation. It often first appears in the legs. Diabetes, high triglycerides, high blood pressure, and smoking are risk factors.
Atherosclerosis is a systemic process with cerebrovascular manifestations, and peripheral arterial disease (PAD), involving the renal arteries, is a significant health issue. It is estimated that 8 to 10 million Americans have PAD. The prevalence of PAD is approximately 5% in people aged 40 to 50 years and 18% in those over 80 years of age. Despite the epidemic levels of PAD, the disease remains largely underdiagnosed.
The ankle-brachial index (ABI) is a diagnostic tool used to estimate arterial blood flow to the lower extremities. It relates the systolic pressure of the ankle arteries to the brachial arteries. An ABPI between and including 0.9 and 1.1 is considered normal (free of PAD), while a value less than 0.9 indicates arterial disease. Below 0.6, leg pain appears during exercise, and below 0.3, pain at rest (claudication due to low blood flow to the extremities). An ABI value of 1.3 or higher is also considered abnormal and suggests calcification of the artery walls.
People who smoke or have diabetes at any age are at higher risk of developing this condition. Other risk factors include: 1) Body mass index (BMI) over 30. 2) Family history of PAD, heart disease, or stroke. 3) High blood pressure (hypertension). 4) Increasing age, especially if 65 years or older.
ABI can be considered a marker of cognitive decline, dementia, and cardiovascular disease. Patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) have a higher risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer's disease. Low ABI is associated with poorer cognitive performance in old age due to long-term exposure to atherosclerotic disease. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021915018300790 (2018).---
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0003319717736608 (2018).---
https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/29982493 (2019).---
https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/peripheral-artery-disease/about-peripheral-artery-disease-pad (2021).----
https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/the-other-arterial-disease (2021).---
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jdr/2022/1531289/ (2022).----
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557482/ (2023).---
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a representative dietary active component with many benefits for cardiovascular health. Randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses of these trials have strongly supported the conclusion that CoQ10 has beneficial effects on blood pressure control in patients with cardiometabolic diseases.
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/16/7/1017 (2024).-- Modulating the gut microbiota through dietary interventions and probiotics has shown promise in regulating blood pressure and reducing systemic inflammation, offering a novel approach to managing hypertension. Diets such as the Mediterranean diet, rich in polyphenols and omega-3 fatty acids and low in sodium, promote the growth of beneficial gut bacteria that support cardiovascular health. In addition, probiotics have been found to improve intestinal barrier function, reduce inflammation, and modulate the renin-angiotensin system, all of which contribute to lower blood pressure.
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/16/23/4079 (2024).-- Nitric oxide appears to help your body dilate and constrict blood vessels. This can improve your blood pressure and, therefore, your heart health. Exercise and muscle performance: Nitric oxide may be linked to improved physical performance. Adding more nitrate (beets) to your diet may help increase your nitric oxide levels and improve your exercise performance.
Flavonoids mediate their antihypertensive effects by increasing the bioavailability of nitric oxide (NO), reducing oxidative stress in endothelial cells, or modulating the activity of vascular ion channels.
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2014/fo/c4fo00144c/unauth (2014)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1471489218301048 (201)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0958166919301569 (2020)
https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/25/18/4320/htm (2020)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308814622019215 (2022)
Patients with high blood pressure often exhibit insulin resistance and have a higher risk of developing diabetes than normotensive individuals. It has been observed that over the past 30 years, the prevalence of insulin resistance (IR) has increased significantly. Consequently, hypertension and insulin resistance are strongly associated with an increased risk of impaired glucose tolerance, diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and endocrine disorders.
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/12/4/564/htm (2022)
There is a strong correlation between oxidative stress, inflammation, and blood pressure (BP). Pomegranate has been shown to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties due to its content of various types of antioxidants and polyphenols. According to these findings, there are studies on the effects of pomegranate consumption on, among other things, hypertension.
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/153236016.pdf (2015)
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jsfa.10096 (2020)
Stress is associated with an increased risk of hypertension, and the incidence of stress-related hypertension has increased rapidly in recent years. Gut dysbiosis has been shown to contribute to hypertension and hyperactivation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0361923020305086 (2020)
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is common in older adults. The network of blood vessels, known as the vascular system, changes with age. Arteries become stiffer, which raises blood pressure. This can happen even in people who have healthy habits and feel well. See the link for information on blood pressure by age.
https://pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca/vitalsign/chapter/blood-pressure-ranges/
Some medical conditions, such as metabolic syndrome, kidney disease, and thyroid problems, can cause high blood pressure. Some people are more likely to have it due to certain factors they cannot change, such as:
1) Age. The likelihood of having high blood pressure increases with age, especially isolated systolic hypertension.
2) Sex. Before age 55, men are more likely to have high blood pressure. Women are more likely to have high blood pressure after menopause.
3) Family history. High blood pressure can run in families.
4) Race. African Americans, or Black people, have a higher risk of high blood pressure.
5) The diurnal cycle influences blood pressure, which is lower in the morning and rises throughout the day until the early evening.
6) Blood pressure can be higher in obese people because the heart has to work harder to perfuse the body's tissues.
7) The sympathetic nervous system is stimulated by exercise, stress, anxiety, pain, anger, and fear, which increases blood pressure. Blood pressure returns to its initial value within five minutes of rest after activity.
8) White coat syndrome refers to elevated blood pressure due to nervousness or anxiety when a healthcare provider takes a patient's blood pressure. This occurs in approximately 20% of patients.
One more area when taking a closer look, stubborn facts contradict a party line dogma. While yes, extreme high pressure levels along with certain conditions cause health problems, but, what seems to have happened over the last forty, fifty years is...business, profits, and easy check the box give a med trumps prescribing to a lower number of patients would actually benefit. Now, the numbers are so low we have to wonder can teenage athletes reach the standard range allowed with no meds? What's next? A high tech robot heart pumping away at a 120 or less points no matter what?
On a personal note; I've noticed if having an infection somewhere raises my numbers. Address the infection and the BP drops. (Antibiotic gut disruptions, another story.)
Lately I've zeroed in on our legs ability to stretch, move in a more complete range, with Just the Gut Speaking, this while directly addressing muscles, also opens up the tendons to allow more movement, trains the ligaments to take unexpected twists, but most of all - also stretching the arteries and veins. It would seem this with the pushing, pulling, reaching out would improve vascular health with BP to follow.
Being as the way the KAATSU bands work would be much of the same. Also, the DMSO works to increase circulation, moves into areas needing healing would be a good addition too.
Our bodies are designed to be healthy if allowed too, or not interfered with by any of the usual suspects. Our ability to get up and go, move in ranges beyond the limited boxes of motion most of us live in. And, more so all the time...a variety of things we have been indoctrinated with over decades to believe either are medical miracles -when they are not - or, misused, or practices said to be healthy when they are not. (I can't believe I'm eating a Heart Attack.) Just Sayn'
With our other article today. Properly grown Livestock and farming bypasses the need for antibiotics, lots of med's in the animals and, the food produced from them reduces our need for antibiotics and lots of meds. Properly grown livestock moves through paddocks in ways that revives, regenerates the soils, producing large varieties of Microbial species, soil structures to hold water, and filter out, clean up the water going to the waterways, and aquifers. They rarely need antibiotics or meds because they have an actual real immune system. Current range habits just let the animals go and they strip the land of grasses and the grasses never actually mature much beyond immature youngsters. The soil is denied the full benefits of the grasses full life cycles, in turn denying the soil what it needs, in a sense "a damaged soil gut."
Biodynamic regenerative sustainable no till, little till allows for healthier soils providing larger, healthier ranges of microbes benefitting our gut, our bodies. Farming methods also leaving behind healthy soils to filter, process, clean up the waters on their journey through the cycles of life.