By Channing King
Have you been told that your blood pressure is too high or too low? If so, you’re not alone. According to the American Heart Association, about 74.5 million people in the U.S. have high blood pressure. That equals out to about one in every three adults. On the flip side, while not affecting as many, low blood pressure also negatively affects a large group. Since blood pressure has increasingly become such a huge health issue, I want to share some healthier alternatives to “the norm” when working to correct blood pressure issues.
Let’s start off with defining it. What is blood pressure? Blood pressure is the amount of resistance that your cardiac muscle must push to help move blood through the heart. Your heart beats at a certain rate per minute, and essentially, you don’t want the heart to have to beat too much or too little. Most people are aware of the dangers of high blood pressure (stroke, kidney failure, heart failure, etc.), but when it comes to low blood pressure, they aren’t. Low blood pressure can be just as bad, or in some cases, worse. I’m going to focus more on high blood pressure and share more about low in coming weeks.
How do you know if you have high blood pressure? There are two numbers to evaluate when it comes to monitoring this. The first number is your systolic pressure, the upper number of your blood pressure reading. The normal range is between 100 to 140. Some people may be negatively affected with a reading of around 120 or higher. This reading evaluates how your right atrium is squeezing blood through your body. If the number is high, you run the risk of stroke. It’s been researched that your body needs good sodium if your systolic pressure is high in order to help your heart function better. A great source of sodium is alfalfa tablets. It gives a natural balance of sodium/potassium.
The other number is your diastolic blood pressure. This is the bottom number in your reading. The normal range is 60 to 90, with some having negative health affects around 80. The diastolic pressure is involved with resting the heart. If this number gets too high, your heart wears out. When you have high diastolic pressure, you’re in need of good potassium to help your body function better. Good sources of potassium are cucumbers, dandelion leaf and alfalfa tablets.
There are a lot of things that may help your blood pressure levels. In time, I will share more. As you learn more about blood pressure and health, I hope you’ll be open to taking action for better health. Some people know they have heart issues, yet a lot do not. The key is to learn if there is a problem, and if there is, try to turn that problem around and get everything working the way God designed. You are made to be healthy and strong.
