High blood pressure may not be the common killer medics would have you believe.

In past years, it was considered normal for this to rise with age. Now, with each passing year, have you noticed that the ‘correct’ levels change?

Why should this be so? It is my opinion that by lowering the bench mark, more drugs are sold. We live in an age when the dollar is king. Truth and good health come a poor second and third.

You are unique.

The fact is, some people work much better on higher blood pressures than others. It’s how you feel that’s important. Not what is ‘the norm’. One size doesn’t fit all.

And blood pressure varies throughout the day. Normally it will increase when you’re under stress and decrease when you’re relaxed.

However, if you’re permanently stressed, your blood pressure may remain high. Obviously this is not healthy. But deal with the stress, and the blood pressure drops on its own.

Blood pressure will also rise when you are incongruent. So, when you are feeing one emotion inside, but are portraying another, your blood pressure may rise. The instant you acknowledge that you are feeling frustrated, anxious, angry, frightened, whatever it happens to be, the pressure will drop. Even before the emotion changes.

So trying to portray yourself as something that you’re not feeling, will increase your blood pressure. Children who are taught to keep secrets or tell lies may tend to develop high blood pressure later in life.

Animals are very good at picking up on our incongruences. They may reflect them back to us, by being angry, frightened, etc themselves. This is especially true with horses.

Dehydration is another important factor to consider. If you’re dehydrated your blood with be thicker, so creating higher pressure.

Diet is critical to your good health. Most western diets are unhealthy as we are given incorrect advice, advice which generally profits big business, rather than your health.

Your body is intelligent. You have high blood pressure for a reason. If you have hardening of the arteries, your heart needs to increase the blood pressure just so that it can reach all your cells. Taking medication to lower your blood pressure will cause your body to struggle to maintain blood supply to all your parts. Your extremities are likely to suffer first with numbness and pale skin.

I find it incredible that doctors receive no training in nutrition.

I doubt there is a natural health practitioner who doesn’t recognise the importance of diet, at least to some extent.

Some other external causes of hypertension is regular exposure to nicotine, a high intake of caffeine, obesity, lack of quality sleep, pregnancy and the oral contraceptive pill.

Bear in mind too, that medication tends to reduce the available nutrients to your body, creating internal stress.

So, apart from seeing a homeopath about your hypertension, what can you do about it?

DEHYDRATION
I’m not a great believer in over drinking, as is so commonly advised today. But it is important to drink when you’re thirsty. So if you carry some water with you at all times, and drink when you’re thirsty, you’re unlikely to get dehydrated.

You are unique so your water requirements will be too.

Try to avoid plastic water bottles, as BPA is released into the water when it become warm. Glass or stainless steel are best.

FOOD
Insulin
Some people feel hypertension is caused by too much insulin. Homoeopaths know there are as many varied causes as there are people suffering from it, but lets look at this concept.

Foods which boost insulin levels are the sugars and starchy foods like bread, pasta, rice, cereal, potatoes.

Even the whole food, organic ones do tend to breakdown into sugars quite readily. So avoiding these foods seems sensible, at least for a trial period. Perhaps a month.

Omegas
Most western diets have far too much omega 6 and not enough omega 3. Both are polyunsaturated fats. Omega 6 is in meat, fried or roasted food, most cooking oils. So reducing or eliminating these are a good idea.

Omega 3 is in fish, fish oils, sunflower oil, safflower oil, blue green algae, kiwi fruit, chia seeds and flaxseed (linseed).

My preference is for whole foods, rather than oils. You evolved to breakdown whole foods, not isolated nutrients. Also bear in mind that cooking spoils or destroys many nutrients. My personal preference is the chia seeds.

Garlic
Garlic is claimed to help prevent heart disease (including atherosclerosis, high cholesterol, high blood pressure) and cancer. Again, raw is better than cooked.

Niacin
Niacin, vitamin B3, is another way to lower blood pressure. However, I would caution you not to purchase an over-the-counter niacin supplement. Nutrients are complex and will only work for you when they are in natural combination with other nutrients. A natural source of niacin is green leafy vegetables, asparagus, avocado, carrots, tomatoes, nuts, seeds, mushrooms and spirulina or blue-green algae.

It is a water soluble vitamin, which means you need a daily intake. It can be diminished or destroyed by cooking.

SUN
Another important factor is exposure to the sun - WITHOUT sun screen. Many people are deficient in vitamin D today, as they are so frightened of the ‘harmful’ effects of the sun. The sun is not harmful as long as you don’t go out and bake in it in the middle of a hot, summer day. An hour’s exposure in the summer (more in the winter) is all you need. Keep to the cooler parts of the day in tropical or sub tropical areas.

EXERCISE
Exercise is obviously important, but exercise the way you feel most comfortable with. You don’t need to be a gym junky unless you want to be. Walking your dog every day may be enough.

STRESS
Stress is a factor of most people’s lives, but constant stress can keep your blood pressure permanently elevated. Don’t try to deal with this yourself. See a professional homeopath regularly! Meditation is also good at dealing with stress.

SLEEP
If you have been having trouble sleeping for any prolonged length of time, your health will suffer. This is best dealt with by seeing a professional homeopath.

PREGNANCY, Oral Contraceptive Pill
Higher blood pressure is normal during pregnancy. Just make sure you observe the healthy practices detailed above.

There are healthy alternatives to the pill. Click on Natural Birth Control.

If you have your ideal number of children, maybe one or the other partner should consider ‘the snip’.

WEIGHT
Apart from diet, obesity is best dealt with by a professional homeopath.

CAFFEINE, NICOTINE
Not everyone is affected by either caffeine or nicotine. But many are. If you are still having trouble with your blood pressure after exhaustive trials of the above, then abstaining from one at a time, for a trial period will enable you to see if you have that sensitivity.