Are you struggling with high blood pressure? It’s becoming more and more common as around 70 million North Americans suffer from hypertension. This equates to one-third of the adult population and it starts with 1 in 3 North Americans having higher than normal blood pressure readings.
In addition to this epidemic, 1 in 5 adults don’t even realize they have it since there aren’t really symptoms that would advise them otherwise. Unless you are getting regular physicals, you may not realize you are suffering from this. Take a look at how chiropractic care can help you treat or avoid hypertension.
All about blood pressure and risks of hypertension
Blood pressure refers to blood pumping into your body’s arteries each time your heart beats. The pressure part of thing is the force of the blood being pushed against the walls of your arteries. You can get a blood pressure reading from your doctor which will show you your systolic and diastolic readings.
The systolic or top number is used to measure the pressure in the artier from your heart beating, while the diastolic is the bottom number showing the pressure in the arteries between beats. You want a reading that stays within normal levels of 120 over 180 or lower.
If your reading is 120-139 over 80-89, you are in prehypertension levels. If your blood pressure shows 140-159 over 90-99, you have hypertension stage 1, while those in hypertension stage 2 would have a reading of 160 over 100 or higher. Emergency care would be required at hypertension crisis of 180 over 110 or higher.
What causes some to experience hypertension? It’s a common condition that is dangerous and fatal, being the primary cause of nearly 1,000 deaths per day, according to the CDC. High blood pressure causes other dangerous conditions, including first heart attack, first stroke, kidney failure, and chronic heart failure.
In fact, 70% of adults will have their first heart attack with hypertension and that same number of adults will get chronic heart failure from high blood pressure, but a whopping 80% will have their first stroke due to their high blood pressure.
How to treat high blood pressure
The biggest question many have is how to treat high blood pressure if you suspect you may have it. There are prescription medicines you can take to control hypertension, but the medicines can have a strong effect on the body during treatment and after coming off of the medicine. There are natural ways to cure your high blood pressure that will allow you to avoid the medicine, but you have to put the work in to do it.
The natural methods to control hypertension would be to lower your blood pressure through lifestyle changes and chiropractic care. When you have too high of a sodium intake, drink too much alcohol, smoke, and have too much caffeine, you are contributing to high blood pressure.
The biggest causes behind it are being overweight and not exercising regularly, along with high levels of stress. Making changes to reduce your weight and bad habits, while incorporating regular chiropractic care can offer you a natural remedy to your hypertension. Chiropractic spinal adjustments to the atlas vertebra, the first bone in your neck, located at the base of the skull, have been shown to decrease hypertension in as little as eight weeks of care.
You don’t have to run to your family doctor for prescription drugs when you learn you have high blood pressure. Make lifestyle change and work with your chiropractor so that your body can naturally heal itself.
