Blood pressure results from the amount of blood your heart pumps and the amount of resistance to blood flow caused by your arteries. If your heart pumps more blood or pumps it faster, your blood pressure will go up.

As well, if your arteries constrict (get narrower), it becomes harder for the blood to flow through the blood vessels. This will also cause an increase in blood pressure. This is the main (and only) method your body uses to control how much blood flows to different parts of the body (such as to the skin and muscle).

There are two numbers that describe your blood pressure and the unit used is mm Hg (millimeter of mercury).

The systolic blood pressure is the higher number and results when your heart contracts. The diastolic blood pressure is the lower number and results when your heart is not contracting (relaxed).

Ideally, you want your blood pressure to be 120/80 or less. Keep in mind that if you suffer from multiple health conditions, such as diabetes or kidney disease, you will need to treat high blood pressure more aggressively.

This might mean needing to take prescription medications while using natural cures for hypertension. Although prescription drugs are not first choice, the need to use them should not be ruled out entirely.

Before considering using prescription medications to control hypertension, there are many home remedies and natural cures that work very well to lower your blood pressure.

These methods of controlling your blood pressure can be effectively combined with prescription medications. Of course, if you are currently taking prescription medications, do not stop taking them without consultation with your healthcare professional.

Finding out what your blood pressure reading is such an easy thing to do. We recommend you buy a blood pressure monitor so that you can keep track of your blood pressure daily and find out how well the lifestyle changes and natural cures are working.

Get readings (over several days) before you start any natural cures for hypertension so that you can track to see how effective each of these methods are.

A healthy diet loaded with fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products goes a long way in keeping your blood pressure under check.

Of course, avoid saturated fats and reduce excessive fats as much as possible.

Salt causes your body to retain water and this cause blood pressure to go up. Get the FULL details in our article DASH Diet Guidelines.

While it may be difficult to do, losing even a small amount of weight (5 pounds) can go a long way to lowering your blood pressure. In people who are overweight, even a slight weight lose has a significant effect on their blood pressure.

To put it very mildly, smoking is bad for you. Tobacco products contain cancer-causing chemicals. Nicotine, one of the main active ingredients in smoke, increases blood pressure significantly. It also causes damage to the blood vessel walls (hardening of the arteries or atherosclerosis).

This hardening of the arteries causes a permanent increase in blood pressure as the blood vessels become flexible.

Drinking too much alcohol causes your blood pressure to go up, even if you are healthy. If you choose to drink, stick with just a glass a day. At most, two glasses should be just fine.

Perhaps you can reserve alcohol just for special occasions only?

Physical activities do more than keep you healthy, protect your heart and give you a sense of well-being. It is known to lower blood pressure. We use the term physical activity instead of exercise because the word exercise is attached to pain and suffering for many people.

In today's world of computers, video games and electronic communication, many people no longer engage in ANY meaningful physical activities!

Start very slowly with 30 minutes walks either in the shopping mall or just around the block. Do this three times week. Moderation is best because this is the only way you will continue this habit for life.

You do not need a home gym or any exercise equipment to keep you physically active. Your legs will do just fine, thank you.

There is now a proven link between stress, heart disease and hypertension. The source of stress can come from work, home life, your spouse, in-laws and your children. Reducing stress is one of the best natural cures for hypertension for those who are "stressed out".

Find as many ways to deal with stress as possible. We have a very detailed article Stress Management Tips that can give you insight into fighting off this monster problem.

We save the best news for last! Chemical substances found in dark chocolate lower blood pressure significantly. Of course, this is not the go ahead to eat pounds of chocolate every single day.

But if you love to eat milk chocolate (which doesn't lower blood pressure), perhaps you should consider switching to dark chocolate?

References for Natural Cures for Hypertension

Revised: August 26, 2019