Most people diagnosed with high blood pressure are prescribed prescription medications by their doctor. Hypertension medications designed to reduce blood pressure include:

* ACE (Angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibitors – it prevents your body from making Angiotensin II that can can cause our blood vessels to narrow, thicken and stiffen.
* Alpha Blockers – They stop the hormone norepinephrine from constricting the muscles surrounding veins and smaller arteries.
* Beta Blockers – they block adrenaline (epinephrine), resulting in the heart slowing and blood vessels to expand.
* Calcium channel blockers – they inhibit calcium ions from penetrating the heart’s cell and muscles surrounding blood vessels, helping them relax.
* Central-acting agents – they affect the brain and blocks signals that speeds up heart rate and/or constrict blood vessels.
* Diuretics – they cause the kidneys to produce sodium and water in the urine deceasing blood volume and pressure.
* Vasodilators – such as Hydralzine is believed interfere with calcium ion release while the Minoxidil molecule contains a nitric oxide element that can instigate blood vessel widening.

There are a number of problems with blood pressure (BP) reducing medications however. They do not cure the cause of high blood pressure but merely lower it while the drugs remain in your system. This means that people usually have to take medications daily for the rest of their lives in order to keep their blood pressure at an acceptable level.

The other problem with hypertension medications (other than the cost) is a range of undesirable side effects such as:a persistent dry cough, headache, pounding heartbeat, nausea, weight gain, reduced libido, depression, insomnia, shortness of breath, sinus congestion… the list could go on.

Because of these problems a lot of people have been looking into how to reduce blood pressure naturally without the use of medications. Thankfully there are indeed ways to reduce high blood pressure naturally through diet and exercise.

A BP reducing diet includes eating less processed foods high in salt, trans-fats and saturated fats, replacing these with more basic natural, basic ingredients. This shift can not just reduce high blood pressure but can also put you on the path to a more healthier and happier existence. Sure, it means more cooking at home and less eating out at restaurants but maybe that’s a good thing.

You may also want to include in your diet more fruit and vegetables. Celery, bananas, apples, tomatoes, onions and garlic have all been shown to be particularity helpful to reduce your high blood pressure and keep it down.

Supplements can also play a part in an anti-hypertensive diet. Consider taking daily does of vitamin C, B12, Calcium, Magnesium, Omega 3, and Hawthorn tincture.

Exchange your table salt for naturally harvested Celtic Sea salt, full of natural essential minerals (but use it in moderation).

Don’t make the mistake of cutting out all salt intake. Most of the salt we consume is in processed foods. If we cut out processed foods from our diet we need to get salt from somewhere. No salt is as unhealthy as too much.

Also consider eating fish more often instead of red meat.

For a treat have a glass of red wine and some dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa) everyday. Both red wine and cocoa has been shown to help keep the heart healthy and reduce high blood pressure.
Stress reducing exercise has also been shown to be very beneficial in reducing high blood pressure. Slow breathing exercises have been increasing in popularity. Tests have shown that by taking 15 minutes a day to relax and breath in a slow rhythmic pattern can help lower our BP quite significantly over time.

Once thought too wacky, slow breathing exercises have now gone mainstream. You can buy audio tapes on-line to assist you or a slow breathing audio aid machine from pharmacies. Of course you don’t need to buy anything. Just put on some relaxing music in the background and slow your breathing down to 6 or 7 breaths per minute for quarter of an hour. Do this everyday and you will see results.

The other kind of exercise that will reduce high blood pressure is the old-fashioned cardio-vascular kind – jogging, hill climbing, gym work out – whatever gets your heart beating and your blood pumping. If your not ready to climb Mount Everest, no worries. Even a daily walk around the block has been shown helpful to reducing BP over time.

So there you have it. How to reduce high blood pressure naturally is really quite straightforward. Good diet, physical exercise and stress reduction is all that is really needed. Practiced consistently and even the most stubborn high BP should start to come back down.

Hypertension, more commonly known as high blood pressure, affects approximately 1/3 of all Americans. Unknowingly, many people with the disease are essentially ticking time bombs waiting to explode. High Blood Pressure is also referred to as the silent killer. Although most diseases and illnesses manifesting symptoms, people often find the problem during a routine check in the doctor’s office, or after disaster strikes. Hypertension frequently causes serious, potentially life-threatening health problems; so, various medicines have been developed to keep the beastly disease under control.

High blood pressure can seriously damage a person’s arteries. Due to periods of excessive force, over time the artery walls are weakened, possibly resulting in aneurysms. Basically, fragile balloon-like areas may develop. Thus, an individual may die, if the artery pops. For a fortunate few, aneurysms are discovered before time runs out. However, the odds are not in the patient’s favor.

Although a myriad of medicines are available, doctors may decide what treatment is best based upon the patient’s age, ethnicity, other medications, and allergies. All of the issues may potentially determine how an individual will react to high blood pressure medicine . Nevertheless, beta-blockers have been commonly used, in the past, to control hypertension: “These slow down the heart, reducing the amount of work that it has to do, and lowers an important hormone. This opens the blood vessels, making it easier for the heart to work”. Today, due to the adverse side effects of sleepiness and cold hands, the medication is infrequently prescribed to lower blood pressure.

In tandem with other blood pressure medicines, diuretics (water tablets) are used to release excess salt and water in the body. For some, water tablets will initially lower an individual’s pressure. However, the side effect can be a little disconcerting. Until a patient’s body is regulated, frequent trips to the restroom are a must. Therefore, patients are instructed to take the medication at a convenient time.

In truth, the information mentioned above represents only a few of the consequences, and medicinal treatments, of high blood pressure. However, the short list is a great argument for further exploration of the disease and subsequent use of high blood pressure medicines. Heart attacks, strokes, and aneurisms are three often-fatal results of neglecting to treat hypertension. Also, beta-blockers and diuretics are only two of the many options for medicinal solutions. So, in order to avoid becoming a medical statistic, periodically have a health care professional check for possible hypertension, especially if a history of high blood pressure runs in the family. You may want or need high blood pressure medicines.

EXFORGE and EXFORGE HCT are prescription medicines for the treatment of high blood pressure. EXFORGE contains two prescription medicines: amlodipine, a calcium channel blocker (CCB), and valsartan, an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB). EXFORGE may be used when any one of the following medicines to lower your high blood pressure is not enough: a dihydropyridine CCB or an ARB. It may also be used as the first medicine to lower high blood pressure if your doctor decides you are likely to need more than one medicine. EXFORGE HCT contains three prescription medicines: amlodipine, valsartan, and hydrochlorothiazide (a diuretic or water pill). EXFORGE HCT may be used to lower blood pressure in adults when any two of the following medicines to lower high blood pressure have been tried first: a CCB, an ARB, and a diuretic.