19-05-2022 |
Blood pressure is the force of circulating blood against the body’s blood vessel walls. The heart regulates the blood pressure of the body. It pumps blood to other vital organs like the lungs, brain, and kidneys. The normal blood pressure range considered healthy is 120/80 mm Hg.
If blood pressure is higher than this range, one can develop a condition called high blood pressure or hypertension. And if blood pressure is systemically lower than this range, it is low blood pressure or hypotension.
Low blood pressure or hypotension is when a person’s blood pressure is lower than the normal blood pressure range – lesser than 90/60 mm HG in particular. While medications can help in improving low BP, diet and lifestyle modifications are the only options that have no side effects.
These five natural low BP home remedies will help you do low blood pressure treatment at home and improve the quality of your life.
What are the Reasons for Low BP?
Diagnosing low BP is tricky, as sometimes, low BP can go unnoticed and show no symptoms. However, when there are continuous symptoms of BP, your doctor will affirm it is a sign of low BP. There are various reasons for low BP, most of which you can alter through diet and lifestyle changes. They include:
● Dehydration
● Nutritional deficiencies
● Blood loss due to an accident/ internal injury
● High blood pressure medications
● Depression/ anxiety medications
● Heart medications
● Diuretics
● Heart disease
● Internal bleeding
● Pregnancy
● Toxic shock syndrome
● Severe infections
● Nervous system ailments
What are the Symptoms of Low BP?
During the day, there are times when our BP drops and rises by a few points during activities like sleeping, switching positions, doing moderate to high-intensity workouts, and others. But a minor drop or rise in BP is not a cause for concern as our body’s rhythmic processes take care of everything. However, when low BP continues and starts showing symptoms, it is a sign to take immediate action. Look out for these symptoms of low BP:
● Fainting
● Light-headedness
● Fatigue
● Dizziness
● Blurry vision
● Loss of focus
● Nausea
● Shallow breathing
● Confusion
● Depression
● Unusual thirst
● Cold skin
Tips You Can Follow If You are Suffering from Low BP
Here are some tips that you can follow if you suffer from low BP:
Add more salt to your diet.
In hypertension, doctors or nutritionists will tell you to cut excess salt in your diet. But in hypotension, where the opposite happens, adding more salt to your diet can help raise your blood pressure. Choose healthy salt options like iodised salt, pink salt, or plain table salt to add to your diet. Avoid getting your salt intake from unhealthy sources like processed or trans fatty foods. Remember to not swing between extreme to low amounts of salt.
Keep yourself hydrated.
Dehydration is one of the core causes of low blood pressure. Keeping yourself hydrated with water throughout the day is the best BP low treatment at home. Water is free, clean, and accessible and drinking it at regular intervals can help increase your blood volume and normalise blood pressure. Go for plain, filtered, or boiled and cooled water instead of getting it from sugary drinks, sparkling water, and sodas.
Add the right foods to combat low BP.
One of the best low BP home remedies is to increase it with low blood pressure treatment food. Adding the right foods to your diet is crucial to combat low BP in the long term. These include:
Folate-rich foods like asparagus, lentils, leafy green veggies, beans, liver, eggs, yoghurt
Juices like beetroot juice, carrot juice
Nuts like almonds and raisins
Complex carbohydrates like whole wheat, oatmeal, and barley
Vitamin B-12-rich foods like meat, cottage cheese, chicken
Coffee/ liquorice tea occasionally
Eat small meals.
Eating small meals is another low blood pressure treatment tip that you can implement in your routine every day. Large meals can cause blood pressure to drop as it takes longer for bigger meals to digest. Small meals ensure you don’t experience a fall in blood pressure and are easier on your stomach. Aim for 4-6 small meals a day instead of 3 large meals.
Avoid alcohol.
Alcohol can cause an immediate drop in blood pressure, and when drunk excessively can cause even more harm. Avoid drinking excessive alcohol and stick to drinking a responsible amount. Alcohol can even have a bad interaction with specific medications. So, if you are on any prescription medication and have a history of low BP, consult your doctor for advice.
Review your medications.
Certain medications like heart disease medication, tricyclic anti-depressants, diuretics, beta-blockers, alpha-blockers, ACE inhibitors, nitrates, and others can impact your blood pressure and lower it.
Remember to inform your doctor about all the medications you are on and consult them. Diet and lifestyle modifications take some time to work, and in the off chance you need immediate medical attention for low BP, you can take prescription low blood pressure treatment medications after consulting your doctor.
These tips can help you if you have a low BP. However, you should always ensure good physical and emotional well-being to control your BP. For example, financial stability is important if you have increasing family commitments. And life cover insurance is an ultimate necessity if your family is dependent on your earnings.
It will help your family manage their financial obligations in your absence. Life insurance products have evolved to provide flexible features to customise the plan for your financial needs, including savings benefits.
For example, Tata AIA Life Insurance provides customisable and comprehensive life insurance plans to help you safeguard your family with a life cover and a savings or investment benefit. Therefore, you can decide on the required funds for the long term and choose the best option. So make well-informed decisions to stay stable financially, emotionally, and physically to keep your BP in check. You can get life insurance online from the comfort of your home.
To Conclude
Apart from diet and lifestyle changes, there are many other steps you can take to improve your low BP. You can turn to other low BP home remedies like wearing compression stockings, not moving too fast, and crossing your legs while sitting. You can also take supplements and medications from time to time, depending on the advice given by your healthcare professional. Remember to buy life cover insurance to have all-around financial security.
L&C/Advt/2022/May/0964