About 1 in 3 adults have issues with high blood pressure in the United States, and only about half of those people have their blood pressure under control. While there is medicine that you can take to help lower your blood pressure, there are natural things you can do and changes to your everyday life that can enhance your healing experience.

Change Your Diet

Your diet plays a huge role in all aspects of your health, so when it comes to getting healthy, you’ll see this at the top of most lists. When it comes to your blood pressure, there are foods that can make it worse and foods that can make it better. Tailoring your diet to your specific health needs is a great way to feeling your best. If you struggle with high blood pressure, try adding these foods to your diet:

• Bananas
• Leafy greens
• Skim milk
• Yogurt
• Red beets

Some foods that you should stay away from are:

• Refined sugar
• Sodium
• Caffeine

Get Active

Being inactive is linked to higher blood pressure, so make every excuse you can to get moving. When just starting, try to park a little father or find a reason to get up during commercials while watching TV. Use your creativity to find little ways to be more active every day. There will come a time where you are able to do full-on exercises, which could be now considering how your health is right now, but there is something to consider before starting.

When you work out, your blood pressure rises for a short period and will eventually lower back down to normal. If your blood pressure is 180/100 or higher, you need to speak with your doctor before engaging in physical activity. Once they give you the go ahead and have given you some guidance, you can safely start getting to work on making your heart healthier. One of the best exercises that you can do that can help regulate your blood pressure without putting too much strain on you is going for daily walks. Start with five minutes and work your way up!

Lose Weight

You don’t have to be overweight to have heart issues, but being overweight doesn’t help one bit. If you have high blood pressure and you are overweight, one of the first things you should be trying to do is getting your waist size down. Not so you can fit into your pants from college, but so that you don’t have a heart attack.

Being overweight puts an unnecessary strain on your heart, and one of the biggest indicators that researchers and doctors use is your waistline. If your waist is more 35 inches as a woman or 40 inches as a man, your weight could be jeopardizing your heart health. If you are having trouble shaving off the pounds, check out these biohacks for losing weight.

Destress

When you get stressed out or have anxiety, it causes repeated elevations of your heart rate and blood pressure. This is because stress is a mechanic your body uses to get more oxygen and nutrient-rich blood to your muscles so that you can react to the fight-or-flight response created by the amygdala during stress and anxiety. While studies have indicated that stress does not directly cause high blood pressure, it can play a role in how it develops. While stress isn’t completely avoidable, you can change the way it affects you and your body.

Some ways to help reduce stress in your life are:

• Learn to say “No.”
• Know when you can change things and when you can’t
• Practice how you react to things you can’t control
• Avoid things that overly stress you out known as “triggers”
• Solve the problems you can when you can
• Be kind

If you are someone with an anxiety disorder, this list may be laughable because no matter what coping mechanism you try, your brain always wins. If you are struggling with anxiety, try using CBD oil. Studies have shown that it can reduce stress and anxiety by reducing the overactivity in the amygdala which is one of the regions that creates your anxiety. This will make it easier to perform coping mechanisms, and with the help of a therapist, the CBD oil is just a temporary tool until you get everything under control.

Quit Smoking and Drinking

Smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol aren’t good for you no matter how you look at it. When your health is suffering, these are the first two things you need to cut out of your life. While we know this isn’t easy as both of these substances cause addiction, it is still important to make the decision that you are done with hurting your body.

The nicotine from the cigarettes raises your heart rate and blood pressure, narrows your arteries, and hardens the arterial walls making your blood more likely to clot. When you drink alcohol, your blood pressure raises but usually returns to normal. This can be dangerous if your blood pressure is already high. Alcohol is usually high in sugars and calories which can also lead to more blood pressure problems.

If quitting cigarettes and alcohol was easy, the tobacco industry would be out of business and AA wouldn’t exist. If you are struggling, try using CBD oil. CBD has shown in studies to help with addiction by reducing the cravings and certain withdrawal symptoms like pain, nausea, and irritability.

Meditation

Meditation is one of those things that has been done for a long time, but people are still unsure of whether or not it is worth a try. Luckily, we live in a time of modern science that has shown us what we should or shouldn’t be doing when it comes to our health. This includes meditating to help with your high blood pressure. 

Studies have shown that mindfulness meditation may be able to help lower high blood pressure by reducing symptoms of stress and depression as well as making changes in the brain that can lead to more emotional control, effectively helping you to live a less stressful life.

Regular Monitoring

The first thing you should be doing is making regular appointments to the doctor. If every time you go into the doctor’s office you are told your blood pressure is high or getting there, you should invest in an at-home blood pressure testing kit.

If you have a way to measure your blood pressure at home, you can do what is called biohacking. After you go a few days with a changed diet or start working out, you can see whether or not it put a dent in your blood pressure. When the numbers change, it can give you a sense of accomplishment helping to give you the motivation to continue to change your life for the better, as well as show you what is working and what isn’t.

CBD Oil

Cannabidiol (CBD) has been mentioned a few times above to help with things like addiction and losing weight, but it has shown in studies that it may be able to do more than that when it comes to your blood pressure.

What is CBD?

Cannabidiol is a chemical that comes from the cannabis or hemp plant. Unlike the chemical THC that is so infamous, CBD oil doesn’t have intoxicating effects that make you high. Instead, CBD oil has a long list of healing potential with low-risk side-effects. The reason that CBD oil can have its hand in so many different ailments is because of how it interacts with the endocannabinoid system.

The endocannabinoid system is a system in your body that keeps you regulated, also known as homeostasis. Composed of several important parts, the endocannabinoid system is made of endocannabinoids and cannabinoid receptors which are found all over your body. The CBD oil elevates and enhances these endocannabinoids which bind to the cannabinoid receptor which effectively help treat symptoms of illnesses.

How Does CBD Oil Help with Blood Pressure?

Studies have shown that people who were given just one dose of CBD oil had lowered blood pressure. This is because of one of the endocannabinoids called anandamide.

Anandamide is the endocannabinoid that mainly binds to the CB1 receptor which is in charge of your neurological system. When the anandamide is elevated by the CBD and binds to the CB1 receptor, it reduces the force used to pump blood. This allows for more significant blood flow and reduces the pressure.

Taking CBD oil can be a precautionary tactic as well. CBD oil has shown in rodent models that it make be able to protect cells from stroke and heart attack. When your cells lose blood or oxygen, they start to take damage and die off. CBD oil has shown to have protective and rejuvenating effects potentially helping to reduce the likelihood of stroke and heart attack.

If you want to start taking CBD oil for your blood pressure, be sure to tell your doctor. Work with them to figure out what medications you are already on can be taken with CBD oil and which ones cannot to see if this is the right route for you. They can also help you monitor your condition so you can see if you are making the right amount of progress.

If you struggle with high blood pressure or someone in your family does, it is always a good idea to know what it may look like when it starts to creep in. The earlier you catch it, the less likely you are to develop a serious cardiovascular disease. Here are some sings that you may have high blood pressure. 

Severe Headache

If you are starting to get headaches that are on both sides fo your head and get worse with physical activity, it could be that your blood pressure is spiking. This causes the blood pressure to build up in your head which can cause blood to leak onto your brain which causes swelling. This brain swell may be why a headache is a sign of high blood pressure. You may also experience shortness of breath, anxiety, or nose bleeds when the blood pressure in your head isn’t regulated.

Poor Cognitive Function

Cognitive functions are things like:

• Memory
• Learning
• Planning
• Problem Solving
• Attention
• Language
• Perception

If you are frequently forgetting things like where you put things or what you were just saying, having problems soaking in new information, or having issues with attention and focus your blood pressure could be to blame. When your blood pressure is high, it reduces the blood flow causing your brain to work less efficiently. This is also something that is known as brain fog which has many other causes. It is important that you talk to your doctor when you start noticing symptoms so you can rule other things out.

Vision Problems

Your body needs blood to work. With high blood pressure, your body doesn’t get enough of it. One of the areas where you can start to see the damage is in your eyes. If your retinas don’t get enough oxygen-rich blood, they will start to degrade and can even lead to complete vision loss. If your vision is starting to get a little fuzzy, it’s time to go see the doctor. Might as well stop by the eye doctor too, just in case.

Chest Pain

This one may come to you as no surprise, but a common sign that your blood pressure is high is that your chest will hurt. Just like the rest of your organs, your heart needs oxygen-rich blood. If your heart doesn’t get enough, it starts to work harder. This can cause heart arrhythmias and chest pain.

Blood in the Urine

Blood in the urine usually means something is wrong with your kidney. High blood pressure can cause the arteries in your kidneys to harden and narrow which makes it harder to filter blood safely. If you struggle with high blood pressure, it could cause you to urinate blood. If you struggle with high blood pressure and start urinating blood, don’t just chalk it up to high blood pressure and tell yourself that you’ll work on it. Go see a doctor so they can rule out any other causes.

Use CBD

If you are struggling with high blood pressure, talk to your doctor about CBD oil. It is a great natural way to lower blood pressure without some of the risky side effects that come along with commonly prescribed medications. Studies have shown that CBD oil was able to lower the blood pressure of participants after just one small dose. If you think this sounds good to you, talk to your doctor today!

Because CBD interacts with your endocannabinoid system, it may help with the symptoms of heart disease such as high blood pressure, arrhythmias, and myocarditis. 

What Is CBD?

You may have heard of CBD, but did you know that it comes from cannabis? Just like THC, this chemical is packed with healing benefits; the big difference is it doesn’t get you high. This is one of the main reasons CBD has obtained so much attention from scientists, doctors, and patients. CBD has shown in studies to possibly treat so many different symptoms because of its relationship with the endocannabinoid system.

What Is The Endocannabinoid System?

The endocannabinoid system is in charge of regulating your body. This system makes sure that you don’t bleed out when you scrape your knee, and you have a fever when a virus is trying to spread through your body. The three main parts that make up this system are metabolic enzymes, cannabinoid receptors, and endocannabinoids.

Metabolic Enzymes

Metabolic enzymes create the endocannabinoids in your body, and when they are no longer needed, they degrade them. Without these enzymes, our brains would be cluttered with endocannabinoids, causing blockage in communication between neurons.

Cannabinoid Receptors

For endocannabinoids to work, they need somewhere to go. Your body is covered in cannabinoid receptors, the two we know of today are CB1 and CB2. The CB1 receptors mediate the neurological system, while the CB2 receptors are in control of your immune system. When endocannabinoids bind to these receptors, they help mediate their respective roles and help your body and brain work more efficiently.

Endocannabinoids

Cannabinoids come from the cannabis plant, while endocannabinoids are similar chemicals that are synthesized in your body. The two endocannabinoids that we have studied are anandamide, which binds to the CB1 receptor, and 2-AG, which binds to the CB2 receptor. The endocannabinoids either inhibit or promote the production of neurotransmitters, controlling the conversations that happen between neurons.

CBD And Your Heart

While CBD doesn’t directly interact with the cardiovascular system, the way that it communicates with the endocannabinoid system may be beneficial to your heart health. The top three ways that CBD can help with your heart is lowering your blood pressure, reducing arrhythmias, and reducing inflammation.

1. High Blood Pressure

One of the side-effects we tell you to look out for when taking CBD is lowered blood pressure. For you, this is more of a treatment than a risk. CBD has been found to be a vasodilator, meaning that it widens the blood vessels allowing for more blood flow. This, in turn, reduces the damage that is done to arterial walls from high blood pressure.

In a randomized cross-over study of healthy patients, they found that a single dose of CBD helped lower blood pressure. Nine healthy males were given either a placebo or CBD, and they found that those who took the CBD reduced resting systolic pressure, reduced stroke volume, and reduced blood pressure after cold exposure.

Symptoms of High Blood Pressure

• Headaches
• Blurred Vision
• Dizziness
• Shortness Of Breath
• Chest Pain
• Leg Swelling
• Cold Feet
• Stroke
• Heart Attack

2. Antiarrhythmic

A heart arrhythmia is when your heart beats too slow, too fast, too early, or irregularly. Many arrhythmias can be completely harmless. It is when the heartbeat is exceptionally irregular or comes from a damaged heart when you have problems.

Though researchers aren’t exactly sure how CBD treats heart arrhythmias, they have found that in rodent models this medication was very successful. They believe that the endocannabinoid 2-AG plays a pivotal role, though more research is needed to verify this conclusion.

Tachycardia Symptoms (Your Heart Is Beating Too Fast)

• Dizziness
• Breathlessness
• Feeling Faint or Fainting
• Fluttering Chest
• Chest Pain
• Light Headedness
• Weakness

Bradycardia Symptoms (Your Heart Is Beating too Slow)

• Trouble Concentrating
• Chest Pain
• Fatigue
• Dizziness
• Trouble Exercising
• Palpitations
• Shortness Of Breath
• Excessive Sweating
• Confusion
• Feeling Faint or Fainting

Atrial Fibrillation (Your Heart Beats Irregularly)

• Palpitations
• Dizziness
• Chest Pains
• Weakness
• Feeling Faint or Fainting
• Breathlessness

3. Inflammation Of The Heart

Inflammation of the heart, or myocarditis, can cause the cells in your heart to become damaged and even die. This can be caused by your immune system, viruses, medications, and certain diseases. If the inflammation goes without being treated, it can result in death.

CBD is well known for its ability to reduce harmful inflammation. The 2-AG endocannabinoid binds to the CB2 receptor, which leads to your immune system sending out less immune cells to attack. CBD has also shown that it reduced the number of cells that die in the heart during inflammation, helping your heart muscle hold onto its strength.

Symptoms Of Myocarditis

• Chest Pain
• Shortness Of Breath
• Palpitations
• Fever
• Liver Congestion
• Swelling
• Sudden Death

The Silent Killer

These three heart issues may come with symptoms or none at all. It’s crucial that you exercise regularly, eat well, and make frequent visits to your doctor. When going shopping at your local drug store, don’t forget that most have a machine to check your blood pressure. Worst case scenario of not looking out for your heart is death, which is as bad as it gets.

Change Your Habits

We mentioned before that changing your lifestyle habits when you notice symptoms is essential for your health. You can try to avoid the symptoms altogether by making those lifestyle changes now. Here are a few things you can do to reduce your risk of heart disease.

Stop Smoking

If you smoke cigarettes, you are more likely to develop a heart condition that someone who doesn’t. Smoking tobacco cigarettes can damage the lining of your arterial walls which can lead to a build-up of fatty material that narrows the artery. The carbon monoxide in the smoke also reduces the amount of oxygen in your blood, making your heart have to work harder. The nicotine in cigarettes can also raise your blood pressure and make your heart work harder than it needs to.

Taking CBD can help you quit smoking by reducing your cravings. You crave cigarettes because your brain’s reward system is stimulated anytime you smoke. CBD helps lessen that stimulation, helping your brain realize that smoking isn’t something you need to survive.

Lose Weight

If you are obese or overweight, you a much more likely to develop a heart condition than someone at a healthy weight. Being overweight has shown to raise blood pressure and increase cholesterol levels. Being overweight can cause more harm to your body than just your heart, making you a candidate for type II diabetes as well.

Losing weight can be difficult, but it may be easier with CBD. White fat is stored to create a reservoir of energy for your body, while brown fat is burned to use that energy. CBD has shown in studies to promote this fat browning process, making it easier to lose weight.

Exercise

One of the most significant benefits of having an active lifestyle or a healthy workout routine is that it helps you maintain a healthy weight. Exercise also helps strengthen your heart just like it does your muscles. A strong heart is much more efficient at pumping blood through your body than a weak one, making your blood pressure lower if it’s too high. Exercise also boosts the levels of good cholesterol, helping to flush your arteries of the bad cholesterol.

If you have a hard time getting out there and being active because of pain or low energy, CBD can help. Through the fat browning process, CBD is helping your body use the energy it already has stored. On top of that, it raises the anandamide levels which boost your mood helping you feel more energetic. If it’s pain that is stopping you, anandamide also helps reduce your sensitivity to pain.

Change Your Diet

A healthy diet will help you manage your weight, but it does much more than that. Eating foods high in saturated fat raises the bad cholesterol which increases your blood pressure. Eating trans-fat will not only boost bad cholesterol levels but also lowers the good cholesterol.  Eating fruits, vegetables, foods with Omega-3 and Omega-6 will help you with your cholesterol levels, which in turn can regulate your blood pressure. Reducing your sodium intake won’t lower your cholesterol, but it will reduce your risk of heart disease by lowering your blood pressure.

When To See A Doctor

If you are experiencing these symptoms, the first thing you need to do is go to the doctor. Heart disease can sneak up on you like a deadly ninja, and a professional diagnostic could be the difference between life and death. While you are talking to your doctor, make sure to let them know you are taking medical cannabis for your symptoms. Your primary care doctor should always be in the loop with medication your taking to assess the improvement.

How Should I Take CBD?

You may find that you get the best results through taking CBD pills because it works just like common medications slowly administering the drug into your system. If you are trying to lose weight through exercising, using tinctures or e-liquid can help get the CBD into your system faster for the activity at hand. Suppositories are also a great option when you need long-lasting relief, and you need it to work quickly. Whatever method you choose, CBD Instead has got you covered.

A Little About CBD

CBD is a chemical that is extracted from the cannabis plant. By itself, it is entirely legal in all 50 states because of its lack of psychoactive properties that we know THC has. Cannabidiol’s interaction with the endocannabinoid system is possible without psychoactive effects in part because it doesn’t directly bind with the CB1 and CB2 receptors on neurons. It stimulates non-cannabinoid receptors and travels through ion pathways and independent receptor channels. This gives it the ability to police and monitor the activity in the brain, making sure it functions properly.

CBD’s job is to regulate the endocannabinoid system. This system is in charge of homeostasis, which is what keeps everything in your body running like a well-oiled machine. If you have a weak endocannabinoid system, or any damaged or faulty parts, CBD helps your brain fill in the missing pieces and can even repair damaged cells.

Two Main Hypertension Types

Essential Hypertension

This kind of blood pressure is diagnosed when an individuals blood pressure is high after three or more visits and other causes have been ruled out. Often, the patient doesn’t experience any symptoms. The symptoms they may feel are frequent headaches, dizziness, fatigue or nosebleeds. Doctors and researchers are unsure of the cause, but factors like smoking, obesity, drinking alcohol, and hereditary are known to play a role in the disease.

Secondary Hypertension

The most common cause of Secondary Hypertension is abnormalities in the arteries that supply blood to the kidneys. Other less common causes are airway obstruction during sleep, disease, and tumors in adrenal glands, hormonal abnormalities, too much salt in the diet, and hormone abnormalities. It can also be caused by over-the-counter medicine like Advil and Aleve. (Full list of medications that can cause High Blood Pressure) Once this type of Hypertension is diagnosed in a patient, it cannot be cured, and many lifestyle changes are going to need to occur to prevent detrimental damage.

Additional Hyptertension Types

Isolated Systolic

There are two numbers that are measured when your blood pressure is taken, and the first or upper number is the systolic number. This is the pressure exerted during the heartbeat. The bottom or second number is the diastolic number, which is the pressure of the heart in between its beats. Loss of elasticity is often a cause for the systolic number of being high while the diastolic number remains normal. The individuals who are at the highest risk of developing this type of Hypertension are people over the age of 65.

Malignant Hypertension

One of the rarer forms of hypertension with only about 1% of people suffering from high blood pressure suffering from this form of the disease. Malignant Hypertension makes your blood pressure rise rapidly, and it is considered a medical emergency that should be treated in a hospital. The individuals who have the highest risk of this disease are younger adults, black males, and women with pregnancy toxemia. The symptoms are blurred vision, numbness in the arms and legs, confusion, headache, and chest pain.

Resistant Hypertension

This type of Hypertension is rewarded to the disease that just won't go away. The reason it has its name Resistant Hypertension is that it doesn’t go away after taking the proper medications. This happens in 20-30% of blood pressure cases. The causes are speculated to be genetic, though there is more research to be done. What they have found I that it is most commonly found in the elderly, black community, the obese, females, those who have diabetes, or have an illness involving the kidney.

How You Can Prevent Hypertension

Some risk factors of hypertension are out of your control. You cannot change your gene pool, your age, or your ethnicity. There are some factors you can control, and by practicing these healthy habits, you can even reduce the risks that you were forced to live with.

Healthy Body Weight

A healthy body should always be the primary concern when it comes to body weight, not aesthetics. Knowing the healthy body weight for your size can be a huge help in reducing the risk to high blood pressure. Just losing ten pounds could make the world of a difference.

Eat A Balanced Diet

The healthier your eating habits, the healthier your body is most likely going to be. By staying away from foods that can clog arteries, damage cells, and slow your body down, you can help lower your risks of the disease. There are even some foods that have been known to reduce blood pressure that contains magnesium, potassium, and fiber.

Hypertension Diet Foods

• Apples
• Bananas
• Apricots
• Green Beans
• Broccoli
• Grapes
• Mangos
• Melons
• Raisins
• Spinach
• Strawberries
• Tuna
• Fat-Free Yogurt

Reduce Salt Intake

The higher the sodium intake, the worse the blood pressure. It is always a good idea to not go overboard with salty foods. To make it easier, try to make a food diary that lists how much salt you’ve eaten. It is suggested to limit your salt to 2,300 milligrams. Try eating foods that only have 5% or less of the daily value of sodium, and especially stay away from processed foods.

Exercise Regularly

Exercising is very effective in lowering systolic blood pressure. It strengthens the heart which means the heart doesn’t have to work so hard to get the blood pumping. This relaxes the arteries, making blood flow easy and blood pressure lower.

Drink Less Alcohol

It’s a known fact that drinking too much alcohol can raise blood pressure. It also contributes to unwanted weight gain. By reducing your alcohol intake, you can reduce both systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure. For most people with high blood pressure, it is suggested to limit your drinking to one alcoholic beverage a day.

Monitor Blood Pressure

By keeping track of your blood pressure, you will know if either your efforts are working or if you need to see a doctor to find out how to tackle this disease differently. It is also just good to know if your symptoms are getting worse what the cause is. When all of these strategies fail, or the hypertension is in your blood, many turn to using medication.

How CBD Can Help With Hypertension

Studies have shown that just one dose of CBD can reduce blood pressure. This is because when CB1 receptors are stimulated by endocannabinoids like anandamide, the force used to for the heart to pump can become suppressed. This allows for more significant blood flow which normalizes blood pressure and reduces damage to the arterial walls.

Using CBD can also protect the individual’s brain after experiencing a heart attack or stroke. When the brain stops receiving blood, it can start to shut down and become damaged. Hemp repairs damaged cells and has neuroprotective properties that help keep parts of the brain out of harm’s way.

Many brains that experience a stroke go through oxidative stress, inflammation, and fibrosis. During a test with rats that had a stroke, they eliminated the brain alterations entirely by giving the rat CBD directly after the stroke, which in turn helped save its brain from long-term damage.

The reason so many are switching to CBD over many medications, even effective ones, is because they hold a lot less risk in taking them. Some drugs can cause skin rashes, an unhealthy change in weight, nausea, and fatigue. One of CBD’s highest risks is that it lowers blood pressure. Which, in this case, seems like less of a risk. It is always suggested to speak to a doctor before switching medications or taking yourself off of them.

Smoking medical cannabis can increase heart rate and standing blood pressure and reduces lying blood pressure. Though it is extremely uncommon to have a heart attack triggered from smoking medical marijuana, it may be best to take the safe route. Luckily, CBD is extremely versatile in a number of ways you can take it. There are pills, tablets, edibles, and even suppositories that can help you lower your blood pressure safely.

If you are wanting to take CBD oil for your blood pressure, be sure to discuss this with your doctor. Your doctor always needs to know what kind of medication you are taking so they can help monitor your progress and make sure that you are taking the best route to health.