Lowering high blood pressure is critical. Hypertension is known as a silent killer. According to the 2017 Hypertension Treatment Guidelines by the American Heart Association, when blood pressure is measured in a calm state where there are more than three high blood pressure readings in two consecutive weeks it is judged to be high blood pressure.
If the blood pressure was measured for the first time just after a person was angry, the second time in cold weather, and the third time under stress, the blood pressure reading caused by these “unexpected situations” would be high, but the effect of taking antihypertensive medication would be slight.
In fact, lowering high blood pressure is not the most important thing because it is more important to solve the cause of high blood pressure. Once the cause is solved, the “killer” will become a “reminder.”
Finding the root cause
There are many reasons for high blood pressure, including anger, nervousness, fear, and stiff shoulders, while cold weather may also be a contributing factor.
Some people are easily agitated over little things. Even when watching TV shows, they will become extremely emotional, red-faced with anger, and start cursing at the television. When you are angry, the sympathetic nerves are activated, and the peripheral blood vessels contract. At this time, the blood can hardly send oxygen to all parts of the body, and high blood pressure will occur.
I had a patient, a woman who was about fifty years old. She was slightly overweight, and her systolic blood pressure was always up around 200, which couldn’t be lowered with western medicine. She tried all the different classes of antihypertensive drugs available, but they didn’t work. She came to me for treatment. After a while, her blood pressure dropped to 140 or 150. She was so happy that she told people everywhere: “Doctor Hu has cured my blood pressure.”
I told her: “I didn’t cure your high blood pressure, but you treated it yourself.” How? “The medicine I prescribed was a medicine that relieves emotions. You are also consciously working on adjusting your emotions, and you are happy every day. If you are not angry, you are in a good mood, then your high blood pressure will naturally be cured.”
Lowering high blood pressure
The first way to lower blood pressure is to drink soothing tea to improve the mood.
These two kinds of teas can make you calm and happy:
Chrysanthemum tea
Put ten chrysanthemums in a mug and brew them with hot water, either yellow chrysanthemums, white chrysanthemums, or wild chrysanthemums. You can drink the tea when the chrysanthemums are fully soaked and the floral aroma can be smelled. If you want it to taste better, you can add a little licorice or wolfberry.
Ganmai jujube tea
Take 15g of licorice root, 37.5g wheat berries, and 12 jujubes (Chinese red dates), boil together in 1500ml of water reduced to 1000ml by simmering. It can be used as a tea every day.
Change your mood
The second way to lower blood pressure is to change one’s mood.
A woman told me that her husband didn’t help her with the children, and even complained about her! I told her: “Let’s think about it this way. At least he still has the power to complain and is healthy. If he is sick in bed and doesn’t even have the strength to complain, you would have to take care of his three meals and look after him 24 hours a day, leaving you unable to go out of the house to do anything. Wouldn’t it be worse?”
After listening to what I had to say, the dissatisfaction with her husband was gone. Her mood changed, and her blood pressure naturally lowered.
Exercise
The third way to lower blood pressure is to exercise a little every day to increase the happiness index.
Exercise will soften the blood vessels. As soon as the peripheral blood vessels expand, blood can pass through, the cholesterol in the blood vessels is sent away, the blood flow in the large blood vessels becomes normal, and blood pressure drops. Moreover, during exercise, the brain also secretes hormones called endorphins, the so-called “happy hormones,” which make people feel happy and naturally play a role in lowering blood pressure.
However, some people are very busy at work and at home, so how can they possibly have time to exercise? In fact, the time spent on daily exercise can be accumulated very easily with little effort.
For example, you can get off the bus one stop early when you go to work and walk for five to ten minutes. When you take your lunch break, spend five or six minutes walking up and down the stairs rather than taking the elevator. When you get off work to pick up your child, you can walk together for a while. After dinner, go for a walk with your spouse or a good friend for 10 minutes. Using these simple hacks, at the end of the day, you have accumulated about 30 minutes of exercise. If you find ways to do more than 30 minutes, it’s even better.
See Part 2 here.
Translated by Patty Zhang and edited by Helen
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