Red Rice Yeast | Cholesterol | Heart Attack Risk

Have you heard of red rice yeast? It seems that it can significantly reduce the risk of heart attacks due to a cholesterol problem.

You can take it in capsule or powder form - although you need to take care to get the dose right. It really is just what "it says on the tin" .... an extract of yeast spores that have been grown on a culture of a special type of red rice.

Scientists have studied red yeast rice and found that it contains many of the same active compounds you can find in statin drugs like Zocor or Lipitor. The results look promising but the cynics would say why not just take the pharmaceutical version so that you know you are getting the dose right?

High Blood Pressure | Children And Teenagers

Is your child at risk of high blood pressure problems - either now or in the future?

The evidence grows day by day that being overweight in childhood leads to problems like high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease in later life. Even teenagers are now developing these problems and medical professionals are becoming more and more worried with each passing year.

Recent research even shows that too much TV and too many hours of playing video games can lead to problems with blood pressure. Grumpiness, sullen behaviour and even increased levels of aggression have also been linked to video game use and computer addiction problems.

No one knows if it's the sedentary nature of the activity or the nature of the content that causes the problems - but the issue is real enough and very serious.

How to tackle it? Well on paper it's easy isnt it. More exercise, better diet and less time in front of a computer. In practice, with a huffy child or a sullen teenager it's a lot more problematic.

The real solution will be to educate and convince the children themselves but I fear we are still some way off from achieving that.

What do you think?

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How To Reduce High Blood Pressure

How to reduce high blood pressure?

Good question actually - and it's one I'm asked often. The answer in real terms needs to be tailored carefully to each and every one of us - we are all individuals after all but there are general principles we can use.

There's lots of good information on this site and on other blood pressure sites that I contribute to but I suppose the key message I want to get across is that no one method alone will work for all of us. I also believe that each of us should use a combination of approaches. This site is all about the natural options and natural treatment methods - but most of us will need to think more widely than that if we want to reduce our risk of stroke or heart attack.

First priority is to invest in a blood pressure monitor. This lets you check if your approach is working for you. You really cannot and must not leave this to chance. Once you have a monitor at home you can try one approach and then another - or several in combination - always checking and always knowing that you are going in the right direction. You can read blood pressure monitor reviews here.

Lifestyle changes alone will work for some of us. Lose weight, exercise more, cut down on fat intake, reduce alcohol drinks and most vital - lose the salt from your diet. Check your BP regularly. This might be enough to see your BP readings return to normal.

Natural remedies added to lifestyle change will do the trick for others. Alistrol on the right of this page is a good example. But again - keep checking those readings and use your common sense about it.

Some people will still need prescription medications - even after changing lifestyle and using herbal or natural blood pressure treatment options. Don't be alarmed if this applies to you. It's more important to get your BP numbers right than to worry too much about how you do it.

The main message here is to be flexible - and to do whatever it is that you need to do - and get those blood pressure numbers normal again. Don't get hung up on any one approach more than another.

Symptoms of Low Blood Pressure | Dizzy and Tired

As a doctor with a long standing interest in blood pressure problems and having contributed to several websites, I know that low blood pressure is often just as big a problem as high BP for many people.

Indeed, sometimes it's worse, because the web is full of helpful advice for dealing with the high number side of the problem, but it can be hard to find good information about hypotension or the symptoms of low blood pressure.

I've been searching for a long time for a natural or herbal supplement for low blood pressure symptoms. I have to be honest and say that I've yet to find one that I'm convinced by. Please - if you have and you can share your experiences with others - leave a comment below and we can start a discussion going.

I see this site as a way to build up a real database of knowledge on all the natural approaches to blood pressure issues - both high and low.

If you can help then please join in .....

Causes Of High Blood Pressure | Self Help To Reduce

Whole textbooks and websites have been written devoted to the causes of high blood pressure and it's certainly not my intention to ramble on at great length here about it. But there are some real key issues that we all should be aware of as we strive to get our readings lower and to reduce our risk of stroke or heart attack.

I'm not going to write about kidney function or about the physiology of sodium and potassium. I'm not going to explore the role of the adrenal glands or of enzymes like ACE or ACE II. This is not the place for that.

I am going to lay it on the line however, about the causes of high blood pressure that all of us can modify and alter - starting from now, from today !

Firstly, body weight, exercise, alcohol intake and salt levels in the diet can all make a huge difference to your blood pressure. Taking ten pounds off your weight, doubling your current exercise level, halving your weekly alcohol units and reducing salt will reduce your BP by at least ten points on the scale - and probably a lot more.

Secondly, adding a herbal supplement - this site is full of details and suggestions - will shave a further decent amount off your readings.

Thirdly - being diet conscience and aiming for low fat and fewer calories will also improve things in a big way.

All of that could add up to moving your blood pressure from say 160/100 to a very nice 140/80 without needing any medications from your doctor. Nowadays it's easy to follow your progress using an automatic blood pressure monitor device.

Please think about this.

It could be crucial to your future health !

Side effects of blood pressure medications

One of the main reasons that so many of us turn towards natural blood pressure remedies is that normal or conventional medications bring with them a wide range of unpleasant side effects.

The side effects of blood pressure medications include some or all of the following:

• joint pains
• fatigue
• lethargy
• cold hands and feet
• vivid dreams and nightmares
• rash or itchy skin
• breathless feelings
• poor exercise tolerance
• problems with sex drive or erections in men
• cough and runny nose or blocked nose
• dry mouth and headache
• swollen ankles

Now, that list could go on and on for pages and pages and it's not meant to be all encompassing.

Side effects can be lessened by taking smaller doses of the medication and doctors sometimes achieve this by combining low doses of multiple different drugs. This is the main reason that blood pressure sufferers often end up taking three or four different meds every day. If you are unlucky however, all this does is bring a wider variety of side effects from the wider variety of drugs.

What's your experience of blood pressure drug side effects?

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Herbal Supplements For High Blood Pressure

I often think it's a strange use of the term when people talk repeatedly about "herbal supplements for high blood pressure."

Why strange you might ask, well, for several reasons really.

Firstly, not all the effective approaches to reducing your blood pressure in a natural or non drug way are herbal in their origins. Sure, herbs can have a beneficial effect on BP readings and I've discussed that a lot in other posts related to hawthorn berry amongst many others. But herbal treatments are not the be all and end all - they really aren't !

If you plan to use a natural approach to improving health then you need to look at the big picture. Lifestyle, exercise, body weight, salt, diet, stress ...... the list can go on and on. When you can put ticks in all those boxes and have a plan to tackle the issues, that's the time to explore the world of herbal or natural supplements.

Please DO use herbal treatments for blood pressure - they can make a big difference.

Please DONT just use them as an easy way to avoid addressing the real lifestyle issues that are triggering blood pressure in the first place - they wont help and could simply make things worse.

Agree with this view? Think it's nonsense?
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