How to play a vital role in your own health and longevity: A handbook from“one of the most reliable, respected health resources that Americans have” (Publishers Weekly). This easy-to-use guide will help you understand the many issues related to high blood pressure and assist you in preventing it, managing it, and making essential treatment decisions. · Learn which single factor you can do the most about when it comes to influencing your blood pressure. This one step may be all it takes to lower your blood pressure and keep it under control. · How losing as little as 10 pounds may reduce your blood pressure to a healthier level—includes practical help for maintaining a healthier weight. · Discover a great alternative that may lower your blood pressure just about as much as medications—without the expense of prescriptions. · Why your blood pressure goes down if you make your heart stronger—and dozens of tips to realize this goal. · How to manage your sodium intake. · Information about medications for when changes in lifestyle aren't enough and more

Many people have high blood pressure for years without knowing it. High blood pressure is serious, even deadly. Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to stroke, heart attack, heart failure or kidney failure. This is why high blood pressure is often called the "silent killer". This book is well written, understandable and offers valuable information on many topics surrounding high blood pressure, diet, medications, exercise, as well as alternative therapies and provides the essence of the subject covering the technical background of high blood pressure. The book includes a well-written overview of factors that lead to high blood pressure, plus tips and helpful suggestions for improving your lifestyle. It seeks to enable you to live longer and better with high blood pressure or help prevent it if you are at risk. This easy to understand book focusses on what you can do to better manage high blood pressure and keep it at a safe level. Within these pages you will find answers to your questions about factors that lead to high blood pressure plus tips and helpful suggestions for improving your lifestyle.

For the nearly 78 million Americans with hypertension, a safe, effective lifestyle plan—incorporating the DASH diet principles and much more—for lowering blood pressure naturally If you have high blood pressure, you're not alone: nearly a third of adult Americans have been diagnosed with hypertension, and another quarter are well on their way. Yet a whopping 56 percent of diagnosed patients do not have it under control. The good news? Hypertension is easily treatable (and preventable), and you can take action today to bring your blood pressure down in just four weeks—without the potential dangers and side effects of prescription medications. In Blood Pressure Down, Janet Bond Brill distills what she's learned over decades of helping her patients lower their blood pressure into a ten-step lifestyle plan that's manageable for anyone. You'll: • harness the power of blood pressure power foods like bananas, spinach, and yogurt • start a simple regimen of exercise and stress reduction • stay on track with checklists, meal plans, and more than fifty simple recipes Easy, effective, safe—and delicious—Blood Pressure Down is the encouraging resource that empowers you, or your loved ones, to lower your blood pressure and live a longer, heart-healthy life.

Learn how to lower high blood pressure medication-free with simple changes to diet and exercise, combined with stress-reducing techniques. Who gets high blood pressure? Should you panic if you or someone you love develops hypertension? How can you help yourself, even if you're in a high-risk group? High blood pressure is commonly the result of an unhealthy lifestyle, and it can almost always be controlled—without debilitating medications—simply by eating the right foods, taking the proper herb and vitamin supplements, getting the correct types of exercise, and practicing such stress-reducing techniques as meditation, visualization, tai chi, and yoga. This book gives you a firm grip on all these tools. Start using them today to build yourself a healthy, circulation-friendly life. FEATURING: • A triple-threat healing program that not only revitalizes your circulation system but also boosts your overall health • A thirty-day food regimen—ninety full menus for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus many recipes for delicious foods to eat as you control hypertension

Most of us want to live a long, healthy life, but how do we do that? Drawing upon lessons from his own life, Mayo Clinic cardiologist Stephen Kopecky offers a holistic, evidence-based approach to preventing common diseases and chronic illnesses and living a longer life of pleasure and purpose. In the past century, the leading causes of death around the world have shifted from infectious diseases to long-term chronic illnesses. What’s killing us today isn’t so much flu or tuberculosis, but heart disease and cancer. In fact, more than 1.2 million Americans die from these two diseases each year. Paradoxically, these chronic diseases are a consequence of living longer than ever. But even if we’re living longer, are we living better? The overwhelming number of people now living under the burden of chronic illness indicates otherwise. After surviving two bouts of cancer, Dr. Stephen Kopecky, M.D set out to discover the behaviors people can adopt to live longer lives free of chronic illnesses and diseases. What he discovered was that the answer lies in just six habits that require small changes to your daily life, but reap big results long-term. From adopting better diet and exercise habits to managing stress and sleep, these behaviors will not only preserve your health, they can improve your quality of living and extend your life. The secret, however, lies not just in the steps themselves but in how you accomplish them. This book offers in-depth insights on: The best foods to eat and why Increasing physical activity and improving fitness Why your sleep habits matter The dangers of stress and what to do about them The true impact of alcohol and tobacco on our bodies How to make changes that will last a lifetime After 30 years of research in the field of cardiovascular disease prevention, Dr. Kopecky is sharing what he’s learned from his practice and own personal experience about staying healthy, preventing chronic illnesses, and living younger longer.

This book by the National Institutes of Health (Publication 06-4082) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute provides information and effective ways to work with your diet because what you choose to eat affects your chances of developing high blood pressure, or hypertension (the medical term). Recent studies show that blood pressure can be lowered by following the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan-and by eating less salt, also called sodium. While each step alone lowers blood pressure, the combination of the eating plan and a reduced sodium intake gives the biggest benefit and may help prevent the development of high blood pressure. This book, based on the DASH research findings, tells how to follow the DASH eating plan and reduce the amount of sodium you consume. It offers tips on how to start and stay on the eating plan, as well as a week of menus and some recipes. The menus and recipes are given for two levels of daily sodium consumption-2,300 and 1,500 milligrams per day. Twenty-three hundred milligrams is the highest level considered acceptable by the National High Blood Pressure Education Program. It is also the highest amount recommended for healthy Americans by the 2005 "U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans." The 1,500 milligram level can lower blood pressure further and more recently is the amount recommended by the Institute of Medicine as an adequate intake level and one that most people should try to achieve. The lower your salt intake is, the lower your blood pressure. Studies have found that the DASH menus containing 2,300 milligrams of sodium can lower blood pressure and that an even lower level of sodium, 1,500 milligrams, can further reduce blood pressure. All the menus are lower in sodium than what adults in the United States currently eat-about 4,200 milligrams per day in men and 3,300 milligrams per day in women. Those with high blood pressure and prehypertension may benefit especially from following the DASH eating plan and reducing their sodium intake.

Many of the nearly 70 million Americans with hypertension (high blood pressure) would like to bring it under control through lifestyle changes such as losing weight, cutting back on salt, exercising, or reducing stress. But, like it or not, most will require medication to get their blood pressure where it needs to be. The good news is that we have many excellent blood pressure medications which, when prescribed wisely, can control hypertension in almost everyone. The bad news is that, despite good intentions, doctors are placing millions of people who have hypertension on medications, drug combinations, or doses that are wrong for them, with staggering consequences that include uncontrolled hypertension, higher risk for stroke and heart attack, avoidable side effects, and billions of wasted health care dollars. Here, Dr. Mann, a nationally recognized hypertension specialist, identifies the drugs most likely to have side effects, and those that can be used in their place. He describes the shortcomings of some of the new drugs, while also introducing readers to some excellent old drugs that are woefully underused as a result of the publicity blitz surrounding the new, expensive ones. He emphasizes the importance of matching the medication and dosage to the individual who will be taking them, and presents the overlooked clues that can tell us who should be on which drug (even an excellent drug can be the wrong one if it is given to the wrong person or in the wrong dose). Hypertension and You is directed at the more than 50 million Americans (including a majority of people over the age of 60) who are taking blood pressure medication. Many patients suspect they might be on the wrong medication, but don’t know enough to be sure. This book shows how medications can be prescribed more wisely to achieve better results and gives patients the knowledge they need to capably discuss their medications with their health care providers. Hypertension and You provides many ideas and approaches that will be new to readers, and also to many physicians, and which no other book offers. It’s the first book to make the case that something is terribly wrong with how doctors are prescribing drugs for this condition. It provides readers with better knowledge of the available medications, empowering them to work with their physician to get onto the medications that are right for them.

The best weapon against any condition is knowledge. Learn from the experts in Mayo Clinic's complete guide to identifying, treating, and preventing a broad range of common medical issues.

Inside you'll find:

• Easy-to-understand explanations of more than 100 health conditions
• Comprehensive lists of frequent signs and symptoms
• Professional insight on tests and procedures used to make a diagnosis
• Essential advice on treatments, including commonly used medications
• Up-to-date prevention guidelines for illnesses that may affect your quality of life

Featuring clear illustrations and accessible writing, Mayo Clinic A to Z Health Guide is a must-have health resource for every home.

IMPROVE TOTAL HEALTH WITHOUT PRESCRIPTIONS Looking for natural, noninvasive ways to strengthen and heal your body? Here, Mayo Clinic experts explain how to achieve personal wellness through nontraditional medicine and home remedies. Their revolutionary approach to health addresses the whole person — body, mind and spirit— by combining conventional care with innovative practices such as mind body techniques, acupuncture and massage therapy. With this book, you'll get advice for avoiding medical appointments while also learning when an appointment is needed. Practical, trustworthy and smart, this book will safely and naturally transform your well-being one page at a time. FIND INSIDE: • Details on applying dozens of therapies, such as progressive muscle relaxation, Pilates, guided imagery and spirituality to enrich your life • Home solutions to help manage common issues such as high blood pressure, osteoporosis,wrinkles, motion sickness, hives and stress • Steps for administering first aid in emergencies such as bleeding, choking and heart attack

We are in the midst of a blood pressure crisis. Nearly 70 million Americans have been diagnosed with hypertension and just 56 percent of them have it under control. Another 51 million (30 percent of the population) have prehypertension. Hypertension is responsible for 69 percent of first heart attacks and 77 percent of first strokes. But there is good news: High blood pressure is very responsive to lifestyle changes. And the more changes you make, the greater your results. Lower Your Blood Pressure Naturally by Sari Harrar provides readers with a comprehensive lifestyle plan. Readers will follow the Power Mineral Diet, which centers on 13 delicious powerful blood pressure-lowering foods, along with an easy, doable exercise program that combines the proven effectiveness of cardio, strength training, and yoga on blood pressure. Not only do these methods help lower blood pressure on their own, they promote fast, sustainable weight loss, which has an independent blood pressure-lowering effect. With daily meal plans, flavorful, versatile spice blends, 50 recipes, plus Power Mineral smoothies and desserts, the plan proves that a heart-healthy diet need not be bland or boring. Lower Your Blood Pressure Naturally offers one of the easiest and most effective ways to conquer hypertension yet.