Blood pressure treatment in Ayurveda

Hypertension is one of the major causes of disability and death all over the world. Hypertension causes heart attacks, strokes, kidney failures and other disorder if it is neglected and remains untreated. In many cases, hypertension does not cause any symptoms until it causes complications such as heart attack and stroke and plays a role of silent killer in the body. So it is important to realize that you may have high blood pressure and only way to find it out that get your blood pressure checked at regular intervals.

Blood pressure is high when arterial blood pressure is elevated above the normal ranges. The normal blood pressure reading is systolic 120 over diastolic 80.

Symptoms of Hypertension:

• Pain experienced at the back of the head and neck on waking up, which soon disappears.
• Dizziness
• Palpitations
• Heart pain
• Frequent urination
• Nervous tension
• Fatigue
• Difficulty in Breathing

Causes of Hypertension:

• Stress and hectic life-style.
• Vitiation of vata
• Smoking and an excessive intake of intoxicants
• Hardening of the arteries
• Obesity
• Metabolic disorders
• Excessive intake of common table salt
• Overloading of fast foods

Ayurvedic Approach to Hypertension:
According to Ayurveda, high blood pressure involves all the doshas, the heart, and the blood vessels. We can see signs and symptoms of derangement of vata dosha mainly that of 'Vyana vayu' in high blood pressure. The treatment is to correct the balance of vata dosha.Pitta vitiation is also seen often and should be treated.
People with Pitta and Vata predominant constitution and Pitta and Vata imbalance, are more prone to hypertension than any other. Unprocessed anger, frustration, irritability, anxiety and fear leads to mal-adaptation of the endocrine system, which then leads to conditions like hypertension. Treatment is based on bringing these imbalances back to normal. In the treatment of hypertension; nutrition, exercise, breathing exercises (Pranayama), yoga, meditation, behavioral modification along with various herbs and minerals are prescribed.

Ayurvedic Diet for Hypertension:

• Avoid meat, eggs and salt
• Reduce protein intake
• Follow the following vegetarian diet:
• Vegetables: Garlic, lemon, parsley,
• Fruits: Indian Gooseberry, Grape fruuit, watermelon,
• Dairy: Milk, Cottage cheese, clarified butter.
• Coffee, which contains caffeine, enhances the action of adrenaline and noradrenaline and both are important in increasing blood pressure levels.
• Limit sodium in the diet.
• Cigarette smokers tend to have high blood pressure. Nicotine increases the resting heart rate and increases the release of the adrenaline

Correct your diet and control your weight. One important thing to do is lose any excess amount of body fat you have. One of the good reasons to be slim (lean) is to keep your blood pressure low, losing body fat will lower the pressure enough that a person need not take medicine to control blood pressure. Either you have normal blood pressure or you have hypertension with high cholesterol levels your diet should definitely of low fat, low saturated fat, and low cholesterol diet. With practice of dietary measures recommended in Ayurveda while elaborating ‘Medoroga Chikitsa’ will definitely beneficial in weight reduction. It will be helpful to minimize the risk of fatty cholesterol deposits and will prevent complication of high blood pressure.