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HYPERTENSION:-
Blood pressure is the force of the blood pushing the walls
of the arteries that carry blood from the heart to all
body tissues and organs. Each time the heart beats (about
60-70 times a minute at rest), it pumps out blood onto
the arteries creating some pressure. Blood pressure is
highest when the heart contracts and blood is pumped.
This is called systolic pressure when the heart is at
rest, in between beats, blood pressure persists, but decreases.
This is the diastolic pressure, These two figures, systolic
and diastolic pressures, usually denote blood pressure.
Different actions may increase or decrease your blood
pressure. For example, if you cur for a bus, your blood
pressure goes up. When you sleep at night, your blood
pressure goes down. These changes in blood pressure are
common.
However, some people have blood pressure that stays up
most of the time. In your case, if it is high, you can
take steps to slower it. Just as important, if your blood
pressure is normal, you can keep it from going high. If
untreated, high blood pressure can lead to serious problems,
like:
- Arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries): High blood
pressure harms the arteries by making them thick and stuff.
This increases cholesterol and fat in the blood vessels,
which prevents the blood from flowing through the body,
and in due course, can lead to a heart attack.
- Heart attack: When the arteries that transport blood
to the heart get blocked, the heart doesn't get sufficient
oxygen. Reduced blood flow can cause chest pain (angina).
Ultimately, this block may stop the blood flow completely,
leading to a heart attack.
- Heart enlargement: High blood pressure makes the heart
work harder over time. This causes the heart lining to
thicken and stretch. Finally the normal function of the
heart fails, causing fluids to flood into the lungs. This
manifests in the form of breathlessness.
- Kidney damage: The kidney acts as a filter and clears
the body of wastes. High blood pressure, over a period
can narrow and thicken the blood vessels in the kidney.
The kidney filters less fluid, and waste builds up in
the blood. This may lead to a kidney failure.
- Stroke: High blood pressure can harm the arteries, causing
them to narrow faster. If a blood clot blocks one of the
narrowed arteries, a stroke may occur. A stroke can also
occur when very high pressure causes a rupture in weakened
blood vessels in the brain.
For most people, there is no known cause
of high blood pressure. This type of high blood pressure
is called primary or essential hypertension. As the cause
is not known, there is no satisfactory "cure"
for this type of blood pressure. However, in most cases,
it can be controlled.
In a few people, high blood pressure can be treated to
a known cause like tumors of the adrenal gland, chronic
kidney diseases, hormone abnormalities, use of birth control
pills, or pregnancy, This is called secondary hypertension.
This type is usually cured if its cause is known and corrected.
SELF
HELP APPROACH
- Maintain a healthy weight
- Be physically active
- Restrict foods rich in salt
- Avoid alcohol, smoking and mental stress
AYURVEDIC
REMEDIES
- Latest scientific studies reveal that reasonable doses
of onion and garlic are beneficial. They decreases blood
lipids and glucose and increase clot dissolution. Both
garlic and onions contain adenosine, the smooth muscle
relaxant.
- Sarpagandha is the most common herb that is used by
the Ayurvedic physicians to treat high blood pressure.
The root of this plant is used as medicine. Allopathic
systems also use this drug by isolating alkaloids.
- One teaspoonful of onion juice along with honey taken
twice daily is very beneficial for hypertension.
- Chandraprabhaa-vati, Chandrakala-ras, Javaharmohra-pishti
are some of the important Ayurvedic medicines that are
used to treat high blood pressure.
- Siro-dhaara, Siro-vasti, abhyanga etc also help to reduce
anxiety thereby lowering the blood pressure.
- Organic green tea, more than 4-6 glasses daily is very
useful in this condition.
CORONARY HEART
DISEASE:
The cholesterol level in the blood determines risk of
coronary heart diseases. The higher your blood cholesterol
level, the greater is your risk. A high blood cholesterol
level is not only thing that increases your chance of
getting heart disease. There are certain other factors
such as age, sex, family history of early heart disease
and your personality can play the role. Other factors
include cigarette-smoking, high blood pressure; elevated
serum cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, physical inactivity
and stress.
Cholesterol is a waxy substance found in all parts of
our body. It helps to make cell membranes, some hormones
and vitamin D.
Just like oil and water, cholesterol and blood do not
mix. So, for cholesterol to travel through blood our blood,
it is coated with a layer of protein forming lipoprotein.
Two lipoproteins are low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and
high-density lipoprotein (HDL). When there is too much
LDL cholesterol in the blood, it can lead to cholesterol
build up in the arteries. That is why LDL cholesterol
is called the bad cholesterol. HDL cholesterol on the
other hand helps remove cholesterol from the blood and
helps prevent the fatty build up. Therefore, HDL cholesterol
is called the good cholesterol.
SELF
HELP APPROACH
Whatever your blood cholesterol level, you can make changes
to help it or keep it low and reduce your risk of heart
diseases by eating in a heart healthy way, being physically
active, losing weight if you are overweight and taking
herbal supplements.
- Use unsaturated fat containing foods.
- Eating fish has been reported to increase HDL cholesterol
and is linked to a reduced risk of heart disease in most
of the studies.
- Vegetarians have lower cholesterol and fewer heart diseases
than meat eaters, in part because they avoid animal fat.
- Soluble fiber from beans, oats, and fruit pectin has
lowered cholesterol levels in most trials.
- Eating sugar has been reported to reducep0rotective
HDL cholesterol and increases other risk factors linked
to heart diseases.
- Drinking coffee increases cholesterol levels.
- Alcohol, on moderate drinking, increases protective
HDL cholesterol.
- It has been found in some researches that eating garlic
helps cholesterol.
- Exercise increases protective HDL cholesterol, an effect
that occurs even from walking.
- Obesity increases the risk of heart diseases, in part
because weight gain lowers HDL cholesterol.
- Smoking is linked to a lowered level of cholesterol
and is also known to cause heart disease.
AYURVEDIC
REMEDIES
- Garlic: Reports on all garlic studies, performed until
quite recently found cholesterol was lowered by an average
of 9-12% over a one to four months period. Most of these
trials used 600-900mg per day of garlic supplements.
- GUGGULU: This is a mixture
of substances taken from the plant Commiphora mukul. This
is an approved treatment for elevated cholesterol. Reports
have showed that serum cholesterol dropped by 17.5%. In
another report guggulu to the drug clofibrate, average
fall in serum cholesterol was slightly greater in the
guggulu group. The recommended amount of guggulusterones
is 25mg taken three times per day. Most extracts contain
5-10% guggulusterones and doctors familiar with its use
usually recommend taking guggulu for at least twelve weeks
before evaluating its effect.
- ONION: One trial studying
the effects of onion reported that continuous consumption
of onion for five months (80mg daily) decreased serum
cholesterol below normal in healthy humans.
- TUMERIC: The functional component of turmeric, curcumin
not only lowers serum cholesterol and blood sugar level
but also acts as anti-oxidant to scavenge serum peroxides
to prevent atherosclerotic changes. Traditional Ayurvedic
medicine recommends an internal dosage of 10-20ml infusions
or 1-3gm powders. A heaped teaspoonful of powdered turmeric
can be mixed with water to slurry and drunk two to three
times a day.
- MUSTA: It's botanical name
is Cyperus rotundus. This is the root of a grass variety.
A trial have showed that the effects of this root in obese
patients reported that oral administration of the root
powder produced significant reduction in body weight and
lowered abnormal blood pressure. Two capsules, two times
a day with water were prescribed to the obese patients
for two months.
- There are certain other medical herb that cures for
cholesterol lowering effect. Some of them are kusstha
(Saussurea lappa), prabhar (Trichosanthes dioica).
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