Lifestyle can aggravate low blood pressure symptoms, and since too many people suffer from chronic fatigue, wooziness, and dizziness, day in and day out, we may safely say… we make a lot of mistakes.
Low blood pressure symptoms can be completely managed by a healthy lifestyle, but what’s that? Would it be low-fat diet, low-calorie diet, low-salt diet, sunlight avoidance, stress avoidance?
Many people think they are following healthy lifestyle, but what’s good for hypertensives isn’t good for low blood pressure symptoms sufferers. If you’ve been following the healthy lifestyle advice for a while, can you say you are well?
I’ve been a low blood pressure sufferer myself and I discovered many tings that made my symptoms worse. Three of them are listed below.
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1 – Lifting can cause low blood pressure symptoms disaster
Exercise is a must for health, but weight lifting may not be for everyone. Weight lifting puts a serious strain on the circulation. Did you know that lifting heavy objects is much more heart-strenuous than physical activities like walking or swimming?
But I need to add something to that statement. While lifting a cup of coffee may not present any challenge to the heart, getting a bucket of cement off the ground may pop a few veins here and there.
What happens when you lift?
Weight lifting causes temporary large-scale fluctuations in blood pressure. When you pick up an object, blood pressure shoots up. When you drop the objects down. Your blood pressure does the same.
Thus, it’s not the up, but the down part that you have to watch out for. Sudden BP drop in low BP victims is known to cause light-headedness, dizziness, and even fainting. Lift with caution. You want to avoid major blood pressure fluctuations, because…
Your symptoms depend on the magnitude of blood pressure fluctuations. And these depends largely on the size of the load. For example, professional weight lifters can spike their systolic over 300 mmHg. (This is not a typo). How does this relate to you? Because, what goes up, must go down. Judge your lifts accordingly.
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2 – Wrong carbs can send BP down the spiral
Low carb, high carb, paleo or vegan? There are so many different types of diet that one may easily get confused. Although most diets are advertised for their ability to make fat pads disappear, very few diets mention their effects on low blood pressure symptoms.
Let’s talk about carbohydrates, pasta, potatoes, cakes, quinoa, and alike. It does not matter whether it is a good carb or a bad carb. All carbs do the same. They make you retain water (for a few days).
On one hand water retention may be welcome, because it “cures” low blood pressure symptoms, but on the other hand it can facilitate stomach bloating, puffy face, and ankle swelling.
Low blood pressure symptoms from low carb diet
Low carb diet isn’t best for low blood pressure symptoms, but high carb diet can be even worse. Carboholics, especially those who rely on easily-digestible carbohydrates like rice, sugar, and starches, may end up with erratic blood sugar swings that not only cause hypoglycemia symptoms, but also aggravate low blood pressure symptoms.
Watch out for hunger, sugar cravings, moodiness, and weight fluctuations. These are tell-tale signs that blood sugar is out of whack. When blood sugar goes up and down it makes blood pressure do the same.
If you find yourself feeling dizzy and hungry, or fatigued and craving candies at the same time, you should start rearranging your diet. If low blood pressure symptoms are tied to low blood sugar, they won’t go away unless you change your menu.
Make your dietary changes your priority, because when you tame blood sugar swings you may also prevent prediabetes. Check these early prediabetic signs, to be sure. On details how to reverse low blood pressure consult Revived!
- Which are symptoms of prediabetes
- Hypoglycemia symptoms for beginners
- Low blood sugar symptoms for non-diabetics
3 – High temperature adds to low blood pressure symptoms
Whether you are soaking sun on a beach or sitting in an air conditioned room, can make all the difference to how dizzy you get. Heat makes low blood pressure symptoms worse, while cold can actually “cure” them.
Heat relaxes blood vessels. That’s not good, because it lower blood pressure. The wider the vessels the lower the numbers. Cold, on the other hand, being a stressor spikes the numbers up (yeah, stress does that).
Take a shower or a bath, for example. You will feel relaxed in a hot bath, invigorated in a cold one. Did you know that a one hour cold bath (20C/57F) increases blood pressure numbers by 8% and one hour hot bath (32C/90F) decreases them by 12%? Weather will do the same. A hot day will make you sleepy, while a cold day will make you shiver.
To prevent draggy feet, foggy head, and droopy eyes, look for a well air-conditioned places and cooler spots. And take this tip as well: when in doubt, drink a cup of cold water. Studies showed that two glasses of cold water can raise blood pressure similar to a cup of coffee.
Health troubles are seldom random
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