Spiked blood pressure again? It must be genetic! If this is what you think you are not alone. It is exactly the conclusion many hypertensive patients come to.
But that’s not true.
Spiked blood pressure and genes
The words “genes” and “genetic” have infiltrated medical sciences in recent years. Besides genes giving us a specific eye color and height we also discovered that genes play a role in diseases. Genes are now being implicated in many diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, Alzheimer’s, and cancer.
Modern medicine embraced gene-disease link with enthusiasm. Until then close to 90% of pathological changes had unknown causes. Genetics filled the void. It also gave a sigh of relief as we finally managed to pinpoint the ultimate cause of human misery, the corrupt DNA.
As the field of genetics grew so was our understanding how tightly the faulty DNA and diseases go together. It’s just a matter of time we figure out the genetic code and fix all the nasty health surprises, including spiked blood pressure.
- Test for genetic predisposition
- Common high blood pressure causes
- Spiked blood pressure does not kill
Genes change all the time
If you believe that hypertension is genetic and the only option you have, is to take a heart medication in order to keep the numbers down, you are wrong. If you believe that spiked blood pressure is controlled by the genes that don’t change, you are wrong again.
Genes are extremely plastic and change constantly. But they don’t change randomly like kaleidoscope. They change in response to the environment, lifestyle, and circumstances. Gene plasticity is one of the reasons why people who have healthy habits not only seem to be doing better, but also pass on a lower risk for diseases to their offsprings. 1
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This means that if you have a good grasp of healthy lifestyle principles, you can actually decide which genes you keep and which genes you strike off. It also means that even if your mom and dad gave you a hypertension gene you could inactivate it and, with an intelligent lifestyle effort possibly make it disappear for the next generations.
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- 5 ways to lower high blood pressure
Solutions for spiked blood pressure
There is a growing evidence that hypertension not only can be controlled with better lifestyle habits, but also completely reversed with such. Among well-known lifestyle interventions for high blood pressure are: increased dietary potassium, daily exercise, and weight management.
Lifestyle interventions are exceptionally effective. The problem is that not too many people follow them. Many choose a less effort-full solution, a heart pill.
The problem with heart meds
One cannot deny that the easiest solution for spiked blood pressure is a prescription from a doctor. That one tiny pill can bring the numbers back to normal and erase any worry.
But there is a catch, actually a few.
- Heart medications can only reduce blood pressure numbers. They cannot raise it or regulate it
- They cannot reverse hypertension
- They don’t improve heart health
- They don’t correct heart or any other genes
- They have side effects
- They may be expensive
- They discourage self-care and thus accelerate degenerative changes
- They don’t prevent heart disease progression
- They don’t prevent BP erratic swings
- They contribute to nearly impossible to control fluctuating blood pressure in elderly.
You have full control over spiked blood pressure ..
..even if you have a hypertension gene. Heart health is not as much of an effect of your genetic expression as it is an effect of your lifestyle habits. 2 If your blood pressure spiked a few times already, it is a sure sign you need to change your daily routine, because what you do on a daily basis can have a much bigger influence on your heart than your current DNA sequence.
Lifestyle improvements have one big additional plus: you are not the only one to benefit from them. Think about it. You can pass your heart-strong genes to your kids and your grand-kids (if it’s not too late already). To start follow the steps in The Ultimate Guide to Low and Fluctuating Blood Pressure.
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