Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Top 5 Natural Ways To Reduce Your Blood Pressure

1. Try Yoga: Yoga is a great way to reduce stress, which contributes to high blood pressure. But there are some poses in particular recommended for those wanting to level out their blood pressure. These include:

* forward bends like virasana and upavista konasana, which are both sitting postures
* horizontal asanas which allow the heart beat to slow down when they are practised slowly and rhythmically
* asanas like uttanasana and adhomukha savasana

2. Regular exercise: It doesn't have to be yoga. Any regular exercise like walking, biking or gardening is great for lowering blood pressure. Your physician will be able to give you an exercise plan that suits your heart condition and physical fitness levels. It's important not to overdo it too quickly. Tai chi is actually an excellent way to reduce blood pressure. Like yoga, it is relaxing, rhythmical, a stress reducer, and has great benefit on the nervous and parasympathetic systems within the body.

Having a regular exercise program may even reduce your need for blood pressure medication.

3. Eat more bananas! Bananas are high in potassium, which is great for reducing high blood pressure. Other dietary improvements include eating more fruit and vegetables generally. studies have found 8 servings of fruit and vegetables daily to be preferable, with these having a particular benefit for cardiovascular health:

* Lettuce
* spinach
* cauliflower
* cabbage
* broccoli
* swiss chard
* citrus fruits

And when these changes are combined with exercise, there are more significant improvements in blood pressure.

4. Make sure you get your folic acid: A study by the Harvard medical school looked at the benefits of folic acid on blood pressure, and found it to be highly beneficial, particularly amongst younger women. It seemed to have a protective effect against high blood pressure. Younger women who took at least 1mg of folic acid a day lowered their risk of hypertension by 46%. Older women who had reasonable amounts of folic acid daily lowered their risk by 18%. The study was conducted on 156,000 nurses, 19,720 of whom had high blood pressure.

5. Blessed chocolate: Dark chocolate, and foods and supplements that had high levels of cocoa including chocolate confectionary, cocoa sandwich filling and drinks, have been found to be associated with a lower blood pressure and reduced risk of dying from any cause in a small study conducted on 470 elderly men (they were on average 72 7ears old). The study followed them for 15 years, and those that ate more than 2.3 grams of cocoa a day had lower blood pressure than those that didn't. Researchers believe it is the flavanol component of cocoa that provides this beneficial effect.

Before thinking this is a green light to eat lots of chocolate, you'll need about 100 grams of dark chocolate a day to get the blood pressure benefits. That equates to an extra 500 calories per 100 grams, with an average fat content of 30%. Raw cocoa is not well taken by people when it is eaten in large amounts. The calorie and fat considerations need to be taken into account, although there are some chocolate bars out there that have a higher flavanol content.

For high blood pressure herbs, check this article. For other articles on blood pressure, click here. Submit health articles here.

Discount Yoga Dvds

Strengthening Exercise for Golf

You may have noticed that the last time you were at the driving range, your swing could not compare to those around you. Does that make them better golfers than you? No, it simply means that they are better trained than you are. What you need is a strengthening exercise for golf, and golf only. This is the case only because a strengthening exercise for golf is very different than a strengthening exercise for another sport. These exercises are not difficult, but expect to spend a little longer in the gym if you slack off early on.

No strengthening exercise for golf should take more than half an hour a day, for about three days a week. This is something that sounds easy, and it is. Remember, golfing requires the use of shoulders, back, wrists and elbows, so those are the parts of the body you should be working out. Sitting there working on your calves all day can help your appearance but it wont help your golf game.

This strengthening exercise for golf requires the use of isometrics. Isometrics is the practice of lifting a weight and holding it up for about ten seconds at a time. For example, a bench press with free weights can help your pectoral muscles grow. But instead of raising and lowering the bar countless times, you instead raise the bar once and hold it. Hold it. Hold it. Now lower it slowly. Rest a little and do this again two more times. Thats isometrics.

Strengthening Exercise for golf Routine:

Squats and lunges can help shape your hips which should be an important part of any golf swing. Do enough of these until you begin to feel a slight burning sensation.

A bench press, as stated before, can help pectorals which are connected to the arms. Ideally, you should use free weights instead of a bar, and you should only lift however much you can. Dont push yourself to your limits. This is not a contact sport where you must be stronger than your opposition. Lift and hold for ten seconds, let go, rest, and repeat twice.

A wrist curl can be a golfers best friend if they have club control issues. Using a free weight, curl your wrist upwards and hold for ten seconds. Let go and relax for a minute or so. Do this over again twice more.

For help with your weak swing, a row machine can help you out drastically. Start off with both arms hold, release, relax and repeat as usual. If you want to increase your swing without increasing weight, row yourself forward using just one arm at a time.

Remember to always stretch before and after any workout.

A strengthening exercise for golf seems really easy now that you see how its done, right? These are tips that anyone can try whether youre a professional player on a major golf tour or just a member of a country club.

This is a sample workout for a strengthening exercise for golf for any golf enthusiast who has the time and the determination to do so. http://www.squidoo.com/golftrainingexercise/

Yoga In New York City