Eight months ago, I discovered I had high blood pressure, about 190/120. I was shocked. I knew that I’d not done more than one or two Master Cleanses in the last several years due to a pressing schedule, but even so….
Well, I decided to handle it naturally and spent the next 8 months discovering what could be done naturally to handle it, but before I give you what worked for me, I have to warn you.
I can’t be responsible for your health, neither can your doctor, wife or husband. Only you can be responsible for your health. Only licensed health care professionals are legally allowed to diagnose, treat or cure your personal illnesses. (Of course, legally being allowed to diagnose, treat or cure isn’t a guarantee that they will cure you.) So, take what I say and evaluate it for yourself against your own body. Everybody’s body is different. Penicillin will cure most people’s infection, but it does kill those who are allergic!
I’ll give you the short version here and save the long version for a book. Some of these are well known. One or two might be surprises.
- Exercise – After a few months of trying various kinds in a haphazard manner, I discovered that I needed to walk at least 30 minutes five days every week. Which five days didn’t seem to matter much. I don’t know about you, but I don’t really like to exercise. So, I was pleasantly surprised to discover interval walking: 3 minutes fast, 3 minutes slow. Having to time it gives me something to do and breaks it into short 3 minute intervals. When I went more than 2 days without walking, I would see my blood pressure begin to rise until I started walking again.
- Master Cleansing every 3 or 4 months – It’s been proven that fasting will lower blood pressure and the Master Cleanse is a modified juice fast. Not only does it lower it quickly within a few days, but after the fast there is a residual effect to keep it down. So, I started my regimen with a 29 day Master Cleanse. You don’t need to be that extreme. You can just do the usual 10 days.
- L-Arginine – This is an amino acid that has been shown in a few studies to reduce blood pressureby increasing the amount of nitrous oxide (NO) gas in the arteries. The 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine was given to for pioneering research on NO in human physiology. It is also involved in memory function! I take 750 mg per day.
- Vitamin C – Linus Pauling, the only scientist to ever win two unshared Nobel Prizes, said that vitamin C would cure heart disease and cancer. Established medicine laughed at him. Now 10 years after his death (in his 90’s) studies are beginning to find he was right. I take 2000 to 12000 mgs per day in divided doses.
- Calcium-Magnesium supplement – Daily magnesium supplementation can be useful in lowering blood pressure. So, I drink an instant calcium-magnesium drink every night. Both calcium and magnesium have to be taken in a roughly 2 to 1 proportion to stay in balance. What’s nice is I just put a teaspoon in a mug and add boiling water and it’s ready. No sugar added.
- Finally and most surprising to me was sleep! – That’s right. When I was still working out ways to lower my blood pressure, I woke up one morning when I was still tired and took my blood pressure. It was around 160/88. Feeling too tired to want to work, I went back to bed and got up more than 2 hours later only to discover my blood pressure was now below 130! Sure enough, on days I don’t get enough sleep my blood pressure is up. The Mayo Clinic agrees. So, be sure to get enough sleep to feel rested.
There you have it. Six things to lower your blood pressure naturally.
Hi Peter,
I find your advices on how to lower High Blood Pressure very applicable to many areas of body-care, especially as we get older. It’s amazing how we still think we are 17 years old in our mind but the body is 70!!!! I still haven’t fully figured that one out – but I know it is true.
Keep up your good work. I read it and appreciate it.
Hello Peter,
That was wonderful presentation.
This was very good data as both my husband, Peter Verhoeff, and I have been diagnosed with high blood pressure.
Time to do something.
May I share this in my next newsletter if I fully acknowledge you as source and refer them to your website?
Lynn Verhoeff
Absolutely and Happy New Year to you and your husband.
Hi, did you change your diet as part of your regimen to lower blood pressure?
No
THANK YOU!!! So inspired and ready to begin “The Master Cleanse” yayyyyy<3
Thank you for offering advice that does not promote products. So many articles offer advice however end up being a marketing tool to get people to buy the company’s products.
I was recently placed on Lisinopril and began having negative side effects early on (awful choking coughs, burning sensation on the tongue whenever food touched it, and mouth filled with what felt like cobwebs when I woke up in the AM making it hard to breathe). I made the decision to go off of the medication, especially after doing further research only to find that many people’s tongues or throats had swollen to the point where the only solution was a tracheotomy.
Sleep is my biggest problem. My brain just does not shut down so I have lived on an aver of 4 hours of sleep per night for many years. I need to find ways to turn my brain off.
I’m sorry to hear of your difficulties. The Master Cleanse may help you shut off your thinking. Also, you might consider a calcium-magnesium drink and B vitamins if you’re not taking them now.
Is it OK to do the salt water cleanse every morning if you have high blood pressure
Stanley Burroughs, the developer of the Master Cleanse, points out that the salt makes the water’s relative weight (specific density) the same as blood so the salt is not absorbed and it is flushed out of the body. In coaching more than 2000 people on the Master Cleanse, I have not heard of the salt water flush resulting in blood pressure problems.
I appreciate the tips. Will definitely try the l-Argenine. I have strict instructions from my heart surgeon (who saved my life a few years ago) to keep my blood pressure below 130/75. I went on blood pressure medication (which I don’t recommend). In trying to get off of it, I tried many things. I’m not taking any medications now and am consistently about 115/70. What worked for me was:
1) Exercise (5 miles of walking per day!)
2) Weight loss (I lost 30 lbs – still have about 10 to go to get down to my “ideal” BMI weight.
3) L-tryptophan to ensure that I fall asleep, and melatonin to ensure that I stay asleep.
4) “Blood Pressure Relief” from http://www.health-alternatives.com
5) “Cardio FX” from http://www.thepeopleschemist.com
6) Cinnamon supplements
7) Cayenne supplements
8) Ginger root supplements
9) Hawthorn berry extract 2x per day
I’ll be the first to admit it’s a lot! But it works for me.
Now I’m experimenting with cutting back on some of them to see what I can do without and still have my blood pressure where I want it.
Great info, Jere. Glad your heart surgeon saved your life, too!
So, how many hours do you need on average?
Everybody is different, but 8 hours is a good starting point. If you’re following this to lower blood pressure, you can try this (which is what I did): On a day when you can sleep in, get up when you usually do and take your blood pressure. Then go back to sleep. Take your blood pressure again after you wake up the second time.