Major Risks Linked to High Systolic Pressure

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Lower Systolic Hypertension

“Treatment involves first finding the underlying cause,” says Dennis Goodman, M.D., a senior board-certified cardiologist in the Scripps Integrative Medicine Department, San Diego.

Systolic blood pressure rises with anxiety, Goodman says, and for this reason many doctors recommend meditation for their hypertensive patients. “If [anxiety] is the case, once the person relaxes, the hypertension goes away,” he says. “Otherwise, you need to look at lifestyle habits that may be contributing to it: excess weight, sodium, etc. We don’t have a drug just for systolic hypertension.”
           
If patients want to first try a natural route to lowering blood pressure and are candidates for lifestyle changes only, Goodman advocates integrative medicine, combining conventional medicine with complementary and natural remedies. But, he warns, this path may take too much time to see a benefit.
           
“The sooner you get your blood pressure down, the lower the risk of stroke,” he says. “If you wait six months to get your pressure down, you have a higher risk than someone who lowered their blood pressure in a shorter time.”
           
In fact, if your blood pressure is higher than 180/110 mmHg or you have other risk factors, such as diabetes, you should talk with your doctor about starting medication, or a combination or medicines, right away. It can always be stopped or lowered if lifestyle changes work.