Can CBD Help High Blood Pressure

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Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

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By now CBD oil has been well established with a fully deserved reputation for providing incredible health benefits; for a variety of ailments and illnesses. But can CBD help reduce high blood pressure and its causes?

What is High Blood Pressure?

People sometimes call high blood pressure the silent killer because it often has no symptoms. Hypertension (the technical term for high blood pressure) can lead to life-threatening complications if left unchecked.

Your blood pressure is measured both by the amount of blood your heart pumps, and the amount of resistance to blood flow in your arteries. The more blood your heart pumps and the narrower your arteries, the higher your blood pressure.

You can have high blood pressure for years without any symptoms. Unfortunately, this means that by the time symptoms do show, the damage has usually already been done. Uncontrolled high blood pressure increases your risk of serious health problems, including heart attack and stroke.

On the upside, high blood pressure can be easily detected and regularly checked by a doctor. You can also check at home with the right equipment. Whilst in most cases you can regulate hypertension with lifestyle changes; for some people, it can require medicating, often for the rest of their life.

But, instead of medication for the rest of your life, what else can you do? 

What Causes High Blood Pressure?

Many factors can cause high blood pressure such as:

• Diet
• Stress
• Age
• Alcohol consumption
• Smoking
• Ethnic Background
• Exercise
• Family History
• Salt intake

Most of these causes you can control and are easy ways to lower your blood pressure. For example, eating a healthy diet, drinking less, and doing more exercise. But some causes like your age and family history are entirely out of your control. This can contribute significantly to your susceptibility to hypertension. 

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How is High Blood Pressure Treated?

Aside from making lifestyle changes, there are different kinds of medications your doctor can prescribe. They help lower your blood pressure – here we list a few:

• Beta-Blockers – these slow your heart rate down
• Diuretics – help your body expel excess water and salt
• ACE Inhibitors – these relax your blood vessels
• Angiotensin II receptor blockers – block a chemical that constricts blood vessels

All these medications can have bad side effects and could cause you further health issues, especially when taken over a long period of time.

So then, what can you do instead?

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How Can CBD Oil Help High Blood Pressure?

CBD has been evidenced to reduce blood pressure in both human and animal studies. There is also an enormous amount of anecdotal evidence from people using it directly for blood pressure, as well as people who are using it as part of a routine aimed at making more positive lifestyle choices.  

If you're interested, read on to find out a little more about how CBD impacts several problems that are all linked to increased blood pressure in your body.

CBD Increases Blood Flow Around Your Body

Recent studies suggest that CBD oil may be beneficial in dealing with high blood pressure. These studies have shown that CBD is a vasodilator. This means the CBD oil opens (dilates) your blood vessels, making it easier for your heart to pump blood around your body. This in turn lowers your blood pressure. The studies also suggest that CBD can help create normal heart rhythm and improve heart performance immediately after a heart attack.

Interestingly, CBD has also been shown to lower the blood pressure increase associated with an increased heart rate following stress. Simply put, it helps to keep your blood pressure lower when you're both stressed and at rest. 

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The Effects of Stress and CBD

Whilst endocannabinoids can help regulate blood pressure, they cannot solely provide the required effect. One of the leading causes of hypertension is stress. Luckily for us, CBD also has anti-anxiety properties which help reduce high resting blood pressure connected to stress.

CBD is well known for its ability to block the receptors in your brain; the ones that are associated with anxiety and fear. CBD also helps your body to regulate your body's stress hormone (cortisol) levels. 

Many people who have started to take CBD for its anti-anxiety and calming effects also notice the secondary effect of a drop in stress-induced hypertension. We'd call that a win-win situation! 

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You Sleep Better When Taking CBD

When you are taking CBD and your stress levels begin to reduce. You will likely notice that you begin to get more sleep and higher quality deep sleep. 

This once again has the fantastic knock-on effect of helping to reduce your stress levels even further. All while your body begins to naturally balance its stress hormone levels. When you are sleeping better it also allows your body the ability to physically recover. And further as well as mentally refocus, all of which can help combat high blood pressure.

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Neurological Effects of CBD

CBD can potentially also provide neuroprotective effects by increasing cerebral blood flow. We know this sounds quite complicated. In essence, it means that CBD has been shown to increase blood flow into your brain. In particular, the areas that deal with memory and the hippocampus that deals with both learning and emotion.  

By increasing blood flow to these areas of the brain, CBD can aid in the fight against certain serious neurological disorders. Here we can mention the most common, such as Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder. As I'm sure you can imagine there is often a close link between neurological disorders, stress, and increased blood pressure. 

By potentially helping to alleviate the formation and further development of symptoms CBD can play a role in reducing the associated stress and increased blood pressure. 

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CBD Fights Inflammation

CBD's proven ability to fight inflammation needs no introduction. 

Eliminating or reducing inflammation in your body is a great way of preventing high blood pressure or seeing it off once hypertension has kicked in. Over time, your lifestyle may cause inward swelling of arteries' walls which then tighten the blood's passages. For example, prolonged alcohol and drug use, as well as things like a lack of exercise and poor diet, can increase the inflammation of your blood vessels. 

This in turn makes it much harder for your heart to pump blood around your body. The harder your heart has to work to pump the blood around your body, the more stressed it becomes. Hence the greater your risk of cardiac disease or heart attacks. 

Whilst CBD vasodilates the passages by relaxing and widening them, you still need to lead a healthy lifestyle to see its full benefits.

If you want to know more about CBD for inflammation:

• CBD side effects
• Benefits of CBD for seniors
• Men's health at every age – could CBD help?
• How long does CBD stay in the body?
• Buy CBD for inflammation

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Cardiac Contractility

Excessive work can create another form of hypertension characterized by the heart pumping blood too fast. A neurotransmitter called anandamide plays a critical role in the functioning of the heart. CBD oil controls the re-uptake of vital heart neurotransmitters that control the cardiovascular system.

Cannabidiol as a Natural Pain Killer

CBD is regularly taken as a natural, alternative painkiller. This is partly due to its anti-inflammatory effects which alleviate the pain associated with excessive inflammation. It also has an analgesic effect. Because CBD oil acts on the pain receptors in the brain, it can have the secondary effect of reducing high blood pressure associated with long-term and chronic pain. 

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Choosing CBD for High Blood Pressure

If by now you're liking the sound of CBD as an alternative to traditional or prescription medications, it is important to choose carefully. As we have mentioned previously, CBD products cannot be used alone to treat high blood pressure.

CBD is not a medication; it is a supplement. This means that CBD should be used as part of a complete and sustained choice to make better health and lifestyle choices. And if you do make this choice, CBD can provide you with an incredible boost. 

It is also important to make the right choices when it comes to choosing a CBD product to suitably help with high blood pressure. For example, topical skin creams containing CBD will not make it into your bloodstream and will therefore never help with reducing your blood pressure.

There is also a difference between how quickly certain products are processed by your body. For instance, edible CBD products such as our CBD candies and our line of CBD pills will take longer to get into your system than our oils and CBD e-liquids. 

This is because the oils which you place under your tongue and e-liquids for vapes that you inhale enter almost directly into your bloodstream, getting to work much faster.

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What Dose Should I Use for High Blood Pressure?

Whenever anyone begins to use our CBD products, we always recommend starting with a small dose of a lower-strength CBD oil (or any of our products). This is so that you can assess your tolerance and find a balance that is exactly right for you. 

Some people require higher strengths than others, and it's entirely personal. 

If you want to use CBD to help lower your blood pressure we would recommend following the advice above and slowly increasing your dose whilst regularly testing your blood pressure (with an electronic cuff for example) to find strength and dosage where you notice a difference.

While CBD can help bring your blood pressure down, if you are currently taking any prescription or over-the-counter medication for it, then you should always consult your doctor before stopping use.

Thankfully, CBD can be used alongside most other medications with the exception of a small few which you can read about here. 

If you have any further questions or queries relating to CBD and how it can help you with high blood pressure (or any questions at all) then please feel free to get in touch with our fabulous team! 

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