June 28, 2020

Treating The Underlying Causes Of High Blood Pressure | Dr. George Papanicolaou on The Doctor’s Farmacy

About 25% of adults have hypertension (also known as high blood pressure)
- By 2025, it’s predicted that number will rise to 30%
  - “It’s also considered one of the leading causes of mortality to mankind” – Dr. George Papanicolaou
Being insulin resistant is one of the biggest factors of getting high blood pressure
- It makes it harder to regulate blood sugar which causes belly fat, and belly fat is a big factor in driving all sorts of diseases including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, depression, and other illnesses
  - Being insulin resistant also drives inflammation which causes oxidative stress which causes ‘rusting’ of your arteries and pipes
Sleep apnea is the other big factor in high blood pressure
- About 25 million Americans have sleep apnea
  - When you have sleep apnea, you aren’t getting enough oxygen to your body. As a result, your cortisol levels rise which causes inflammation and oxidative stress which is harmful to your arteries
Try to find imbalances or dysfunctions in your body that if corrected, will help the body return to its proper state
- That’s the goal of functional medicine:
  - “We’re not just managing these diseases, we’re getting rid of them and we’re not treating them, we’re treating the factors that are causing them and the diseases go away as a side effect” – Dr. Mark Hyman
“Anything that causes inflammation or oxidative stress will cause high blood pressure” – Dr. Mark Hyman

Dr. George Papanicolaou is a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and is Board Certified in Family Medicine from Abington Memorial Hospital, Abington, Pennsylvania
Host – Dr. Mark Hyman (@drmarkhyman)

About 25% of adults have hypertension (also known as high blood pressure)
- By 2025, it’s predicted that number will rise to 30%
  - “It’s also considered one of the leading causes of mortality to mankind” – Dr. George Papanicolaou
About 75 million Americans have hypertension
- About one in three adults in the US have pre-high blood pressure conditions
High blood pressure is a silent killer; most people don’t know they have it
- High-blood pressure can cause heart disease, stroke, blindness, and even kidney failure
“If you have high-blood pressure, you need to treat it” – Dr. Mark Hyman
The best method to get an accurate reading of your blood pressure is to do a 24-hour blood pressure monitoring test

Being insulin resistant is one of the biggest factors of getting high blood pressure
- It makes it harder to regulate blood sugar which causes belly fat, and belly fat is a big factor in driving all sorts of diseases including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, depression, and other illnesses
  - Being insulin resistant also drives inflammation which causes oxidative stress which causes ‘rusting’ of your arteries and pipes
Sleep apnea is the other big factor in high blood pressure
- About 25 million Americans have sleep apnea
  - When you have sleep apnea, you aren’t getting enough oxygen to your body. Consequently, your cortisol levels rise which causes inflammation and oxidative stress which is harmful to your arteries
    - If you’re tired during the day or snore during the night, you may have sleep apnea

A lack of magnesium may also cause high blood pressure
- About 45% of Americans are low in magnesium
  - “I call it the relaxation mineral” – Dr. Mark Hyman
A lack of potassium can be another factor of high blood pressure
- To get potassium, eat more green, leafy vegetables
Omega 3 fats and fish oil can also help bring down your blood pressure
Having high mercury and lead levels can also cause high blood pressure
Losing weight will help drop your blood pressure
The salt in your kitchen isn’t bad, it’s the salt that’s added in processed foods
Getting plenty of sleep and exercising daily helps lower blood pressure
“Anything that causes inflammation or oxidative stress will cause high blood pressure” – Dr. Mark Hyman
- Inflammation can also prevent nutrients from being absorbed
- Eating a lot of gluten can drive up inflammation and thus increase your blood pressure

Try to find imbalances or dysfunctions in your body that if corrected, will help the body return to its proper state
- That’s the goal of functional medicine
  - “We’re not just managing these diseases, we’re getting rid of them and we’re not treating them, we’re treating the factors that are causing them and the diseases go away as a side effect” – Dr. Mark Hyman
Having non-celiac gluten sensitivity can cause leaky gut, inflammation, and many other problems