#1 Absolute Worst Blood Pressure Advice Your Doctor Gives You

Hello, health champions! Today we're going to talk  about the absolute worst advice that people get for high blood pressure. One common thing people  are told is that blood pressure is genetic—'Your dad had it, so you're going to get it, and there's  nothing you can do about it.

' Well, that advice is absolutely false. There is something called  genetics, and then there's something else called epigenetics. Genetics is what you're  born with—what you get from your mom and dad at the moment of conception—but epigenetics is  how you express it, which is influenced by your lifestyle.

You can have genes and not express  them, or you can express them well or poorly. The reason some believe you're going to get high blood pressure if your dad had it is because many  people eat like their dad, think like their dad, and sit on the couch like their dad. Therefore,  they develop high blood pressure just like their dad.

You're more like your dad or your parents  than you might think because of something called mirror neurons. These are brain cells that cause  you to mimic what you see. You grow up with them, so when you see something, you tend to mimic  it—whether it's posture, the way you speak, or the way you move.

This also applies to  beliefs and responses in different situations. By the time you're two years old, many experts  state that your personality and responses are about 98% determined, long before you actually  have a conscious mind and start thinking about things. This is why it's so important  to understand the difference between epigenetics and genetics and to recognize why we  are so much like our parents.

But, we can learn, make decisions, change our lifestyle, and  shift our belief systems to actively do something about it. To claim that it's genetic  and there's nothing you can do about it is very disempowering. Unfortunately, this kind of advice  is widespread in mainstream medicine.

We're told, 'This is what you have; this is who you  are, and there's nothing you can do about it,' simply because many doctors don't see people  change, so they assume that's just the way it is. But I want you to know that if you're watching  this, then you were born with near-perfect DNA. Yes, there are genetic variations and differences  between people, and we may have predispositions to different things.

But for the most part,  your genome is 99. 99999% absolutely perfect, and most of your health issues—or your health  potential—are determined by your lifestyle. Another piece of bad advice is: 'Just take  this pill and keep taking it for the rest of your life.

If this pill doesn't work, I have  other pills we can try. ' This is the essence of the medical model. In mainstream medicine,  when we have a symptom, we take a pill for it.

If it doesn’t work, we try something else.  But the question we need to ask is, 'Why is your blood pressure high in the first place? '  Blood pressure is not something you 'have'; it's something your nervous system and your body  are creating every moment of your existence.

With every heartbeat, you're creating blood  pressure. So if it's chronically too high, that means something is out of balance. And  'out of whack' is a scientific term that means your body's ability to regulate and maintain  equilibrium—or homeostasis—isn't working properly.

But does this happen for no reason? Or does  it happen for some reason? I believe it always happens for a reason.

There is no randomness in  the body; it’s designed to do things in a certain way. If something is expressed a certain  way, it's because the body is interpreting something that way, or it has lost the ability to  maintain equilibrium. Yet, in mainstream medicine, we're often told things just happen for no reason,  as if they are random.

I don’t believe that. Another piece of bad advice is, 'Don't worry, it's  not that high. ' This can go both ways, because on one hand, some people tend to worry too much.

We  need to understand when it's appropriate to worry, so to speak, and when we have some time. If your  blood pressure is something like 180/120, this is a crisis—what we call a hypertensive crisis.  It's not something to take lightly.

You need to seek help and figure this out as quickly as  possible. The next level below that is stage two hypertension, which is when your blood pressure is  140/90 or above. These numbers represent systolic and diastolic pressure.

The first number is  the systolic pressure, which is when your heart contracts and squeezes blood. That's when  the pressure is highest. The second number, the diastolic pressure, is the background resistance  when your heart relaxes and fills back up.

Below that is stage one hypertension,  where the blood pressure is 130-139 on the systolic and 80-89 on the diastolic.  And then below that is 120-129/80-89, which they call prehypertension. This isn't a huge  problem yet, but it’s something to keep an eye on.

So, what do these different levels mean?  Well, the top level, that's a crisis. It's an emergency.

Think of it like a car: if your  pressure builds up too high, you could blow a gasket. And that’s quite literally what could  happen if your blood pressure stays high for any length of time. The sheer pressure and friction  in your nervous system can cause a stroke and create physical damage from all that pressure.

If  you can’t bring it down within a couple of days, then you probably need to get on some medication  until you can figure out what's going on. The next level down, marked in yellow, represents  mild hypertension. This level probably won't cause any immediate physical damage, but we're going to  discuss why you should still be concerned about it.

Below 130, where they call it prehypertension,  I don't really consider that hypertension. For some people, that could be a little too high;  for others, it could be normal. We don’t want to jump to conclusions.

It’s also important to  check whether these numbers represent a trend or just a one-time occurrence. Have they measured  your blood pressure several times over a week, or was it just one measurement? Have you measured it  at home in a relaxed setting, or was it taken in a stressful environment like a doctor’s office or  a mall, where people are rushing around, there are fluorescent lights, and white coats everywhere? 

Those factors can make a big difference. Don't think you have high blood pressure just  because you get one high reading. On one hand, there’s a tendency to worry too much; on the  other hand, we don't worry quite enough.

And when I say 'worry,' I don’t mean you should  stress, because stress itself can raise blood pressure. What I mean is, we don't concern  ourselves enough with the right things. If your blood pressure is between 121 and 140,  there is a slight correlation between that and cardiovascular disease or poor health.

But it’s  not the blood pressure itself that's causing harm, because this level of blood pressure is  very unlikely to cause physical damage like the hypertensive crisis would. But when  there’s still a correlation to chronic disease, it indicates that something else is going  on. This is where I believe we go wrong.

We worry too much about the wrong thing. When you  take medication to lower your blood pressure, you might cover up the real problem. If a doctor  tells you, 'Just take this pill, it will fix your problem, and you don’t have to worry about  it,' that’s absolutely the wrong approach.

Here's a classic piece of bad advice for high  blood pressure: 'Eat less salt. ' We’ll discuss why they think that, and this might  be one of the most important things for you to understand. Right now, 1.

3 billion  people in the world have high blood pressure, and virtually all of them have been told to eat  less salt, as if that were the key. Here’s why they’re thinking this way: salt binds water.  Water follows salt in the body, especially in the kidneys.

Therefore, if you eat more  salt, you're going to retain more water, increasing the fluid volume in your circulatory  system and raising blood pressure. So far, that theory is correct. But it's also assuming  that the body is stupid, incapable, and random, and that it has no way of regulating and changing  blood pressure based on different situations.

However, there's something called pressure  diuresis or pressure natriuresis. Don't worry about the terms—we're going to explain them  in detail and keep it simple. It's critical that you understand this concept  and follow the entire explanation.

We all know what pressure is, and 'diuresis'  refers to the flow of urine—the fluid that we filter out of our blood, the extracellular  fluid. Pressure diuresis means the excretion of fluid through urine, and pressure natriuresis  refers to sodium (or salt) excretion. This means that a very slight increase in blood pressure  will increase the flow and pressure through the kidneys, causing less sodium to be reabsorbed. 

So, if we go from reabsorbing 99% of sodium to reabsorbing 98. 5%, that's a significant decrease,  leading to more sodium excretion. As a result, we get rid of more fluid, decreasing blood  volume and reducing blood pressure.

Let’s see what the Journal of Physiology  has to say about this. They’re one of the top authorities on this topic. They  state that this mechanism—pressure natriuresis—is a uniquely powerful means  of stabilizing long-term blood pressure around a set point.

What does this mean? Well,  'uniquely powerful' means that it can override all other responses. Stabilizing long-term  pressure around a set point means that blood pressure is supposed to fluctuate based on your  situation—whether you're lying down, sleeping, or working out—but the body has a long-term  average set point that it strives to maintain.

They go on to say that any long-term  or sustained deviation from this set point, like chronic high blood pressure, can  only happen if there is an impairment in this regulating mechanism. In other words,  this mechanism is so powerful that your blood pressure should return to normal  unless something is preventing it from doing so. The body is always evaluating and  deciding whether to keep blood pressure high based on the circumstances or to lower it  when high blood pressure is no longer needed.

Now, let’s explore the real causes of high  blood pressure. There are two main categories: metabolic and neurologic. In the metabolic  category, we see things like insulin resistance.

If you've watched my channel before, you know I  talk a lot about insulin resistance because it’s the number one contributor to chronic diseases,  including high blood pressure. Insulin resistance is followed by sodium retention, an increase  in AGEs (Advanced Glycation End-products), chronic inflammation, oxidative stress,  vascular dysfunction, decreased kidney function, chronic kidney disease, and an increase in  RAAS (Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System). Insulin resistance causes increased sodium  retention, which impairs the body’s ability to regulate blood pressure.

It also increases AGEs,  which are toxic, inflammatory compounds. Insulin resistance leads to higher blood sugar, and the  advanced stage of insulin resistance is type 2 diabetes. AGEs wreak havoc on the vascular system,  causing scarring and stiffening of blood vessels, which, in turn, can lead to kidney dysfunction  and improper signaling.

All of these factors can cause an increase in RAAS, which  we will discuss in more detail shortly. The neurologic response, on the  other hand, is purposeful. When we experience a fight-or-flight response,  the sympathetic nervous system is activated, increasing blood pressure to deliver more  energy to the body.

This neurologic component works primarily through sodium  retention and the RAAS mechanism. Now, let's tie this all together using the  example of exercise. When you exercise, your body needs more energy, and the way to increase  energy production is to send more resources—more blood—to your muscles.

During intense exercise,  your blood pressure could rise to as high as 200, or even 300 during short bursts of intense  weightlifting. If you're in a sauna and jump into ice water, your blood pressure could also spike  due to the sudden constriction of blood vessels. If you remember what we talked about regarding  the body's ability to lower blood pressure through pressure diuresis, you might wonder: Does this  mean every time you exercise or experience high blood pressure, you’ll start excreting more fluid,  potentially "peeing your pants"?

After all, if blood pressure is high, shouldn't your body be  trying to lower it by getting rid of extra fluid? The answer is no, it doesn't work  that way, because when you exercise, you're supposed to have high blood pressure.  Your body has a mechanism to compensate for that.

Whenever you're in a fight-or-flight  response, exercising, or under significant stress, your sympathetic nervous system is activated, and  your kidneys release a hormone called renin—the 'R' in RAAS (Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone  System). Renin kick-starts a cascade of events in which angiotensin, another hormone, causes  vasoconstriction—meaning it tightens your blood vessels. Think of this like putting your thumb  over the end of a garden hose: by reducing the opening, water shoots out faster and further. 

This is how the body increases blood pressure. But there is also a counterbalancing  system: aldosterone, another hormone released by the adrenal glands. Aldosterone  causes your kidneys to retain more sodium, ensuring that during times of high demand—like  exercise—the body retains enough fluid to maintain blood pressure and blood volume. 

Essentially, while RAAS can increase blood pressure to maintain the blood flow, diuresis  can reduce it. These two systems work in balance, ensuring that your body doesn’t deplete itself of  fluid during a temporary rise in blood pressure. So if you understand how this system  works, it becomes clear that salt is not the cause of chronic high blood pressure.

Salt  simply follows the orders of your body’s hormones, being excreted or retained as needed. Salt is  one of the most abundant minerals on the planet, and many species, including humans, evolved  to thrive in environments with high salt content—think of the ocean. In fact, there are 17  billion pounds of salt per person in the ocean, so it’s not a foreign substance that  the body doesn’t know how to handle.

The real issue arises when your body’s regulatory  system is broken, which could be due to insulin resistance, kidney failure, or other  metabolic dysfunctions. In these cases, eating extra salt can make things worse  because your body no longer knows how to properly regulate sodium and fluid  levels. But that doesn’t mean salt is the cause of high blood pressure—just that your  body has lost its ability to handle it properly.

This misunderstanding is where we often go  wrong, especially with the common advice to “just avoid salt. ” We’ve been told that salt is  bad for us, and people with high blood pressure are repeatedly warned to reduce their salt  intake. But salt doesn’t cause your body’s regulatory system to fail.

It’s other factors,  like insulin resistance and inflammation, that impair your body’s ability to regulate  blood pressure. If you have severe insulin resistance or kidney failure, reducing  your sodium intake may be necessary, and you should discuss it with  your doctor. But if you’re healthy, salt is not going to give you high blood  pressure or damage your regulatory mechanisms.

Another commonly repeated piece of advice is,  “Just avoid stress. ” This sounds nice, but it’s almost useless advice unless you truly understand  what stress is and how it affects you. Stress isn’t just about avoiding certain events or things  in your environment—because, realistically, you can’t avoid everything.

Stress is  about how your body responds to those events. Two different people  can experience the exact same event, yet one person is barely affected while the  other person is devastated. It’s not the event itself that causes stress—it’s how  your nervous system is wired to respond.

Stress can be divided into three main  types: chemical, structural (or mechanical), and emotional. Most people only think of stress  as emotional—someone cutting you off in traffic or a difficult conversation—but chemical  and structural stress are just as important. Chemical stress comes from things  like blood sugar fluctuations.

When your blood sugar spikes after  eating sugar or processed foods, your body has to release insulin to lower it. When  it drops, your body releases cortisol, a stress hormone, to bring it back up. These constant ups  and downs are a huge stressor on your system.

Then there are toxins like heavy metals, pesticides,  artificial sweeteners, and preservatives. All these things interfere with your body’s  regulatory systems and create inflammation. Structural stress comes from a  lack of movement, bad posture, or physical trauma.

If you sprain your ankle  and start limping, you’re going to create new movement patterns that stress your body in  unnatural ways. Lack of movement—whether from sitting all day or poor posture—can disrupt the  signals your body sends to the brain. Chiropractic care can help address this by ensuring proper  movement and alignment in the spine, which is crucial because 90% of the signals that keep your  brain alive come from receptors in your spine.

Finally, we have emotional stress. This isn’t  just about the big events that make you cry or get angry; it’s also the constant, low-grade stress  many people live with daily—worrying, anger, and the need for control. Many people don’t even  realize that when they try to control something, it’s actually that thing that ends up  controlling them.

Why? Because if you’re emotionally invested in controlling  something, and you can’t control it, then the situation controls your emotional  state, which is incredibly stressful. This is why it’s so important to learn to  let go and adopt a more relaxed outlook on life.

If you try to control things that are out  of your hands, you’re only adding to your stress. I’m sure you’ve also heard, “Just lose some  weight. ” It doesn’t matter whether you go to the doctor for knee pain, back pain, or high  blood pressure—the advice is always the same: “Just lose some weight.

” There’s nothing wrong  with losing weight, but it’s not the primary solution for many health issues. Most people don’t  know how to lose weight effectively, and even the doctors giving that advice often don’t either.  Weight itself isn’t the problem; the real problem is the underlying factors that lead to  weight gain, particularly insulin resistance.

Insulin resistance is at the root of  so many health issues because it causes chronic, low-grade inflammation, which creates  a vicious cycle. This cycle is made worse by the processed, nutrient-depleted  foods we eat, like white sugar, white flour, and processed vegetable oils.  These “white trash” foods make up about 70% of the calories consumed in the United  States.

Add to that the toxins in our food, water, and air, and you have a recipe for  chronic health problems and weight gain. If you want to lose weight and lower your blood  pressure, it’s not just about cutting calories or eating less fat. You need to address the  underlying metabolic, structural, and emotional issues driving these problems.

For example, bad  fats—like those in processed vegetable oils—are harmful, but good fats, like those in extra virgin  olive oil, grass-fed beef, and wild-caught fish, are beneficial for your health. It’s  not about avoiding fat altogether—it’s about choosing the right kinds of fat. So, if the problem with high blood pressure  is really metabolic and neurological, you need to understand where you stand in terms  of your metabolic health.

To do that, you need to measure your risk factors, and these are  not the standard things most doctors measure, like total cholesterol. You need to be looking  at markers like C-reactive protein, which is a measure of inflammation, and insulin levels,  which are the best markers for insulin resistance. You should also measure LDL particle count  and size, homocysteine, and LP(a), which is a genetic risk factor for sticky cholesterol  formation.

Once you know where you stand, you can make changes to address your real risk  factors, not just cover them up with medication. In my videos, I talk  extensively about these factors, and I've created a course to help you  understand what to look for in your blood tests and how it all fits together.  If your doctor won’t measure these markers, you can contact my office, and we’ll help  you.

In addition to the blood work course, we offer consultations to guide you through  the process and help interpret your results. The other half of blood pressure is  neurological, so you need to understand how stress works and how to change your  stress responses. You can’t change the world, but you can change how your body responds to it. 

Your automatic, knee-jerk responses can be rewired through practices like deep breathing and  meditation. These techniques literally rewire your nervous system so it no longer reacts in  the same way. We also use tools like BrainTap and HeartMath in the office to help people accelerate  this process because meditation and breathing exercises can be tricky for beginners.

These tools  help you stay focused and get consistent results. If you want to check those out, I’ll put some  information below. And if you enjoyed this video, you’ll love the next one.

If you  truly want to master your health by understanding how your body really works,  make sure to subscribe, hit that bell, and turn on notifications so you  never miss a life-saving video.