(0:00 - 3:06) You've probably heard this one before, your blood pressure is too high, we need to get it down. Maybe it came with a prescription, maybe with a warning about stroke, heart attack or kidney failure. But what if we told you that the very model we use to define and treat high blood pressure might be flawed from the start? Welcome back to the Informed Healing Series, where we offer grounded, second opinions and smart conversations for people who are tired of chasing symptoms and ready to get curious about root causes. Today we're going to dismantle one of the most entrenched medical paradigms in modern history, the war on high blood pressure. Here's how it usually goes. You go to the doctor's office, a bit stressed already, maybe running late. They strap on a cuff, take one quick reading and tell you your blood pressure is too high. No deep breaths, no second reading after sitting calmly for five minutes, just numbers on a machine and then a prescription. But they forgot to mention one thing, your blood pressure is dynamic, not static. It responds to stress, breathing, hydration, posture and mineral levels, often within minutes. The white coat effect is real and millions are diagnosed based on artificially elevated readings taken under stress, not in the calm of daily life. There's an important truth that is often overlooked and ignored and it is that high blood pressure is not a disease, it's a measurement, a vital sign, a number that tells us about how hard your heart has to work to move blood through your vessels. And yet in western medicine, we often treat high blood pressure or hypertension like it's an enemy to be attacked, usually with a pharmaceutical force. Most people with high blood pressure are given medication that simply forces the number lower, beta blockers, ACE inhibitors or diuretics. If the meds work, the number drops, but so does your energy, your circulation, your mental clarity. Low blood pressure, now a side effect, is considered a The root cause? Still hiding in plain sight. This is the allopathic contradiction. We suppress the alarm without checking for the fire. When we treat a number without asking why the number is high, we risk missing the point completely. Blood pressure rises for many different reasons and sometimes that rise is the body doing its job to compensate, to adapt and to survive. Now here's something most people don't realise. The idea of what's considered normal blood pressure isn't fixed in stone, it's a moving target. In 2017 for example, the American Heart Association changed the definition of high blood pressure from 140 over 90 to 130 over 80. Overnight, millions of Americans became hypertensive with no change in their health status. (3:06 - 4:16) This change didn't happen because of new data showing everyone was sicker, it happened because of a philosophical shift in how aggressively we treat cardiovascular risk. But when guidelines are written by committees with ties to pharmaceutical funding, we must ask, are we defining disease or expanding a market? Now let's talk about what's actually driving chronically elevated blood pressure. It's not just hardened arteries. In fact, arterial stiffness is often a late stage consequence, not the original cause. From a functional perspective, high blood pressure is not a root problem, it's a compensation mechanism. Your body is increasing pressure to meet a demand. What are some of these underlying root causes? I will be only mentioning the most common reasons and not a full comprehensive list of the underlying causes of high blood pressure. First, number one, insulin resistance and a processed diet. Chronic blood sugar spikes from ultra-processed foods lead to insulin resistance, which in turn leads to the following, triggering inflammation, damaging endothelial lining, the delicate tissue inside your blood vessels. (4:17 - 4:34) This causes fluid retention and it also activates the sympathetic nervous system, your fight or flight mode. All of these raise blood pressure, not because of broken arteries, because of metabolic dysfunction. Number two, mineral imbalances and heavy metal toxicity. (4:35 - 6:40) Most people are depleted in magnesium, which relaxes blood vessels, and then potassium, which balances sodium. Meanwhile, toxic metals like lead, mercury, and cadmium often accumulate, displacing essential minerals and stiffening vascular vessels. This is for tools like the HTMA, hair tissue mineral analysis, can provide such vital insight. And number three, omega-3 deficiency and omega-6 versus 3 imbalance. The modern diet is swimming in inflammatory omega-6 soils, canola, soy, corn, and also low in anti-inflammatory omega-3s like DHA and EPA. This imbalance contributes to endothelial inflammation mentioned before, reduced nitric oxide production, which helps blood vessels relax, and then arterial stiffness. It's not just about adding fish oil, it's about reversing the ratio that drives inflammation. Then number four, elevated homocysteine. This is a marker of poor methylation, one of the detox steps performed by the liver. This has been shown to increase vascular inflammation, as well as clotting risk. This isn't typically measured on standard panels, but it matters. Then number five, nervous system imbalance. Stress, trauma, and unresolved fight or flight wiring all push the sympathetic system into overdrive. The body stays in a threat state and blood pressure rises accordingly. So what do we do instead when you might have received a diagnosis of high blood pressure? First, measure smarter. Don't rely on a rushed reading and taken in an office. Track your BP at home, rest, breathe, and then repeat. And then second, test smarter. Request testing for inflammation with markers like CRP, homocysteine, and fibrinogen. Then, evaluate for electrolyte and mineral imbalances, including heavy metal load via HTMA. Then address inflammation, reduce sugar intake, processed oils, and toxins, and increase real whole foods, good fats, and minerals. (6:41 - 7:35) Support the nervous system with breathwork, somatic practises, and stress mapping. Replace fear with contextual understanding, and then be sceptical of quick fixes. Medication can be life-saving, but also misused. Use it wisely, not as a substitute for root cause healing. So here's the paradigm shift. High blood pressure is not the enemy. It's the signal, the symptom, the indicator that your body is compensating for something deeper. Instead of chasing the number, ask, what is this pressure trying to overcome? Where is the inflammation coming from? And what system is being strained? Because true healing doesn't come from chasing numbers. It comes from listening to the signals and treating the whole person, not just the measurement. This is the Informed Healing Series. Stay rooted, stay curious, till we see each other in the next episode.