Tag: Hypertension
Hypertension – Act now
Hypertension is called a “silent killer”. Most people with hypertension are unaware of the problem because it may have no warning signs or symptoms.
For this reason, it is essential that blood pressure is measured regularly.
The only way to detect hypertension is to have a health professional measure blood pressure. Having blood pressure measured is quick and painless.
HYPERTENSION: 10 NATURAL WAYS TO CONTROL IT WITHOUT MEDICATION
10 ways to control Hypertension without medication
By making these 10 lifestyle changes, you can lower your blood pressure and reduce your risk of heart disease.
If you’ve been diagnosed with hypertension, you might be worried about taking medication to bring your numbers down.
Lifestyle plays an important role in treating your hypertension. If you successfully control your blood pressure with a healthy lifestyle, you might avoid, delay or reduce the need for medication.
Here are 10 lifestyle changes you can make to lower your blood pressure and keep it down.
Lifestyle changes
- Lose extra pounds and watch your waistline
Blood pressure often increases as weight increases. Being overweight also can cause disrupted breathing while you sleep (sleep apnea), which further raises your blood pressure.
Weight loss is one of the most effective lifestyle changes for controlling blood pressure. Losing even a small amount of weight if you’re overweight or obese can help reduce your blood pressure. In general, you may reduce your blood pressure by about 1 millimeter of mercury (mm Hg) with each kilogram (about 2.2 pounds) of weight you lose.
Besides shedding pounds, you generally should also keep an eye on your waistline. Carrying too much weight around your waist can put you at greater risk of hypertension.
In general:
- Men are at risk if their waist measurement is greater than 40 inches (102 centimeters).
- Women are at risk if their waist measurement is greater than 35 inches (89 centimeters).
These numbers vary among ethnic groups. Ask your doctor about a healthy waist measurement for you.
- Exercise regularly
Regular physical activity — such as 150 minutes a week, or about 30 minutes most days of the week — can lower your blood pressure by about 5 to 8 mm Hg if you have hypertension. It’s important to be consistent because if you stop exercising, your blood pressure can rise again.
If you have elevated blood pressure, exercise can help you avoid developing hypertension. If you already have hypertension, regular physical activity can bring your blood pressure down to safer levels.
Some examples of aerobic exercise you may try to lower blood pressure include walking, jogging, cycling, swimming or dancing. You can also try high-intensity interval training, which involves alternating short bursts of intense activity with subsequent recovery periods of lighter activity. Strength training also can help reduce blood pressure. Aim to include strength training exercises at least two days a week. Talk to your doctor about developing an exercise program.
- Eat a healthy diet
Eating a diet that is rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products and skimps on saturated fat and cholesterol can lower your blood pressure by up to 11 mm Hg if you have hypertension. This eating plan is known as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet.
It isn’t easy to change your eating habits, but with these tips, you can adopt a healthy diet:
- Keep a food diary. Writing down what you eat, even for just a week, can shed surprising light on your true eating habits. Monitor what you eat, how much, when and why.
- Consider boosting potassium. Potassium can lessen the effects of sodium on blood pressure. The best source of potassium is food, such as fruits and vegetables, rather than supplements. Talk to your doctor about the potassium level that’s best for you.
- Be a smart shopper. Read food labels when you shop and stick to your healthy-eating plan when you’re dining out, too.
- Reduce sodium in your diet
Even a small reduction in the sodium in your diet can improve your heart health and reduce blood pressure by about 5 to 6 mm Hg if you have hypertension.
The effect of sodium intake on blood pressure varies among groups of people. In general, limit sodium to 2,300 milligrams (mg) a day or less. However, a lower sodium intake — 1,500 mg a day or less — is ideal for most adults.
To decrease sodium in your diet, consider these tips:
- Read food labels. If possible, choose low-sodium alternatives of the foods and beverages you normally buy.
- Eat fewer processed foods.Only a small amount of sodium occurs naturally in foods. Most sodium is added during processing.
- Don’t add salt. 1 level teaspoon of salt has 2,300 mg of sodium. Use herbs or spices to add flavor to your food.
- Ease into it. If you don’t feel you can drastically reduce the sodium in your diet suddenly, cut back gradually. Your palate will adjust over time.
Read also Diabetes: 14 Simple, effective herbs that works.
- Limit the amount of alcohol you drink
Alcohol can be both good and bad for your health. By drinking alcohol only in moderation — generally one drink a day for women, or two a day for men — you can potentially lower your blood pressure by about 4 mm Hg. One drink equals 12 ounces of beer, five ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof liquor.
But that protective effect is lost if you drink too much alcohol.
Drinking more than moderate amounts of alcohol can actually raise blood pressure by several points. It can also reduce the effectiveness of blood pressure medications.
- Quit smoking
Each cigarette you smoke increases your blood pressure for many minutes after you finish. Stopping smoking helps your blood pressure return to normal. Quitting smoking can reduce your risk of heart disease and improve your overall health. People who quit smoking may live longer than people who never quit smoking.
- Cut back on caffeine
The role caffeine plays in blood pressure is still debated. Caffeine can raise blood pressure up to 10 mm Hg in people who rarely consume it. But people who drink coffee regularly may experience little or no effect on their blood pressure.
Although the long-term effects of caffeine on blood pressure aren’t clear, it’s possible blood pressure may slightly increase.
To see if caffeine raises your blood pressure, check your pressure within 30 minutes of drinking a caffeinated beverage. If your blood pressure increases by 5 to 10 mm Hg, you may be sensitive to the blood pressure raising effects of caffeine. Talk to your doctor about the effects of caffeine on your blood pressure.
- Reduce your stress
Chronic stress may contribute to hypertension. More research is needed to determine the effects of chronic stress on blood pressure. Occasional stress also can contribute to hypertension if you react to stress by eating unhealthy food, drinking alcohol or smoking.
Take some time to think about what causes you to feel stressed, such as work, family, finances or illness. Once you know what’s causing your stress, consider how you can eliminate or reduce stress.
If you can’t eliminate all of your stressors, you can at least cope with them in a healthier way. Try to:
- Change your expectations.For example, plan your day and focus on your priorities. Avoid trying to do too much and learn to say no. Understand there are some things you can’t change or control, but you can focus on how you react to them.
- Focus on issues you can control and make plans to solve them.If you are having an issue at work, try talking to your manager. If you are having a conflict with your kids or spouse, take steps to resolve it.
- Avoid stress triggers. Try to avoid triggers when you can. For example, if rush-hour traffic on the way to work causes stress, try leaving earlier in the morning, or take public transportation. Avoid people who cause you stress if possible.
- Make time to relax and to do activities you enjoy. Take time each day to sit quietly and breathe deeply. Make time for enjoyable activities or hobbies in your schedule, such as taking a walk, cooking or volunteering.
- Practice gratitude. Expressing gratitude to others can help reduce your stress.
- Monitor your blood pressure at home and see your doctor regularly
Home monitoring can help you keep tabs on your blood pressure, make certain your lifestyle changes are working, and alert you and your doctor to potential health complications. Blood pressure monitors are available widely and without a prescription. Talk to your doctor about home monitoring before you get started.
Regular visits with your doctor are also key to controlling your blood pressure. If your blood pressure is well-controlled, check with your doctor about how often you need to check it. Your doctor may suggest checking it daily or less often. If you’re making any changes in your medications or other treatments, your doctor may recommend you check your blood pressure starting two weeks after treatment changes and a week before your next appointment.
- Get support
Supportive family and friends can help improve your health. They may encourage you to take care of yourself, drive you to the doctor’s office or embark on an exercise program with you to keep your blood pressure low.
If you find you need support beyond your family and friends, consider joining a support group. This may put you in touch with people who can give you an emotional or morale boost and who can offer practical tips to cope with your condition.
Reference
10 ways to control hypertension without medication. (2019, January 9). Retrieved October 22, 2019, from Mayoclinic.org: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-
Table salt – When It does more harm than good!!!
Table salt is a must in the food if we want people to eat whatever we cook. But we need to take a second look at the relationship between it and hypertension.
Table salt and Hypertension
Is Dietary Salt Associated With High Blood Pressure?
Studies have shown that high salt intake is associated with increased risk of high blood pressure and the efficacy of reducing salt intake in lowering blood pressure is well established.
How Does Salt Increase Blood Pressure?
Salt attracts water into the blood vessels thereby increasing the volume of blood in the body. This causes the heart to work harder to be able to pump more blood through the blood vessels.
What Are The Consequences Of High Salt Diet?
High salt intake is harmful to the body because
1. It causes the heart to increase in size.
2. It causes the blood vessels to thicken and become stiff.
3. It increases the severity of heart failure.
4. It increases the tendency of the platelets in the blood to stick together.
5. Accelerates the rate of kidney failure.
6. The arteries become narrow and thicken.
Increases the chances of stroke.
How Much Of Salt Should I Take?
The American Heart association recommends limiting daily sodium intake to not more than 1500mg. (A teaspoonful of salt has about 2400mg of sodium)
How Can I Reduce My Salt Intake?
1. Limit the amount of salt you consume.
11 food to eat if you want to control High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure simply means that the pressure (force) your heart is using to pump blood through your blood vessels to different parts of the body is consistently higher than normal.
High Blood Pressure is also know as Hypertension.
High blood pressure often may not show any symptoms. That is why it is called the SILENT KILLER.
Over time, if it is not treated, it can lead to other health conditions, such as heart disease and stroke.
Read Also 7 ways to reduce the risk of hypertension
High blood pressure (BP), or hypertension, is defined by two levels by 2017 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) guidelines.
(1) Elevated BP, with a systolic pressure (SBP) between 120 and 129 mm Hg and diastolic pressure (DBP) less than 80 mm Hg,
(2) Stage 1 hypertension, with an SBP of 130 to 139 mm Hg or a DBP of 80 to 89 mm Hg.
(3)
DASH DIET
DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. The DASH diet is a lifelong approach to healthy eating that’s designed to help treat or prevent high blood pressure (hypertension).
The DASH diet plan was developed to lower blood pressure without medication in research sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.
- Eat foods that are low in fat, salt and calories
- Use spices (eg curry) and herbs instead of salt to flavor foods.
- Use less oil, butter, margarine, and salad dressing
- Eat low fat dairy it. such as skinless chicken and turkey
- Avoid foods that are high in saturated fat and cholesterol such as fried foods.
- Eat plenty of whole grain products, fish, poultry, and nuts
- Eat less of red meat and Sweets.
- Eat foods that are high magnesium, potassium, and calcium e.g. fruits such as banana.
- Eat low salt, ready to eat Cereals.
- Eat plenty of vegetables
- Eat prepared convenience foods that has low salt.
Disclaimer: The medical information provided is for information resource only. This information does not create any patient-physician relationship and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.
7 ways to reduce the risk of hypertension
Hypertension simply means having a consistent blood pressure above 120/80mmHg.
Hypertension is also called High Blood pressure.
You can only determine your blood pressure using a measuring equipment called Sphygmomanometer
Clinical Sphygmomanometer image from Wikipedia
A normal blood pressure is less than 120/80mg.
How Often Should you check your Blood Pressure ?
This depends on your blood pressure reading.
Blood pressure is measured using two numbers. The first number, called systolic blood pressure, measures the pressure in your blood vessels when your heart beats. The second number, called diastolic blood pressure, measures the pressure in your blood vessels when your heart rests between beats
1. If your blood pressure is normal (less than 120/80), you can check every year or more depending as your health care provider.
2. With elevated blood pressure is elevated — systolic blood pressure between 120 and 129 or diastolic blood pressure of less than 80 — check it every 3-6 months.
Health care provider will probably recommend lifestyle changes like more exercise and a better diet.
3. Stage 1 hypertension — 130-139 over 89-90 — the health care provider might suggest lifestyle changes and see you again in 3-6 months. Or he could tell you to make the changes and give you medication, then recheck your condition in a month. It depends on what other health conditions or risk factors you have.
4. Someone with stage 2 hypertension — 140/90 or higher — will likely get medication.
You’ll also be asked to make lifestyle changes and see the health care provider again in a month.
Read also 11 food to eat if you want to control High Blood Pressure.
How to reduce risk of developing Hypertension.
Reducing the chances of developing hypertension is a matter of lifestyle.
What you goes into your mouth and how’s you treat your body.
Basically, this includes
- Check your blood pressure regularly.
- Eat a healthy diet
- Maintain a healthy weight
- Be physically active
- Limit the quantity of alcohol you consume.
- Don’t smoke and if you have started, it is better if you stop completely
- Prevent diabetes by watching what you eat. The best bet is to follow a diet known as DASH DIET
- If you have diabetes, try and ensure your blood sugar is under control. This is very important because diabetes blood sugarf you have.
Disclaimer: The medical information provided is for information resource only. This information does not create any patient-physician relationship and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.