HOW TO CONTROL HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE YOURSELF
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Diseases and Conditions High blood pressure
(hypertension) If you've been diagnosed with high
blood pressure (a systolic pressure
— the top number — of 140 or
above or a diastolic pressure — the
bottom number — of 90 or above),
you might be worried about taking medication to bring
your numbers
down. Lifestyle plays an important role in
treating your high blood pressure. If
you successfully control your blood
pressure with a healthy lifestyle, you
may 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. 1. Lose extra pounds and
watch your waistline Blood pressure often increases as
weight increases. Losing just 10
pounds (4.5 kilograms) can help
reduce your blood pressure. In
general, the more weight you lose,
the lower your blood pressure. Losing weight also
makes any blood
pressure medications you're taking
more effective. You and your doctor
can determine your target weight
and the best way to achieve it. Besides shedding
pounds, you
should also keep an eye on your
waistline. Carrying too much weight
around your waist can put you at
greater risk of high blood pressure.
In general: Men are at risk if their waist
measurement is greater than 40
inches (102 centimeters, or cm). Women are at risk if
their waist
measurement is greater than 35
inches (89 cm). Asian men are at risk if their
waist measurement is greater
than 36 inches (91 cm). Asian women are at risk if their
waist measurement is greater
than 32 inches (81 cm). 2. Exercise regularly Regular
physical activity — at least
30 to 60 minutes most days of the
week — can lower your blood
pressure by 4 to 9 millimeters of
mercury (mm Hg). And it doesn't take
long to see a difference. If you haven't been active,
increasing your
exercise level can lower your blood
pressure within just a few weeks. If you have
prehypertension —
systolic pressure between 120 and
139 or diastolic pressure between 80
and 89 — exercise can help you
avoid developing full-blown
hypertension. If you already have hypertension, regular
physical
activity can bring your blood
pressure down to safer levels. Talk to your doctor about
developing an exercise program.
Your doctor can help determine
whether you need any exercise
restrictions. Even moderate activity
for 10 minutes at a time, such as walking and light
strength training,
can help. But avoid being a "weekend
warrior." Trying to squeeze all your
exercise in on the weekends to
make up for weekday inactivity isn't
a good strategy. Those sudden
bursts of activity could actually be risky. 3. 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
14 mm Hg. 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. Make a shopping list
before heading to
the supermarket to avoid picking
up junk food. Read food labels
when you shop and stick to your
healthy-eating plan when you're
dining out, too. Cut yourself some slack. Although the
DASH diet is a
lifelong eating guide, it doesn't
mean you have to cut out all of
the foods you love. It's OK to
treat yourself occasionally to
foods you wouldn't find on a DASH diet menu, such as a
candy
bar or mashed potatoes with
gravy. 4. Reduce sodium in your
diet Even a small reduction in the sodium
in your diet can reduce blood
pressure by 2 to 8 mm Hg. The
recommendations for reducing
sodium are: Limit sodium to 2,300 milligrams
(mg) a day or less. A lower sodium level — 1,500
mg a day or less — is
appropriate for people 51 years
of age or older, and individuals
of any age who are African-
American or who have high blood pressure, diabetes or
chronic kidney disease. To decrease sodium in your diet,
consider these tips: Track how much salt is in your
diet. Keep a food diary to estimate how much sodium is
in
what you eat and drink each
day. Read food labels. If possible, choose low-sodium
alternatives
of the foods and beverages you
normally buy. Eat fewer processed foods. Potato chips,
frozen dinners,
bacon and processed lunch
meats are high in sodium. Don't add salt. Just 1 level
teaspoon of salt has 2,300 mg of
sodium. Use herbs or spices,
rather than salt, to add more
flavor to your foods. Ease into it. If you don't feel like
you can drastically reduce the
sodium in your diet suddenly, cut
back gradually. Your palate will
adjust over time. 5. Limit the amount of
alcohol you drink Alcohol can be both good and bad
for your health. In small amounts, it
can potentially lower your blood
pressure by 2 to 4 mm Hg. But that
protective effect is lost if you drink
too much alcohol — generally more than one drink a day
for women and
men older than age 65, or more than
two a day for men age 65 and
younger. Also, if you don't normally
drink alcohol, you shouldn't start
drinking as a way to lower your blood pressure. There's
more
potential harm than benefit to
drinking alcohol. If you drink more than moderate
amounts of it, alcohol can actually
raise blood pressure by several
points. It can also reduce the
effectiveness of high blood pressure
medications. Track your drinking patterns. Along with
your food diary, keep
an alcohol diary to track your
true drinking patterns. One drink
equals 12 ounces (355 milliliters,
or mL) of beer, 5 ounces of wine
(148 mL) or 1.5 ounces of 80- proof liquor (45 mL). If
you're
drinking more than the
suggested amounts, cut back. Consider tapering off. If
you're a heavy drinker, suddenly
eliminating all alcohol can
actually trigger severe high
blood pressure for several days.
So when you stop drinking, do it
with the supervision of your doctor or taper off slowly,
over
one to two weeks. Don't binge. Binge drinking — having
four or more drinks in a
row — can cause large and
sudden increases in blood
pressure, in addition to other
health problems.https://m.facebook.com/Medipharmac-Medical-Centre-816261791727356/?v=feed&ref=opera_speed_dial&_rdr
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