Hypertension is a condition which affects seventy-six million adults in the United States every year. Of them, only 48% are known to take good care of themselves and keep the condition under check. So, if you have been diagnosed with hypertension or high blood pressure, then taking anti-hyperactive medications won’t be enough. What you need to do is incorporate some serious changes in your lifestyle. Diverting from the way you have led your life so far might appear a bit difficult at the outset. However, with a little effort, there is no reason why you should not be able to overcome the challenges. Keeping such considerations in mind, here are a few positive steps that can help you lead a healthy life even with high blood pressure.
Lose weight
Research shows that high blood pressure or hypertension is more common among overweight people. Hence, losing weight can help you stay healthy and fit and keep the blood pressure under check in a plethora of ways. Moreover, by joining a weight loss regime you may also be able to reduce medicine intake. In determining your target weight, it is always advisable to consult the doctor. Besides losing weight, one should also learn to keep a tab on his/her respective waistlines. Excessive weight around the waist area puts you at increased risk for developing hypertension related problems. Therefore, shedding pounds is the first secret to a blood pressure free healthy life.
Exercise regularly
One of the most effective ways to lose weight is by exercising daily. For optimum results, it is advisable to exercise thirty minutes every day. This will lower blood pressure and make your heart tough. Aerobic exercises for high blood pressure include climbing stairs, dancing, skating, playing basketball, swimming and cross-country skiing. Additionally, you must also learn to practice and incorporate a few basic changes in your routine of daily activities. For instance, try and walk while talking on the phone or use stairs instead of the lift or elevator. Speak to your doctor for exercise restrictions that you might need to follow. Refrain, however, from being a weekend warrior. Exercising like a beast on the weekends to make up for weeklong inactiveness is not a good idea.
Follow a healthy dietary regime
To ensure a healthy living with high blood pressure, eat a diet rich in fruits, whole grains. Moreover, skimps on cholesterol and saturated fat can help lower your blood pressure by 14 mm Hg. For best results, start maintaining a food diary. Write down details of what you eat. Supervise your eating habits. Determine exactly what you eat and how much of it you eat. Potassium is known to reduce the effects of sodium on high blood pressure. Vegetables and fruits are considered to be the best sources of potassium. Be sure, however, to avoid supplements. Many people have the tendency of spending their money unnecessarily on junk foods. As a patient of high blood pressure, you should do whatever it takes to avoid foods rich in fat and oil. Therefore, make a list before you hit the store for foods. Go through the food labels carefully and stick to the healthy routine even when you are out dining.
Reduce sodium intake
The tiniest of sodium reductions in your diet can lower blood pressure by 8mm Hg, says a research. Hence, reducing sodium in your daily diet forms an essential part of the overall health routine. In the first place, try and limit the sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams a day. Learn to keep a tab on the salt level in your diet. The food diary recommended earlier will help estimate the levels of sodium present in the food you are eating each day. In reducing sodium intake, try and avoid as much processed food as possible. This includes avoiding food like bacon, frozen dinners or potato chips.
Avoid alcohol
Surprising as it may sound, yet alcohol can be both bad and good for your health. It has been shown to reduce blood pressure by 4mm Hg. However, the protective effect boils down to nothing if you drink alcohol excessively. Men should try and limit themselves to two drinks a day. For women, on the other hand, the recommended level is one drink a day. Again, non-drinkers are advised not to start consuming alcohol as a way of lowering blood pressure. The potential harms of alcohol drinking far exceeds its known benefits. Apart from taking a toll on your heath, excessive drinking can affect the functionality of medicines as well.
Stay away from nicotine high products
Smoking and cigarettes should be a big no-no for anybody with high blood pressure. A majority of us are aware of the dangers of smoking. Very few, however, know that the nicotine present in tobacco products raises blood pressure by about 10 mm Hg. The level can go up depending on how many cigarettes you have smoked over the course of an hour. Again, if you smoke throughout the day, your blood pressure is likely to remain high constantly. If you are a non-smoker or have quit smoking recently, you may not still be completely free from the dangers of smoking. Secondhand or passive smoking, in fact, does as much harm as direct smoking. Inhaling smoke from others actually puts you at risk for a plethora of health problems.
Cut down on caffeine
The harmful effects of caffeine on blood pressure are debatable. However, it has been observed that caffeinated beverages are capable of causing a temporary spike in one’s blood pressure. The nature of the effect-whether temporary or permanent, is not clear though. There are still ways detecting whether caffeine causes your blood pressure to rise. Get the pressure checked within thirty minutes of drinking an entire cup of coffee. If the blood pressure is seen to increase by 5 points, then you are at risk from caffeinated beverages. Irrespective of one’s sensitivity to caffeine, the medical community recommends people to keep their level of caffeine consumption restricted to two hundred milligrams a day.
Bust the stress
It goes without saying that anxiety or stress is one of the biggest contributors to hypertension. Hence, you should do whatever it takes to keep the level of anxiety under check. It is always advisable to take some time off and think about the factors that trigger stress and tension in you. This could be anything from family to finances to work or illness. Once the stress causing factors become clear to you, consider ways in which you can reduce or eliminate stress. Well, honestly speaking, you may never be able to reduce all your stressors. In that case, you should focus on coping with them in a healthy way. For best results, dabble in deep breathing exercises as often as you can. Take up meditation or get massages frequently. If after all the effort, self-help does not fetch desired results, consider seeking professional help.
Monitor your blood pressure frequently
Monitoring blood pressure from time to time is a must for all people affected with hypertension. There is hardly any dearth of blood pressure monitors available in the market today. Speak to your doctor before purchasing one. If, for some reason, you are not able to buy them, then at least visit the doctor as frequently as possible and get your blood pressure checked. To begin with, get a primary care doctor fixed up. Without a primary care doctor, controlling blood pressure may become several times more difficult than expected. Patients, who have managed to keep their blood pressure levels under control, should ideally visit the doctor every six or twelve months for a check-up.
Garner family support
In leading a healthy life with high blood pressure, the support of family and friends comes next to nothing. Above everything else, a supportive family will encourage the patient to take care of himself or herself. Moreover, they can even drive you to the doctor’s chamber or the gym, if need be. Bond with your family and friends and educate them about the dangers of hypertension. In case you need support beyond friends and family, consider joining support groups. There are countless support groups around who will be more than happy to accept you as a part of their growing member base. At support groups, you meet people with similar physical and mental tribulations as you. Holding conversations with them can help you tide over the crisis more smoothly.
Set goals
If you have led an undisciplined life so far, then incorporating the above changes may not come easy to you. A majority of people, after maintaining healthy routine for a little over a week, slip back to the old habits. Hence, in order to slap your lifestyle into shape, what you need is a careful planning. For best results, include both short-term and long-term goals that can be measured easily. Your doctor is the best person to help you decide what the long-term goals, in your case, could ideally be. Short-term goals for reducing blood pressure refer to small steps that the patient is likely to take, week by week.