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Self-control blood pressure effectively without meds
Nowadays, high blood pressure is one of the lead dangerous diseases and is considered “silent killer”. This disease has a relatively silent progression, without symptoms. Currently, in Vietnam, there are about 12 million patients, which means that 1 of 5 adults has high blood pressure.
High blood pressure is a serious threat to human health. It increases your risk of heart attack, heart failure, stroke, kidney failure and many other health problems. In fact, high blood pressure causes about 1,000 deaths in the United States every day. Most of these deaths are preventable, but they can’t do it. High blood pressure can almost always be treated with healthy lifestyle and medications, but less than half of people with the disease effectively control it.
Lifestyle and high blood pressure
Experts say that 50% – 90% of cases of hypertension can be successfully controlled when lifestyle changes.
In practice, when a patient’s blood pressure rises slightly and there are no risk factors (such as smokers , diabetes, or a history of heart disease, stroke), doctors will recommend that the patient should change their lifestyle in the first 3 months. Many results show that patients have had some positive changes, equivalent to the effectiveness when using the drug.
For many patients with hypertension, not having to take medicine for the rest of their lives is a powerful motivation, and has many health benefits.
How to change your lifestyle?
Here’s what medical experts have advised their patients to focus on to control blood pressure:
Physical activity: Even a moderate level of physical activity, over time, can make a significant difference to your blood pressure. If you haven’t exercised before, start with slow, moderate workouts. 5 to 10 minutes a day of your favorite sports activity equals 2 hours 30 minutes a week of physical activity will help you lead a healthier and more balanced life.
Healthy diet: Cut out processed foods (packaged foods that are often high in sugar and / or refined grains) from your diet. Also, monitor the amount of salt you eat daily to make adjustments that suit your blood pressure level. Remember that most of the salt in our diet comes from processed foods, fast food and dishes from restaurants.
Besides, you can supplement the good vegetables for blood pressure such as spinach, bananas, celery, …
Weight loss: Losing 5% of body weight compared to baseline has been shown to significantly reduce blood pressure in hypertensive patients; and losing 10% of the body weight can also significantly improve other health conditions, especially cardiovascular risk factors.
Limit alcohol consumption (less than one drink a day): A recent study found that those who drank between 7 and 13 drinks a week had a 53% higher risk of developing stage I hypertension. People who drink more than 14 drinks per week have a 69% higher risk of hypertension.
No smoking: Quitting smoking can help control blood pressure and significantly reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease in the future.
In addition to these lifestyle changes, avoid regular NSAIDs, such as ibuprofen and naproxen.
Source: https://blogs.webmd.com/heart-health 20190820/how-to-lower-your-blood-pressure-without-meds
11 September, 2019
