Managing High Blood Pressure

Managing High Blood Pressure

Untreated high blood pressure (hypertension) can cause a variety of medical problems. High blood pressure increases the risk for a heart attack by up to five times, depending on the severity of the hypertension. High blood pressure is a major cause of heart failure. Among older patients, high blood pressure is the major risk factor for heart disease. Hypertensive people have up to ten times the normal risk of stroke, depending on the severity of the blood pressure.

Ways to Manage High Blood Pressure

The key to controlling high blood pressure is to make the right choices about your lifestyle. These choices include:

What and how you eat – your diet
How you manage the stress in your life
Whether or not you smoke or are around smokers
How active you are
Whether or not you take your prescribed medicines
Keeping your weight in a healthy range for you

Your Diet

You should eat a diet that is low in:

Saturated fats
Sodium (salt)
Cholesterol

If your favorite foods are all high in fat, salt and cholesterol, don’t despair. Dietitians have worked wonders finding ways to let you still have things you like.

Your doctor may suggest you follow the DASH diet plan. This is the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) plan. This is low in saturated fats and high in whole grains, fruits and vegetables. The diet includes foods high in potassium, calcium and magnesium.

Stress Management

All of us face stress each day. It’s caused by changes that happen in our lives. All stress is not bad. But, you have to know what stress is bad and what is good.

Learn to handle the stress in your life. You want to let stress help you reach your goals, but not let it consume your life. You have to learn to turn loose of things when there is nothing you can do about them.

Try to be optimistic. Look for the good, not he bad in the changes you face. Relax. Try to laugh and enjoy the events if you can. This can help you manage your stress.

Not Smoking

Smoking makes your blood vessels constrict, raising your blood pressure. One of the best things you can do for your heart is to not smoke. And second-hand smoke is bad for you too.

Exercise

Although when you have heart failure you have to be careful not to over exercise, moderate exercises such as walking and swimming can be very helpful. Your doctor will help you decide how much exercise is right for you.

Never begin an exercise program without consulting your doctor.

If your doctor has okayed your exercise program, any amount of these exercises is useful:

Brisk walking
Swimming
Riding a stationary bicycle
Don’t do exercises that make you hold your breath. These make your blood pressure go up:
Rowing
Weightlifting
Any exercise that makes you put your arms over your head and strain

Taking Your Medicines

When you have high blood pressure and heart failure, you are more likely to take more than one medicine. It is very important that you take your medicines each day.

If you think that one of your medicines makes you feel worse, call your doctor as soon as you can. Don’t make changes in your treatment plan on your own.

Keeping a Healthy Weight

Being overweight adds to the amount of work your heart has do to. If you need to lose weight, your doctor or dietitian can help you with a weight loss plan. By dropping a few pounds you will help reduce your high blood pressure.

Your goal is to get your weight within a healthy range. Ask your healthcare provider what is a healthy range for you.

If you don't find the knowledge you are looking for right away, search until you do. Remember—Knowledge is Powerful Medicine!