Heart Disease

The Silent Killer

Hypertension is a major health problem and many people don’t even know they have .Sometimes people are led to believe that merely changes in their lifestyle are enough to control their hypertension without any need for medication.Persons who have only mild or moderate hypertension will find this helpful.

Cutting back on sodium is very important in your efforts to lower your blood pressure.  Those affected with high blood pressure often claim that reducing their sodium intake reduces their blood pressure as well.You’ll need to get some nutritional information and starting shifting your diet away from high-sodium foods.

Eating more vegetables and fruits and some grains will increase your daily consumprtion of fiber, vitamins and minerals. Changing your diet in this way together with a reduction in the amount of fats you eat will help you control your blood pressure.

Adding exercise to dietary changes will accellerate your blood pressure reduction.  It helps to prevent and to control hypertension, and it is said that people who are active in exercise have lower death rates than their sedentary counterparts, even when they have the same blood pressure.  An added bonus is that studies suggest that exercise not only reduces the risk for cardiovascular and other diseases, but can help prevent obesity, which is another high blood pressure risk factor.

Exercise is a key ingredient for many successful behavioral change programs.Exercise is especially important as it makes you feel good about your efforts, reduces stress, which also is a major contributor to hypertension.

Eating well and exercising are the cornerstone to reducing your blood pressure levels.But there are other factors that also affect your blood pressure.  Limiting your alcohol and caffeine intake can make an extreme difference.  You should strive to drink these things only in moderation, or not at all.  If you smoke, quitting can also make a profound difference.These are serious issues.Some things are more difficult than others to give up.  In fact, in order to completely rid yourself of these behaviors can take months, even a year or more in some instances.

If you reduce your stress levels, it will help lower your blood pressure as well.This is a permanent lifestyle change, but it will help you live ten or fifteen years longer.  If you find that you have stress that seems out of control, taking a stress management workshop may be in your future.

Since these dietary and exercises changes will help reduce the need for hypertension medication, you should consult with your doctor to give you the lower dosages that will now be required.

You need to monitor your blood pressure at least daily to see how these measures are affecting your hypertension.Fortunately, it is rather easy in this day and age to monitor your blood pressure on a daily basis . You can find a reliable,accurate home blood pressure monitor just about anywhere these days at a good price. There are digital models that are now accurate and easy to use. When I used the word “now,” it’s in reference to the fact that the earlier models’ accuracy was suspect. {And now everything is OK}.

It’s not easy to control your blood pressure problems, so you need to really be committed to fixing the problem. It’s difficult because you don’t feel sick or any pain. Hypertension wears your body down more quickly than would be the case if you didn’t have it. That’s why they refer to it as the “Silent Killer.“

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