How To Treat High Or Low Blood Pressure

Reducing High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure is a condition that afflicts much of the older generation. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to avoid high blood pressure and to reduce it if you already have a problem.

Your blood pressure should be under 140/90 mm Hg. However, if your blood pressure is over this number you may have a serious problem.

It is best to visit with your doctor to discuss what can be done to resolve it. This condition can lead to a variety of negative side effects that could affect your health for the worst.

For example, this condition may result in high risk for a stroke or heart attack. It could also result in other serious heart conditions that may lead to death.

If your doctor says that you are at risk for these things, he or she will probably give you a prescription medicine which will help you reduce your blood pressure. Be sure to take this medicine as prescribed.

Sometimes some medicines can make you experience some of the negative side effects. If this is the case you will need to visit your doctor again to see if there is an alternative to the medicine he or she first gave you.

Your doctor should also be able to answer any other questions that you may have at this point. Another thing that can negatively affect blood pressure is your weight.

Obese people are at a much higher risk for problematic blood pressure and the other serious heart conditions. In addition, these conditions can be much more difficult to treat when you are overweight.

Your body mass index number will be able to tell you whether or not you need to lose weight. If your body mass index number is 25 or greater you could probably stand to lose several pounds.

Another indicator of whether you should lose weight or not is your waist size. Women should generally have a waist size smaller than 35 inches and men should usually have a waist size smaller than 40 inches.

Your doctor will also be able to tell you whether or not you need to lose weight. One of the best ways to lose weight and to keep it under control is to exercise for at least 30 minutes every day.

Running can help you lose the most calories, but it also has other negative side effects. The key to exercising to lose weight is to find an activity you enjoy and feel motivated enough to do on a consistent basis.

In addition, you do not have to exercise for 30 minutes straight. Instead you can work out for shorter segments that add up to 30 minutes.

Even if you do not need to lose weight, exercise can help you keep your blood pressure normal. Likewise, it offers hundreds of other benefits that you can enjoy.

What you eat will also obviously affect your weight and your blood pressure. Foods that are high in salt or sodium are generally bad for you and will make your condition much worst.

The general rule is that Americans should not eat any more than 2.4 grams of sodium in a given day. This is about six grams or one teaspoon of salt a day.

If you are already suffering from high blood pressure you probably will want to eat even less salt than this during a day. As always it is also a good idea to stay away from high cholesterol foods and to focus on fruits and vegetables.

It can help you to make wise decisions if you read the nutrition labels on the foods you eat. When you go shopping be sure to examine the labels and pick the variety of food that has the least sodium and fat and the most nutrient.

As you practice reading these labels you will be able to know about how much sodium you are eating every meals quite easily. Keeping track of your sodium intake is important if you are going to reduce how much salt you eat.

You may even want to write down how much sodium you ate every day. This will help you review how much salt you ate and which foods contribute the most to your problem.

You will then be able to reduce the problem foods and increase the foods you like that help alleviate your problem. If you miss the flavor, try to replace the salt with other seasonings whenever possible and you may find that removing salt from your diet is not such a huge problem.

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Diet and Foods for High Blood Pressure, Hypertension

High blood pressure is a silent killer and one should try to maintain blood pressure below 140/90 mm Hg to prevent the risk of heart diseases which is caused due to high blood pressure. In America an average diet contains good amount of fat, salt, cholesterol and calories, and the lifestyle of people is very sedentary, that raises the risk of heart diseases.

Around 50% of the people who suffer from high blood pressure are not aware of their condition but certain groups of people are at a higher risk such as

1. People who smoke (active or passive)
2. Suffering from diabetes
3. Family history of high blood pressure.
4. Obesity or overweight
5. Leading a sedentary lifestyle or being physically inactive.
6. Men above the age of 45 years and women above 55 years.
7. People who have a high cholesterol level
8.

Women taking oral contraceptives
9. People who belong to African American group
10. Taking excess quantities of alcohol or other beverages.

What to avoid in the diet to prevent the condition?

Sodium: Reduce intake of high sodium diet. Butter milk, pickles, cured meats, sausages, canned fish such as salmon and tuna should be avoided. Processed meats, packaged food items such as frozen dinners, pizzas and pot pies are high in sodium and it should be avoided. One should not take more than 2,300 mg of sodium in diet.

A simple method of testing high sodium content in food is – if you can taste salt in the food then it contains a good amount of it. Even salt substitutes may not be safe. One should be cautious and avoid any substitute without the approval of a medical practitioner.

Bad cholesterol: Reduce intake of food items containing bad cholesterol. Certain cooking oils can have bad cholesterol. A person requires not more than 150 mg of cholesterol each day.

Reduce intake of fat: Reduce intake of food which is high in fat. Canned soups and packaged soups contain preservatives and chemicals should be avoided. 27% of the calories should come from fat and 18% of the calories in a day should come from proteins. Cheese products are also high in fat.

Drugs and medicines: One should not take drugs such as aspirin which have anti clotting properties. Such drugs raise the risk of heart attacks.

Nicotine: Reduce intake of nicotine. The chemicals in cigarette constrict the blood vessels and it can narrow the veins to increase blood pressure.

What to include in the diet?

1. One should include good amount of fresh fruits and vegetables in diet to reduce fat intake.

2. Take low fat milk and milk products.

3. Include wholegrain products in diet.

4. Fish and poultry can be included.

5. Include fiber in diet, up to 30 mg of fiber should be included each day in diet. One can get fibers from whole wheat, cereals, oatmeal, popcorn etc.

6. Broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, potatoes, peas and beans can be included in the diet as it contains good amount of magnesium and potassium.

7. Apples, mangoes, apricots, bananas and grapefruits are also high in potassium and magnesium.

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