Taking medications is a must if you have been diagnosed with high BP issues. However, changes in the lifestyle can help you as well in lowering down the numbers. You can successfully control your BP levels by maintaining a healthy life by doing proper exercises, taking in healthy food, managing sleeping habits and more. Here are some of the lifestyle changes for you to consider if you suffer from high blood pressure problems.
1-Shed those extra pounds: With the increase in your body weight, the level of blood pressure increases as well. If you are overweight, your breathing shall be disrupted as well, especially while you sleep, which further results in the increase in blood pressure levels. However, you can adapt ways to lose your weight, and that will help you in reducing your BP levels as well. Even a small amount of reduction in your weight can drastically alter your blood pressure level.
2-Regular exercise is mandatory: You need to put up with the habit of exercising on a regular basis, which is compulsory if you are a high blood pressure patient. At least exercising for 150 minutes in a week can do wonders to your body. However, make sure to remain consistent while working out else it can increase your blood pressure level even further. Jogging, walking, swimming, cycling, and other aerobic exercises are an excellent remedy for dealing with high BP issues.
3-Reduce sodium intake: Reduction in the level of sodium level can help in lowering your blood pressure counts. The effects that sodium has on your blood pressure level vary according to the group of individuals. You must read the label of the food items before you purchase them. Generally, we would suggest you opt for low-sodium alternatives for beverages and food as well. Make sure not to add more than one teaspoon of salt to your food in a day. You can make use of other spices and herbs to make your food flavoursome.
4-Consume a healthy diet: This goes without being said! If you want to improve your health, the prime thing that you need to adapt to your lifestyle is your diet. The food that you consume is the most crucial aspect of determining a balance in the way your body functions. Therefore, in order to lower your blood sugar levels, you need to maintain a healthy diet. You can do this by keeping a food diary. Write down about all the things that you eat on a daily basis. This is a very effective way to monitor your eating habits.
5-Limit the level of alcohol consumption: Alcohol can play a huge role in manipulating blood sugar levels. It can either be bad for your health or can be useful as well. For men two drinks a day and for women, one in a day can lower the level of blood pressure. However, consuming too much of it without paying any heed to the limits, you can lose the virtues of alcohol.
Women who have just stepped in their 40's pay attention. Developing high blood pressure in early mid-life could put you at the risk of having dementia later in life, suggests a latest study. The increased risk could run as high as 73 percent. Men, on the other hand, exhibited no such risk factor.
The findings, published in the journal Neurology, revealed that high blood pressure could also start playing a role in brain health much earlier than previously estimated.
Lead researcher Paola Gilsanz, a postdoctoral fellow with the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research in Oakland noted that prior studies have linked high blood pressure with dementia, but whether hypertension is a risk factor before one hits their 50s wasn't clear until now.
The study did not prove that early high blood pressure caused dementia risk to rise in women, but only pointed at the uncanny association.
A healthy brain is heavily dependent on a healthy circulatory system. The human brain is a very metabolically active organ in the body. A large amount of oxygen and other nutrients are essential for its smooth metabolic activity. To ensure this, there is a very rich blood delivery system in the brain in a normal body. Those with hypertension, run the risk of compromised blood delivery to the brain, which can compromise the overall health and function of the brain. Therefore, long-term exposure to high blood pressure could leave one more vulnerable to dementia later in life.
For the study, the team reviewed the records of more than 5,600 patients of the Kaiser Permanente Northern California health care system, tracking them from 1996 onward for an average 15 years to see who developed dementia.
The findings revealed that those with high blood pressure in their 30s did not appear to have any increased risk of dementia. But women who developed high blood pressure in their 40s were found to be on an increased risk of developing dementia in the later stage of their life, even after the researchers adjusted for other factors like smoking, diabetes and excess weight.
The study also mentioned that men suffering from high blood pressure exhibited no such risk, but the possible reason for this could be because they were more likely to die before they grew old enough to suffer from dementia, noted the researchers.
Factors such as genetic differences, lifestyle differences and adult-specific hormones also might separate men and women when it comes to dementia risk, researchers added. The scientists are optimistic that the findings would help future research to look at adult-specific pathways that might be at play, to disentangle the risk factors for men and women.
Hypertension is a condition in which the force of the blood against the artery walls is too high.This hampers the smooth flow of blood in the body. Here are some foods that can help you control high blood pressure.
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