Preventing High Blood Pressure
If you are concerned about your blood pressure going too high, you will almost certainly go to your doctor to ask for advice. Your GP will invariably want you to attempt some lifestyle changes or / and take medication if this does not have an effect. Making lifestyle alterations is the first strategy, but it does not always work. It usually does, but just not every time.
However, it is vital to try to reduce your blood pressure, also called hypertension, before you go on medication. Lots of individuals are of the opinion that once your body relies on medication to moderate its hypertension, you will never be able to get yourself off the tablets. This is what my GP told me. Therefore, if it goes against your personal beliefs to take tablets, now is the time to do something about it.
The first thing to do is quit smoking and if you regularly drink too much alcohol, to cut back on that too, as both actions will have the effect of raising your blood pressure. Adopting these measures will also have knock-on effects for the remainder of your body. You will be fitter in general by not smoking at all and not drinking very much.
The next thing to do is to increase your level of daily activity. Do you take any exercise at all? If not, you will be amazed at how much two thirty-minute sessions of light exercise will help. Walk for thirty minutes in the morning and evening or replace one walk for thirty minutes gardening or swimming.
Diet is another way of beating off the hypertension tablets. Salt, or sodium as it is frequently referred to, is a major cause of hypertension, mostly because it encourages water retention. So, cutting back on salt or following a sodium depleted diet can have a major effect on your blood pressure.
Try substituting something else for salt: more pepper, a mixture of some other herbs or simply leave it out altogether. After a couple of weeks you will not notice, except that everybody else's cooking will taste really heavily over-salted! I did this quite successfully.
Add more fresh fruit and vegetables to your diet, because that will also decrease your hypertension. Eating less fat and red meat will also help. Stress is a main factor in hypertension, endeavor to relax a bit more and possibly take up meditation or yoga.
If you are on medication, it is possible that the drugs are raising your blood pressure. If you think that this might be the case, take your drugs to the physician and ask his opinion. You may be able to replace some of them. Some of the drugs that can have an adverse effect are: oral contraceptives, steroids, anti-depressants and cold / flu medicines.
You will notice that lots of these methods for reducing your (possible) hypertension are related, so if you are an over-weight, inactive smoker who enjoys a drink, you can do a great deal by remedying that and your pressure will fall and you will become healthier in other ways as well.
However, it is vital to try to reduce your blood pressure, also called hypertension, before you go on medication. Lots of individuals are of the opinion that once your body relies on medication to moderate its hypertension, you will never be able to get yourself off the tablets. This is what my GP told me. Therefore, if it goes against your personal beliefs to take tablets, now is the time to do something about it.
The first thing to do is quit smoking and if you regularly drink too much alcohol, to cut back on that too, as both actions will have the effect of raising your blood pressure. Adopting these measures will also have knock-on effects for the remainder of your body. You will be fitter in general by not smoking at all and not drinking very much.
The next thing to do is to increase your level of daily activity. Do you take any exercise at all? If not, you will be amazed at how much two thirty-minute sessions of light exercise will help. Walk for thirty minutes in the morning and evening or replace one walk for thirty minutes gardening or swimming.
Diet is another way of beating off the hypertension tablets. Salt, or sodium as it is frequently referred to, is a major cause of hypertension, mostly because it encourages water retention. So, cutting back on salt or following a sodium depleted diet can have a major effect on your blood pressure.
Try substituting something else for salt: more pepper, a mixture of some other herbs or simply leave it out altogether. After a couple of weeks you will not notice, except that everybody else's cooking will taste really heavily over-salted! I did this quite successfully.
Add more fresh fruit and vegetables to your diet, because that will also decrease your hypertension. Eating less fat and red meat will also help. Stress is a main factor in hypertension, endeavor to relax a bit more and possibly take up meditation or yoga.
If you are on medication, it is possible that the drugs are raising your blood pressure. If you think that this might be the case, take your drugs to the physician and ask his opinion. You may be able to replace some of them. Some of the drugs that can have an adverse effect are: oral contraceptives, steroids, anti-depressants and cold / flu medicines.
You will notice that lots of these methods for reducing your (possible) hypertension are related, so if you are an over-weight, inactive smoker who enjoys a drink, you can do a great deal by remedying that and your pressure will fall and you will become healthier in other ways as well.
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on several of topics, but is currently involved with work on the cause of high blood pressure. If you want to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our site at High Blood Pressure Recipes.
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