Five Lifestyle Changes to Fight Hypertension
Simple Changes that Can Help Prevent or Reduce High Blood Pressure
Jul 9, 2009
While there are several causes of high blood pressure, there are several things one can do, in addition to medication, to bring the levels down.
Adopt a Healthier Diet to Reduce Blood Pressure
Adopting a healthy eating plan is believed to be effective in not only preventing high blood pressure but also in reducing already elevated levels. A healthy diet would include large quantities of fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy foods, whole grain, fish, poultry and nuts.
Foods to be avoided in excess would include foods high in saturated fat, cholesterol and sugar.
Reduce Intake of Salt to Bring Down Hypertension
Salt is one of the biggest culprits in raising blood pressure levels. It might initially seem difficult to cut back on something so essential to taste, but a gradual reduction in levels is actually achieved quite easily. Remove the salt shaker from the table. Look for low-sodium labels when shopping. Also learn which foods are high in dietary sodium, and reduce consumption of those.
Increase Exercise Levels and Lose Weight to Fight High Blood Pressure
Losing weight can be a dramatic method of reducing blood pressure, since being overweight can actually be a causative factor in hypertension. A combination of healthy eating and exercise can be the simplest and most effective way to bring down elevated levels, and can often produce dramatic results. Of course, keeping the weight off and the levels down will mean sustaining the changes made on a long-term basis.
Existing hypertension patients would be advised to consult with a doctor before embarking on an exercise plan. Planned exercise apart, devise ways of keeping active through the course of the day: walk instead of taking the car to the park, cycle round the block, take the stairs instead of the elevator, play with the dog or the kids.
Modify Sleep Habits to Sleep Early and Reduce Hypertension
Staying awake late at night abuses the circadian clock that regulates the body, and continuous abuse will take its toll. It is believed that extended periods of sleep abuse can contribute to high blood pressure. Equally, correcting this one habit might be beneficial in bringing down levels. It’s a simple enough change to experiment wth.
Release Stress and Tension and Bring Down Blood Pressure
Pent-up emotions, anger, tension all contribute to general ill-health, more so in the case of hypertension. Learn to release negative emotions from the body, either by expression and resolution, or by finding a release in a substitute activity like a sport. Train the mind not to brood on what cannot be helped, and to relax.
Following these simple lifestyle changes can help prevent or even reduce hypertension, depending on individual histories. These tips may not act as a substitute for medicine, however, and hypertension patients already on medication would need to continue consulting their doctor.
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