High blood pressure or hypertension has become the most common cardiovascular disease, and also the leading cause of death and disability globally. When blood pressure rises above the value of 140/90mmHg, the person is said to suffer from hypertension.
How does high blood pressure develop? No one has any accurate answer yet. But genetic and lifestyle factors contribute a lot to this health condition.
High blood pressure, if not controlled, can cause irreversible damage to our body. Some of these changes are: it can weaken the arterial walls by exerting more pressure on it, it can thicken the arterial walls, it can increase the chances of atherosclerosis leading to an heart attack, and the top of all- it can produce STROKE.
What is a stroke?
Stroke is referred to as a condition wherein the brain cells do not get enough supply of blood due to which, that affected part dies off, producing impairment in the functioning of the brain. The disruption of blood supply can be caused either due to an embolus, a thrombus or a hemorrhage.
Well, that was too much to raise your blood pressure up from normal. But all these consequences wont occur if you take appropriate precautions. Hypertensive individuals can adopt ways to keep their raised blood pressure under control or can prevent their blood pressure from shooting up.
How to lower blood pressure is what the following content of the article is all about. Get to know the following 10 steps of lowering blood pressure to ensure a healthy life or to help out those around you.
Less salty diets
Salt quantities in your food must be quite low so as to keep your blood pressure within normal limits. Ask for low salt cooking when eating out, also check for low salt content items when buying eatables. Reducing salt in food, means lowering blood pressure.
Low cholesterol
Many things in your diet go LOW when you are on your way to lowering blood pressure. Cholesterol and fats have a lot to do in the development of atherosclerosis. So when you have high blood pressure, make sure you stay away from high cholesterol and fat foods. When it says fats, it actually means the saturated ones. Hence, avoid red meat. Instead, go on to have fish and skinless chicken.
Fruits and veggies
Now here is something that does not go LOW in your diet when it comes to how to lower blood pressure. A healthy diet always contains enough of fruits and veggies. Therefore, aim for at least five portions of fruits and vegetables a day.
Do not smoke
Smoking has blood pressure rising affects even in healthy individuals. So it is quite obvious that hypertensive patients must not even think about it. Quitting smoking is not only a way of lowering blood pressure, but also a way to prevent many other ailments.
No to alcohol
High blood pressure patients need to stay away from alcohol as much as possible. Alcohol causes weight gain and can also lead to irregular heartbeat. Alcohol consumption increases the risk of having stroke by more than three times.
Exercise
Exercise daily or at least 5 times a week for lowering blood pressure so to ward off the risk of developing stroke. Exercising regularly will make your blood circulation more efficient, will help you reduce weight and also, will help lower cholesterol levels. These combined with a healthy diet drastically reduce your stroke developing risks.
Be happy
Be happy- actually means to be stress free. Tensions add quite a lot to the rising blood pressure. Hence, beat the chances of stroke by saying goodbye to stress.
Yoga
Go for some yoga exercises and meditation to reduce stress. A peaceful way of how to lower blood pressure it is.
Marriage
Make sure you have a healthy and tension-free relationship with your life partner. This would also help much in reducing the stress and hence, is a great way for lowering blood pressure.
Medicines
Talk to your doctor about your condition so that he can guide you about the medicines you may have to take for lowering blood pressure.
