Hypertension is the medical term for high blood pressure.
One in three adults worldwide, according to the 2012 WHO World Healh Statistics report, has raised blood pressure – a condition that causes around half of all deaths from stroke and heart disease.
In low and middle income countries, it often does not get diagnosed and treated.
In addition to medical treatment of hypertension, you also need to make lifestyle changes to manage your Blood Pressure:
Food and Nutrition
A healthy eating plan can both reduce the risk of developing high blood pressure and lower an already elevated blood pressure. For an overall healthy eating plan, consider the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet. The DASH eating plan includes whole grains, poultry, fish and nuts and has reduced amount of salt, fats, red meat, sweets and sugared beverages. Log on to http://dashdiet.org/what_is_the_dash_diet.asp for details.
It is very important to eat less salt. The current recommendation is to consume less than 2.3g (2,300 milligrams (mg) of sodium a day. That equals 6g (about 1 teaspoon) of table salt a day.
10 Clear Tips to Manage your Blood Pressure
Exercise regimen
Check with your doctor before embarking on an exercise programme, if you fall in any the following categories. You are :
- Elderly
- Have high blood pressure
- Have had heart trouble
- Have a family history of heart disease at an early age
- Have some other serious ailment
- Not used to doing moderate-level activity
If you are allowed to exercise, start by doing 30 minutes of moderate level activity on most, preferably all, days of the week. Brisk walking, swimming, cycling and gardening are some examples. The 30 minutes can be divided into short intervals of 10 minutes each.
9 reasons to get off the couch
If you are a Yoga practitioner, you can try our Yoga for High Blood Pressure Ebook
Please see other recommendations for a healthy lifestyle under the section Hypertension Prevention.
Take charge: your action plan
- Get your blood pressure checked regularly. Read more here
- Be diligent about taking prescribed medication
- Eat healthily and reduce salt intake
- Lose weight, if you need to
- Be physically active
- Limit alcohol intake
- Quit smoking.
- Reduce stress
Join our No Smoking Community
Know your support team: Who can help you stay healthy
- A general practitioner
- Cardiologist
- Nutritionist
- Fitness expert
- Other specialists as required
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