Hypertension or high blood pressure is the prominent reason behind people facing stroke or cardiovascular diseases. The last fall when the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association reduced the explanation to High Blood Pressure from 140/90 mm/Hg to 130/80 mm/Hg with a greater number of individuals who are screened for hypertension. Modifications to lifestyle proved effective and helped control high blood pressure. You can follow a healthier lifestyle to avoid, delay even reduce the requirement for the medications that serve the purpose of blood pressure.
Although medication proves as an effective solution for a few individuals, the best news is that changes and modifications to lifestyle can help bring blood pressure under control with the amount of medication required as it is the best place to initiate.
Understanding Blood Pressure
High blood pressure is also known as hypertension. It is the condition where the blood force pushes rigorously against the walls of your blood vessels with higher consistency. The best way to understand this is to have your blood pressure tested. Knowledge about the results remains critical for bringing high blood pressure under control. The blood pressure readings come in two numbers: diastolic and systolic. Systolic blood pressure, or the top number, scales the artery pressures with the heartbeat. The bottom number, or the diastolic blood pressure, scales the pressure happening between the beats. The normal level of blood pressure is less than 120/80 mmHg.
Ways to Lower Blood Pressure Without Medication
The following are the major lifestyle changes you can bring about to normalize or lower your blood pressure.
1. Lose Extra Pounds & Watch Your Waistline
Blood pressure increases with weight gain. Becoming overweight leads to disrupted breathing as you sleep, leading to sleep apnea that indirectly elevates your blood pressure. Weight loss is one of the potential changes to a lifestyle that helps control blood pressure. Losing a smaller amount of weight if you are obese or overweight can help in minimizing blood pressure. Typically, you would often bring down blood pressure by about a millimeter of mercury or mm Hg with every kilogram, which is about 2.2 pounds of weight you are losing.
Other than losing weight, it would help if you watched over your waistline. Carrying more weight around the waist places you at a greater risk of high blood pressure.
- Men are often at risk whenever the measurement of their waist is more than 40 inches or 102 cm.
Women are prone to high blood pressure when their waist measure is more than 35 inches or 89 cm.
These numbers vary among different ethnic groups. Ensure to ask your docture about the appropriate waist measurement for you.
2. Follow Regular Exercise Routine
Fitness training and other general physical activity help in reducing about 5-8 mm Hg in case of high blood pressure if 150 minutes are carried out per week or else 30 minutes most of the week. To sum up, it is better to obey the schedule, as cessation of training will result in increased pressure. If you do not exercise, you are likely to have hypertension, but if you exercise, you can prevent hypertension. In particular, if you are a hypertensive patient, exercise helps reduce the BP to safer numbers or maintain a healthy weight.
Examples of aerobic exercise that may help in treating your high blood pressure include walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, or dancing. It is also possible to continue exercising with the help of high-intensity training, which implies the consecutive running of short periods of maximum effort followed by less intensive activity. Strength training can also aid in getting a lower BP reading. It is recommended that strength training exercises should be incorporated into the workout plan at least two days a week. Consult with your doctor concerning the matters that pertain to exercise.
3. Always Consume a Healthier Diet
Reducing sodium intake by ingesting amounts of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products and increasing physical activity can help lower blood pressure by up to 11 mm Hg in instances of high blood pressure. There is a dietary approach that has been recommended for use, and this is known as the DASH, standing for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.
It isn’t easy to change your eating habits, but with these tips, you can adopt a healthy diet:
- Keep a Food Diary: Jotting down what one eats, whether for a week or a day, will open your eyes to how much you devour. Record the foods taken, the amounts consumed, the times taken, and the reasons behind them.
- Consider Boosting Potassium: According to the evidence presented, potassium can decrease the hypertension effects of sodium. It is wiser to take potassium from natural food products like fruits and vegetables and not from supplements. The same; consult with your physician about the proper amount of potassium that should be consumed.
- Be a Smart Shopper: As you go shopping and buy foods that you cook at home, always ensure that you read the nutritional values provided on the labels. Also, when you order food outside, you should ensure that you stick to your healthy eating plans.
4. Reduce Salt and Sodium in Your Diet
A small cut down on sodium intake helps manage the heart's health and blood pressure. As for sodium's impact on blood pressure, there exists a diversity depending on the kind of population. Specifically, sodium intake should be at most 2,300 mg per day on average. However, for the average adult, it is advised that Sodium intake should be 1,500 milligrams per day or even less. Measures like this can reduce high blood pressure by about 5 to 6 mm Hg as the best home remedy.
To lower sodium in the diet:
- Read Food Labels: Try to use products that contain low sodium products as far as possible.
- Eat Fewer Processed Foods: It is to be noted that there is very little amount of sodium that is found in natural foods. Processing is the common point at which most sodium is added.
- Don't Add Table Salt: people should add herbs or spices to foods as an enhancer of the flavor of the food.
- Cook: Cooking also enables one to limit the intake of sodium in foods so that their blood pressure is not affected.
5. Limit Alcohol
Moderation in alcohol, where it should not be taken more than one drink for women or two drinks for men, can reduce blood pressure by about 4 mm HG. One drink is equal to 12 fluid ounces of Beer, five ounces of Wine, or one. Two shots of liquor measuring 5 ounces and having 80-proofs. However, consumption of a lot of alcohol can cause a steep increase in blood pressure. It can also reduce the efficacy of blood pressure-influencing drugs.
6. Quit Smoking
Smoking raises blood pressure. One case is that smoking is a vice, and quitting enhances the probability of a person having healthy blood pressure. It also can decrease the risk of heart disease, thus promoting general health and potentially adding years to the patient’s life.
7. Get a Good Night's Sleep
Sleeping for less than seven hours every night for weeks can contribute to hypertension. Some of the disorders of sleeping patterns include sleep apnoea disorder, restless leg syndrome, and other sleeping disorders defined as insomnia. Adults should have a sleep quality for between 7 and 9 hours a day. Make sure to inform the health care practitioner when you have sleeping disorders from time to time. It is possible to hear that finding and treating the cause will lead to a better night’s sleep. But if the patient does not have sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome then it is advised to follow the below given steps for achieving better sleep.
- Stick to a Sleep Schedule: To promote good health practices, one should fix sleeping and waking hours and follow them to the later parts. Strive to have a similar schedule during weekdays and the weekends.
- Create a Restful Space: That means keeping the sleeping space cool, especially the noise level and especially the absence of light. It is important not to overwork oneself specifically before sleep, so in the last hour of sleep, engage in activities that are not stressful. That could entail activities such as having a warm bath or engaging in other relaxation activities. Avoid the use of bright light such as that from a TV, phone, or computer, or switch them off and use only dim light.
- Watch What You Eat and Drink: It is also important not to retire to bed when you are still hungry or when your tummy is full to the brim. Minimize the consumption of large portions of food just before going to bed. Nicotine, caffeine, and also alcohol in moderation, or better still, eliminate them close to bedtime.
- Limit Naps: For those who try to power nap during the day, restrict the power nap to 30 minutes, which should be done earlier in the day. This is no small consolation for an adherent that you may sleep better at night.
8. Ease stress
Lifestyle and long-term stress can be attributed to high blood pressure, among other things. There is a lack of data that explains whether or not Stress Management interventions can cause a reduction in blood pressure. But of course, it does not kill to try to understand what in this world causes stress – be it work, family, money, or sickness. When a person understands what leads to stress, he/she can go ahead and manage the causes of stress. Try the following:
- Only Try to Do a Little: Organize your day to get the most from the day and concentrate on the most important assignments. Always learn to say no, and do not over-schedule yourself in a way that you are unable to complete what has to be accomplished.
- Focus on Issues: If you have issues that you can control, make plans to solve them. When disturbed by an issue at work, one should consult a manager. For conflict with your kids or partner, seek out how to solve it.
- Stay Away from Stress Triggers: For instance, stress during rush hour, traveling in a car at a different period, using public transport instead of a car. Get as far away from people that stress you out as much as you can if you can.
- Make Time to Relax: This means that one has to set aside some time within the day to be able to sit down and take a few breaths in the day. Schedule leisure activities, including going for a walk, cooking, and doing charity work, among others.
- Practice Gratitude: Extinguish stress by proving to other people how grateful you are to receive their gifts or services from them.
9. Track your Blood Pressure at Home & Get Regular Checkups
Measuring blood pressure at home can be useful so that your doctor and nurse can check that your medicines and changes are helping. There are over-the-counter products, and precision home blood pressure monitors are easily purchased. It is recommended that you should consult a healthcare professional before you start the home blood pressure monitoring. It is also important to maintain visits with a healthcare professional for blood pressure regulation. If you are already on a low blood pressure diet, consult your healthcare professional on how often you have to monitor your blood pressure. It can be accessed only once a day or less often if you efficiently manage the resources that are available in limited amounts.
10. Control your Cholesterol & Blood Sugar
Elevated blood sugar levels and high non-HDL cholesterol levels increase the possibility of getting heart disease. For control of cholesterol and blood sugar, you can follow some tips that are followed for the management of hypertension for better heart health. Take balanced diets, engage in physical activities, reduce the extra calories, and avoid smoking. Do as your doctor has advised you regarding the regulation of cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
Wrapping Up
Remember, adopting these 10 habits is a life change that takes time, and some days, it may feel like it is hard. You should also find support in your family or friends if it is required at a certain point with high blood pressure. You can also find the best blood pressure supplement on our platform at BioYouth Labs which can help bring your blood pressure under control. Family and friends may remind you of the need to go for a self-check-up or may accompany you to check your glucose level and pressure or even begin exercising with you to have lower pressure.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to Control High BP Immediately?
Always ensure to consume water as dehydration would make your blood pressure increase therefore, consuming a glass of water can help bring down your blood pressure. Also, try some physical activities as they can help lower your blood pressure instantly.
Can I Control High BP Without Medicine?
The professional's advice is to gain around 150 minutes of exercise every week, along with strength training a couple of times a week.
What to Eat to Reduce High Blood Pressure?
Consuming a diet that has less fat content includes a lot of fiber like bread, pasta, and wholegrain rice with ample veggies and fruits that can help bring down blood pressure.
How Can I Lower My BP in 5 Minutes?
If your blood pressure rises and you wish to note an immediate change, then immediately lie down and start taking deeper breaths.
