Hypertension is one of the most common of all the medical problems people have to deal with around the world. The current estimation states that 1 third of people deal with hypertension and unfortunately, many of these do not even know that the condition is present.
When you are affected by high blood pressure for a long period of time your arteries and heart are stressed. Hypertension that is not controlled can easily reduce your lifespan as your heart becomes enlarged and artery walls become thicker. The condition leads to various possible diseases like congestive heart failure, stroke, blindness or kidney failure. If the individual is also affected by diabetes, we are faced with metabolic syndrome, a combination that increases risks of peripheral vascular disease, blindness, heart failure and stroke even more.
If you want to control blood pressure at home you obviously need to have a blood pressure monitor and go to doctor appointments as often as needed. You want to buy BP Monitor gadgets since whenever you feel that something is wrong, you can check and see if it is because of blood pressure. Besides that, you can also do the following.
Increase Activity Levels
Breathing rate and heart rate should be increased since this makes your heart stronger, with lower pressure being put on arteries. That will lower blood pressure. The great thing about increasing activity levels to help you deal with high blood pressure is that you do not need to do what professional athletes do. Benefits appear even if you start doing moderate activity exercises as those in tai chi. You just have to be consistent in order to gradually build up the strength of your heart and even manage to monitor blood pressure in a natural way.
Lose Weight When Overweight
Being overweight drastically increases the strain put on your heart. By losing even a small amount like 10 pounds blood pressure is reduced. At the same time, you reduce the risk of having to deal with numerous other medical problems. Blood pressure is normally reduced by around 3.5 mmHg when you are respecting a proper weight loss diet. Losing weight sometimes even removes the need to have a home blood pressure monitor.
Eat Less Refined Carbohydrates And Sugar
There are different studies that proved the fact that you can lower blood pressure and lose weight as you cut down on refined carbohydrates and sugar. The low carb diet is particularly effective at reducing blood pressure, with an average of around 5 mmHg. Low fat diets do not help that much with blood pressure problems. The only problem is that you end up feeling fuller as you consume more fat and protein. However, the diet does reduce risks of having to deal with other diseases, like diabetes.
Consume Less Processed Food
The extra salt we have in our diets normally comes from restaurant food and processed food. Many have a diet that revolves around chips, pizza, canned soup, deli meats and various snacks. You want to reduce the intake of all processed foods since they often have too much salt and sugar added. Both of these are very bad for your health. Keep in mind that the foods that are labeled as being low fat normally include these bad ingredients. You end up feeling fuller when in fact you did not get too much from your food.
