Lowering Your Blood Pressure by Jane Thurnell-Read

We depend on blood for our lives. Blood is pumped round the body under pressure. Blood pressure is the force of blood against the walls of arteries. Blood pressure rises and falls throughout the day. When blood pressure stays elevated (raised) over time, it’s called high blood pressure (HBP). The medical term for high blood pressure is hypertension. High blood pressure is dangerous because it makes the heart work too hard and contributes to atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). HBP increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. High blood pressure can also result in other health problems, such as congestive heart failure, kidney disease, and blindness.

A blood pressure level of 140/90 mmHg or higher is considered high. About two-thirds of people over age 65 in the USA have high blood pressure. If your blood pressure is between 120/80 mmHg and 139/89 mmHg, then you have prehypertension. This means that you don’t have high blood pressure at the moment but are likely to develop it in the future unless you change your lifestyle.

Both numbers in a blood pressure test are important, but for people who are age 50 or older, systolic pressure gives the most accurate diagnosis of high blood pressure.

Systolic pressure is the top number in a blood pressure reading. So, for example, if your blood pressure is 160/110 (160 over 110) then your systolic reading is 160. It is high if it is140 mmHg or above.

How Can You Prevent or Control High Blood Pressure?

Hypertension can almost always be prevented, so these steps are very important even if you do not have high blood pressure already:

• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Be physically active.
• Follow a healthy eating plan.
• Eat foods with less sodium (salt).
• Drink alcohol only in moderation.
• Take prescribed drugs as directed.

Being physically active is one of the most important things you can do to prevent or control high blood pressure. It also helps to reduce your risk of heart disease.

Increasing Your Physical Activity

It doesn’t take a lot of effort to become physically active. All you need is 30 minutes of moderate-level physical activity on most days of the week.  You never know you might get to enjoy it! Examples of such activities are brisk walking, bicycling, raking leaves, and gardening. If you don’t want to do 30 minutes at a time, then divide the time into shorter periods of at least 10 minutes each. If you already undertake 30 minutes of moderate-level physical activity a day, you can get even more health benefits by doing more or spending the same amount of time but exercising more intensively.

Most people don’t need to see a doctor before they start a moderate-level physical activity. You should check first with your doctor if you have heart trouble or have had a heart attack, if you’re over age 50 and are not used to moderate-level physical activity, if you have a family history of heart disease at an early age, or if you have any other serious health problem.

Copyright 2009 Jane Thurnell-Read with information from National Heart Blood And Lung Institute (USA).