Sunday, April 3, 2011

Ways to Reduce High Blood Pressure

Blood pressure simply means that you arteries carry blood from your heart to you whole body. On the other hand, high-blood pressure or what is call hypertension happens when blood travels through your arteries at a higher pressure than normal. This can cause deleterious effects to our health. People with high- blood pressure tend to experience heart attacks, strokes or worse, death.

Prevention is better than cure. If you are not suffering from high blood pressure then do not wait until you do. If you already are suffering from it then do not wait until you no longer can. There are things that we can do to reduce or prevent high blood.

Stop Smoking Before it is Too Late

The nicotine that is in cigarettes and other tobacco products causes a lot of damage to our body. It damages our lungs, it makes our skin dry, and it also makes us look older! Not only that, it can also affect your heart by increasing your blood pressure. This is because nicotine causes your blood vessels to constrict and thus makes your heart beat faster than normal. This temporarily raises your blood pressure. If you want to live longer and happier, you should quit smoking or using other tobacco products right now. By doing so, you significantly lower your risk of heart disease and heart attack. More importantly, it will lower your b.p. What about losing weight and exercising?

Obesity is also considered causing high-blood pressure. If you notice, most of those who suffer heart attacks are usually overweight. If you are overweight, losing some of it will lower your blood pressure. We know that losing weight is possible yet not that easy. Make sure that you are eating healthy and in proper proportion. Aside from changing your diet, you should also spend some time for exercise. You do not actually have to go to the gym or lift weights because you can burn the extra calories by doing household chores or just by simply walking the extra mile. Park your car a block away from you office or use the stairs. The only way to safely lose weight is to lose it through exercise and proper diet Lessen Your Sodium Intake

This is not true for everyone, but sodium can increase blood pressure in some cases. Ideally, we should limit our sodium intake to 2,300 mg per day. However it is better if we can limit it more or not taking any form of it at all. There is a lot of sodium free foods in the market. Just make sure that you read the nutritional value printed on the package. Sure that you include fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fish in your diet. These would surely improve overall health and at the same time make you reduce sodium intake. One way to avoid sodium is to not add salt to your food. Also be aware that there are some medicines or supplements that contain sodium. So be aware.


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