Hypertension or high blood pressure is the leading cause of many serious health problems. These include cardiovascular disease, heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease. It originates from combined genetic, environmental, and social determinants.
Your lifestyle plays a crucial role in lowering hypertension risk and preventing health-related risks. Lucky for you, listed below are six actions people can do to achieve a healthy lifestyle free from hypertension.
Exercise Regularly
Aiming to conduct at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day is advisable. Regular physical activity can help you keep a healthy weight and lower your blood pressure by five to eight mmHg.
Among the exercises that help lower your blood pressure are walking, cycling, swimming, jogging, and dancing. You can also do high-intensity interval training, which involves alternating short bursts of intense and lighter activity.
If you resist exercise, stay lazy, and continue being a couch potato, you better start looking at Amlodipine and Cozaar drug pricing without insurance and discount. You’re very likely going to have hypertension if you choose this path. So the choice is yours whether to be active or lazy.
Have A Healthy Diet
If you have a choice between an oily, fatty meal and a healthy, tasty meal, you must choose the latter to avoid high blood pressure and its complications. Eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy lowers high blood pressure by eleven mmHg.
These foods are rich in fiber, protein, and potassium and low in salt and saturated fat. Low sodium intake should be limited to 2,300 milligrams per day to further reduce high blood pressure by five to six mmHg.
You can also employ the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Diet. Health professionals and dietitians have proved this to be an effective way to lower the risk and increase the ability to manage hypertension.
Moreover, you also need to drink at least eight glasses of water daily. Staying hydrated ensures that nutrients can flow from one place to another within the day. Drinking water also allows you to remove bodily toxins through urination.
Get Enough Sleep
It is essential to your overall health that you get enough sleep every day to keep your heart and blood vessels healthy. Poor sleep quality and getting under six hours of sleep every night for numerous weeks can contribute to hypertension. You can also develop sleep apnea, insomnia, and restless leg syndrome with poor sleep quality.
That’s why it’s important that you follow these reminders to ensure that you get enough hours of sleep every day:
- Have a Sleep Schedule: Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Encourage yourself to follow the same schedule even on both weeknights and weekends.
- Avoid Eating Before Bedtime – Don’t eat large meals near your bedtime. Don’t also engage in actions involving nicotine, alcohol, and caffeine past eight in the evening..
- Make a Restful Ambiance: Keep your sleeping space calm and dark. Doing something relaxing before sleeping is also helpful, like a relaxation exercise or a warm bath. Avoid having bright lights in the room.
- Limit Your Naps – Limit your naps to around 30 minutes to help you sleep tight during nighttime.
Reduce Stress
Another way to lower the risk of hypertension is to reduce the chronic emotional stress you experience. It’s very critical to the process that you determine your sources of stress in order to address them. You can also try the following techniques to have a stress-free lifestyle:
- Avoid Doing Too Much – Plan your day. Focus on the priorities you’ve set. Learn to say no and allow enough time to get what needs to be done.
- Focus on Issues You Can Control – Talk to your boss or human resource if it’s work-related. Communicate with your wife, kids, and relatives if it’s with family. Try to find solutions to resolve it.
- Avoid Stress Triggers: Avoid people or places that cause you stress.
- Make Time to Relax – Take time to breathe deeply and sit quietly. Let yourself enjoy hobbies and activities.
Quit Bad Habits
Drinking alcohol and smoking increases blood pressure. Quitting these bad habits can lower your blood pressure by four mmHg. It helps also reduce the risk of having other diseases and improves your quality of life.
Always Monitor Blood Pressure
It’s beneficial that you do home monitoring of your blood pressure. It informs you on how high or low your blood pressure is. It can help you decide what changes to make in your lifestyle.
In Conclusion
Hypertension is one of the deadliest diseases in the world. It can trigger numerous complications that could further deteriorate your health. That’s why it’s vital that you know that there are actions you need to take to change your lifestyle to help minimize the risk of having it would be life-saving.
