Managing our high blood pressure is challenging, especially for those who are recently diagnosed as having hypertension. We must accept that there is no “cure” for our condition. That means stepping up to the challenge of managing our condition. Where should we start? The starting point may surprise you.It is….

Accepting responsibility

For very many of us, we are used to visiting our doctor’s office or the pharmacy to get a cure for our ailment. We have abdicated responsibility for our treatment to the physician and pharmacist. Our health is too important to do that, we must be responsible for our health and that includes managing our high blood pressure. I say “managing” our condition because there is no cure for hypertension only management. That means we must…

Modify our diet

We have all heard and read the healthy eating advice. Now is the time to put that advice into practice. In doing so, we are going to have to change our dietary habits, which will take time. Some diet companies say it can take as long as 38 days to permanently change our eating habits. So, do not try to build Rome in a day. The dietary advice is simple:

• reduce the amount of salt you add to your food. Work towards cutting out additional salt altogether
  cut down on the high fat highly processed foods and snack foods
• eat a variety of fruits and vegetables of all colours
• choose lean white meat instead of fatty red meats
• eat at least two portions of fish a week, one of white fish, the other being an oily fish
• grill, bake or poach your food in preference to frying
• cut back on sodas and caffeinated drinks and try to drink about two litres of water a day

Having a healthy balanced diet is a great start to managing our high blood pressure, but we need to do more….

Get active

Building physical activities into your daily schedule is the best way to take exercise. Walking is the most natural form of exercise. Walk a little bit further and a little bit faster than you normally do. Do this for at least thirty minutes in total every day. Take the stairs at work instead of the elevator. These simple forms of exercise are very effective at helping to lower your high blood pressure.

As a natural consequence of having a healthy balanced diet and being more physically active, you will…

Lose weight

Being overweight contributes to our hypertension and can also lead to the development of life threatening conditions, particularly if associated with a poor diet and sedentary lifestyle. Losing excess weight is an effective way of reducing our hypertension.

Reduce alcohol consumption

There is a direct correlation between the amount of alcohol we consume and our blood pressure. Although there may be some health benefits in moderate alcohol consumption, the more we drink, the higher is our hypertension. Sticking within the recommended weekly consumption guidelines will help to manage our condition within safe limits. We must also…

Quit smoking

There are many general health benefits to quitting smoking. Although smoking tobacco products does not directly cause our hypertension, indirectly it does make a significant contribution. Few people can give up instantly, most need to be weaned off “the weed” over a period of time. The beneficial effects of doing so for managing our high blood pressure are worth the effort.

Monitor your condition

When it comes to managing hypertension studies have shown that those who regularly monitor their blood pressure at home do a better job of it than those who do not. You should keep a record of the readings you take and show them to your doctor. This will help him or her make a more informed clinical judgment about your condition.

Modifying your lifestyle as suggested above is the key to effective management of your high blood pressure.