A powerful way to lower high blood pressure

High blood pressure or hypertension is a common chronic condition. This health condition cannot be cured, but the sufferer can still live the best life possible by controlling and lowering blood pressure. So, how and how to reduce high blood pressure right?

Why do people with hypertension need to control and lower blood pressure?

High blood pressure or hypertension is a condition when the blood pressure on the artery walls increases. This condition generally does not cause symptoms of hypertension, therefore many do not know that they have a history of this disease.

To find out if you have hypertension, you need to regularly check your blood pressure. The blood pressure is classified as hypertension, which reaches 140/90 mmHg or more. While normal blood pressure ranges from 90/60 mmHg to 120/80 mmHg.

High blood pressure can be caused by many things. However, most of the causes of hypertension are related to heredity or genetics and poor lifestyle. In this condition, high blood pressure is also called essential or primary hypertension.

Therefore, lifestyle is an important way to treat and treat hypertension. In many cases, lifestyle changes to be healthier can lower your blood pressure without the need to use prescription drugs.

In addition to reducing and overcoming high blood pressure, adopting a healthy lifestyle can also:

• Control so that blood pressure remains at normal limits.
• Delay the progression or prevent more severe hypertension.
• Increase the effectiveness of blood pressure medications.
• Reducing the risk of complications from hypertension, such as heart attack, heart disease, stroke and kidney disease.

Controlling blood pressure is a lifelong commitment. So, make a promise to start today for yourself and your loved ones.

How to reduce high blood pressure that is effective?

A healthy lifestyle is the main way to treat hypertension. Then, what are the healthy lifestyles that need to be applied? Here are tips and ways to deal with and reduce high blood pressure for you:

1. Reduce salt consumption

When you are diagnosed with high blood pressure, the main thing you need to do is avoid intake or foods that cause hypertension. The intake that most plays a role in causing hypertension, namely sodium or salt, both table salt and sodium contained in packaged or canned foods.

Therefore, one way to reduce high blood pressure is to reduce salt intake in your diet. Reducing salt and sodium intake just a little is believed to improve heart health and reduce blood pressure by around 5-6 mmHg if you have hypertension.

The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends consuming no more than 2,300 mg of salt or sodium, the equivalent of one teaspoon per day. However, if you already have a history of high blood pressure, you are advised to consume no more than 1,500 mg of salt or sodium per day.

Reducing salt intake is not easy. You can do this slowly until you reach the target you want.

If you have been accustomed to seasoning dishes with salt or MSG, it's better if you replace the salt with natural spices or flavorings, such as garlic, onion, ginger, hazelnut, turmeric, kencur, laos, bay leaves, lemongrass, lemon, vinegar, pepper, or black pepper.

In addition to reducing salt in cooking, you also need to check the label on the packaged food that you are going to buy. Choose foods with low sodium levels and reduce consumption of processed foods to avoid excess salt and sodium in your body.

2. Eat a healthy diet

After reducing salt intake, another way to lower high blood pressure is by eating healthy high blood pressure foods and following the DASH dietary guidelines.

Choose foods that are high in fiber, low in fat, low in cholesterol, such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and milk and low-fat dairy products, to be consumed every day. Choosing these foods is believed to lower blood pressure by up to 11 mmHg if you have hypertension.

You also need to eat foods high in potassium, such as bananas, avocados, tomatoes, potatoes, and various sea fish. The reason is, potassium can reduce the effect of sodium on blood pressure in your body.

To be able to apply this diet every day, you can do the steps below:

• Write a food diary. The goal is to monitor what and how much food you have eaten. Don't forget to include high blood pressure foods in your intake list.
• Be a smart consumer by reading nutrition labels when you shop, and stick to a healthy eating plan, even when you eat at restaurants.

3. Reduce caffeine intake

The effect of caffeine on blood pressure is often debated. However, caffeine is said to increase blood pressure by up to 10 mmHg in people who rarely consume it. As for some people who frequently consume caffeinated coffee, it may only have a slight impact on increasing blood pressure.

However, if you have high blood pressure, it's a good idea to reduce your caffeine intake. When in doubt, ask your doctor about the effects caffeine has on your body.

4. Reduce alcohol consumption

Apart from cutting back on salt and caffeine and eating a healthy diet, you also need to reduce your alcohol intake. The reason is, alcohol consumed in excess can cause an increase in blood pressure and reduce the effectiveness of the high blood medication you are taking.

So, if you already have a history of high blood pressure, consuming alcohol can actually worsen your health condition. Therefore, you should avoid consuming this liquor. By reducing your alcohol intake, your blood pressure can potentially decrease by up to 4 mmHg.

5. Quit smoking

If you are an active smoker, the best way you can do to lower blood pressure is to quit smoking. Reporting from the Mayo Clinic, every cigarette you smoke can increase blood pressure for a few minutes after you finish smoking.

The reason is, cigarettes contain nicotine and harmful substances that can cause narrowing of blood vessels or atherosclerosis. The narrowed blood vessels can cause an increase in blood pressure.

Apart from the increase in blood pressure, smoking in the long term can also increase your risk of other health problems, such as strokes and heart attacks.

If you have trouble quitting smoking, take it slow and strengthen your determination to quit completely. You can also ask your doctor for help to develop strategies and ways to quit smoking that are appropriate to reduce your hypertension.

Meanwhile, if you don't smoke, you also need to stay away from cigarette smoke so you don't become passive smokers. The reason is, passive smokers are also at high risk of developing various diseases due to cigarette smoke.

6. Doing exercise regularly

Another effective and effective way to lower high blood pressure is doing physical activity or exercising. Physical activity or exercise can help keep your heart healthy and arteries elastic, so that blood flow becomes normal and blood pressure decreases.

However, physical activity and exercise for hypertension must be done regularly and regularly to be effective in lowering blood pressure. If not done regularly and regularly, your blood pressure can rise again.

On the other hand, regular and regular physical activity or exercise is believed to be able to lower blood pressure up to 5-8 mmHg for people with hypertension. Meanwhile, for those of you who have prehypertension, exercising is a way that can prevent hypertension and reduce blood pressure that starts high.

Then, what exercises are good for dealing with high blood pressure? Exercise for people with hypertension is actually very easy to do.

You only need to incorporate moderate-intensity physical activity into your daily routine to get these benefits. Basically, any physical activity that raises your heart rate and breathing is considered a good way to lower high blood pressure.

You can walk every day with your child or take your dog for a walk. Walking activities can also be done when you go to work to the office.

You can also choose other sports activities that can reduce high blood pressure, such as aerobics, cardio, flexibility training, to strength training such as lifting weights. As for other aerobic exercises that are easy to apply on a daily basis, such as jogging, cycling, dancing, or occasionally swimming.

Do exercise for 150 minutes a week or 30 minutes every day to lower your blood pressure. If you choose the type and method of high-intensity exercise, for example running, do about 75 minutes per week to lower high blood pressure to normal blood pressure.

7. Adding to outdoor activities

Sports can be done indoors or indoors. If you choose indoor sports, you need to do outdoor activities occasionally as a way to treat hypertension.

The reason is, outdoor activities can help you get the vitamin D your body needs. The lack of vitamin D is said to increase the risk of developing high blood pressure and heart disease. However, additional research is needed to prove this fact.

8. Maintain ideal body weight

Obesity and being overweight are closely related to high blood pressure. Therefore, maintaining a healthy body weight is another simple way you can reduce high blood pressure.

Called by the Mayo Clinic, losing even a little bit can affect your blood pressure. In general, you can lower your blood pressure by up to 1 mmHg for every 1 kg of body weight you lose.

As for you can get the ideal body weight by adopting a healthy diet and regular exercise as mentioned above.

9. Manage stress

People with hypertension often underestimate this method of lowering high blood pressure because it is considered unimportant. In fact, stress can cause hypertension and this condition can make you do various bad habits, such as smoking, alcohol consumption or unhealthy foods, which in turn can raise blood pressure.

Stress can occur due to various things, such as work, family, finances, or others. In addition, lack of sleep can also cause hypertension because this condition can cause stress on you.

Therefore, it is important for you to manage stress as well as possible in an effort to lower blood pressure. As for managing stress, you need to find out what causes of stress you often experience and overcome these causes.

You can also do things that can calm your mind so that stress can disappear, such as listening to music, confide , meditate, or do a hobby you enjoy.

10. Get used to fasting

Apart from eating healthy foods, doing various types of exercise, and keeping your mind from being stressed, lowering high blood pressure can also be done by fasting.

According to a study published by Journal of the American Society of Hypertension in 2017, fasting is believed to be an effective way to help reduce high blood pressure in patients with mild to moderate hypertension.

In addition, fasting is also a way for your body to take a break from foods that trigger hypertension and emotional problems, so that you can reduce high blood pressure. As a result, blood pressure tends to be stable during fasting.

However, if you choose fasting as a way to lower high blood pressure, you must compensate by meeting your body's fluid needs before and after fasting. Make sure you drink at least eight glasses a day to prevent dehydration while fasting, which actually increases the risk of hypertension complications later in life.

Other ways outside of a lifestyle that can help reduce high blood pressure

Implementing a healthy lifestyle is indeed an important way to lower your high blood pressure or hypertension. However, there are other ways that can also help you treat and treat hypertension. Here are other ways outside of a lifestyle to lower high blood pressure:

1. Routinely check blood pressure

In addition to diagnosing hypertension, regular blood pressure checks can also help you lower blood pressure. By regularly checking blood pressure, you can monitor the extent to which the lifestyle you have adopted has affected blood pressure.

If it is not enough to lower blood pressure, you can evaluate it and adopt the right lifestyle. If necessary, consult your doctor whether the lifestyle you are adopting is right and in accordance with your condition.

In addition, routine blood pressure checks can also help you monitor the development of hypertension. If your blood pressure continues to rise, you can immediately see a doctor so you can immediately deal with it and prevent unwanted complications of hypertension.

Ask your doctor how often you need to have your blood pressure checked and if you need to measure your blood pressure at home.

2. Take medication according to the doctor's provisions

Another important way to reduce high blood pressure is by taking antihypertensive drugs. Generally, doctors give hypertension drugs if a healthy lifestyle alone is not enough to control blood pressure.

When you are already taking hypertension medication, you should take the drug according to the conditions and the dosage given by your doctor. If you don't drink it according to the provisions, your blood pressure cannot be controlled and will continue to rise and increase the risk of other diseases.

You also need to remember to always consult with your doctor about the consumption of high blood pressure medications. Never stop or change high blood pressure medication without your doctor knowing, even if you feel better.

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