Blood pressure is governed by two factors; the amount of blood being pumped by the heart and the resistance the blood faces in the arteries. The measurement of blood pressure is in millimeters of mercury, and there are two indicators; systolic and diastolic. Systolic is the pressure when the heart beats and diastolic is the pressure in between heartbeats. 120/80 mmHg is considered as normal blood pressure; any variance could indicate hypertension. You can control your blood pressure by making lifestyle changes without needing to take drugs. Some tips:
Get Out of the Sedentary Mode
By undertaking aerobic exercises, older persons can significantly lower their blood pressure. Exercising improves the rate of beating of the heart and your breathing making the heart stronger so that it doesn’t have to make such an effort to pump blood. The arteries also come under lesser pressure and this result in the blood pressure getting lowered. Exercising doesn’t have to be very vigorous; you can achieve excellent results by walking, biking, gardening or playing. Start with just 10-15 minutes, and progress to 30-45 minutes but ensure that you do it daily so that it becomes a habit.
Control Your Weight
It is very likely that you are overweight if you are suffering from hypertension. Try to reduce your weight to the ideal one for your height, and you will observe a significant drop in your blood pressure. Losing weight also has an excellent effect on overall health management and makes you less prone to several other diseases.
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Quit Smoking
Smoking has an adverse effect on your blood pressure; when you smoke both your blood pressure and heart rate become elevated. Chemicals in the tobacco smoke not only damage the walls of your blood vessels but also make your arteries narrower; this increases your blood pressure further. Therefore, you must quit smoking as soon as possible.
Eat Right
The key to proper blood pressure management is a healthy diet that has less of sugar and carbs. This helps you to lose weight more efficiently. Several studies have conclusively proved that diets that contain fewer carbs are responsible for lowering the blood pressure. When you are replacing carbohydrates with protein, you will feel fuller as proteins typically take more time to be digested. Another effective way of lowering your blood pressure is to cut back on your sodium intake and increase your potassium consumption. Potassium not only negates the bad effect of salt but also makes your blood vessels less hard. Eating less processed food is recommended to reduce salt, sugar, and refined carbs intake.
Conclusion
Apart from taking the steps outlined above, you can significantly improve your blood pressure by eliminating stress as much as possible; try yoga and meditation, take a leisurely walk, listen to music or do whatever it is that calms you.
