5 Easy Steps to Lower Your Blood Pressure
Has your doctor pointed out that your blood pressure is a little high? Has the information on how you can reduce your blood pressure been just “take up exercise and eat more healthily”? Of course the doctor has hit the nail on the head: all you need to do is take up some form of exercise on a regular basis and of course eat more healthily. To help you on your new healthy journey I have taken it upon myself to give you a better sense of direction with 5 useful points to help. If your blood pressure is over 140/90 then this could help you. If you would like to learn more about blood pressure and what it is then please click here.
1. Diet Don’ts – Time to put a stop to that sweet tooth!
For starters you need to reduce foods that are high in saturated fats. These fats are not good for you and result in raising your blood pressure. Foods that have a very high content of saturated fats are: fast food, fried food, meats, hard cheese, butter, cakes, biscuits and cream. If you are not sure about this fat in the food you are buying, please check the contents and there should be a fat section that will read mono unsaturated fats or polyunsaturated fats (these are the good fats for your body – Beeble) and saturated fats. If your food product reads more than 5 grams in every 100 grams of saturated fat then I suggest you avoid it at all costs.
Of course fats have been in the news a lot recently and so have taken the spot light off the other main contributer to high blood pressure and that is foods high in sugar content. So that includes the majority of sodas, sweets, cakes, biscuits, sweeteners and of course sugars. Reduce this type of food consumption significantly.
2. Diet Do’s – It is easy to say “eat more healthily” but what does it really mean?
As you can probably guess if you are going to reduce your intake of bad foods you need to increase the amount of good foods you eat. Good foods are all fresh, natural foods that have not been tainted by man’s hand. This is a huge topic and a lot of foods fit into this category so let’s chip away at the tip of the nutritional iceberg. You need to increase your fibre intake as this helps take excess fat away from your body which will help reduce your cholesterol. There are 2 types are fibre; soluble and insoluble The soluble is able to clean out your veins and arteries from excess cholesterol and insoluble helps keep our guts and bowels healthy and efficient. For insoluble fibre look no further than wholegrain bread, brown rice, wholegrain breakfast cereals, fruit and vegetables. For soluble fibre you need to increase the amount of oats and pulses (beans and lentils – Beeble) you consume.
As we have already mentioned in the “don’ts” section, unsaturated fats are good for you and can actually lower bad cholesterol by consuming them. Foods that are high in unsaturated fats are oily fish, avocados, nuts, seeds, sunflower, olive, corn, walnut and rapeseed oils (but remember, as soon as you heat these oils their properties change to saturated fats, so just by using them in frying does not make your food more healthy! – Beeble).
3. Exercise – What exercise will reduce your blood pressure?
Most forms of exercise are beneficial to your blood pressure, but please be careful as pushing yourself too hard can cause more problems than no exercise. Exercise by itself has the immediate reaction of raising your blood pressure, so if you already have high blood pressure it is important that you only exercise up to your optimal limits. Exercise helps to keep the heart strong, the lungs large and open and helps to make the whole system efficient. It reduces your cholesterol, improves your sense of wellbeing and reduces your body fat percentage which can play an important part in how high your blood pressure is.
Exercising Safely
So, to exercise correctly be safe and start slowly. Buy yourself a heart rate monitor, these clever bits of kit monitor how many beats your heart performs in a minute and allow you to monitor very precisely how hard you are pushing yourself in your workout and most importantly that you are not pushing too hard. To understand how hard you need to be working out at you need to take the number 220 and take your age away from it. The answer you get is your maximum heart rate. But you don’t want to get your heart as high as this, no, you need to be working at no more than 70% of your maximum heart rate (MHR). To work this out get your calculators and multiply your MHR by 0.7 and there you have it. Now with your heart rate monitor on you can find out how much exercise gets you to near this level. For some you may find that half an hour walk is sufficient to get your heart rate up and maintain it there. Others may need to take up an activity or join the gym to get their heart rate up to their required level.
Whatever level you start at be aware that as your heart gets stronger and your cardiovascular system more efficient you will need to increase your effort levels to continue to see improvements. Also please remember that if you have a pace maker you will not be able to wear a heart rate monitor. Find your pulse on your wrist with your finger (not your thumb, as it too has a pulse – Beeble) you should find it just below your hand and slightly thumb side. Don’t press too hard and count the amount of beats you have in 6 seconds and multiply by 10. Or for a more accurate reading count for a whole minute.
4. Stress – Relax and learn to take things in your stride.
Easy to say and far more difficult to put into practice, however change you must, to reduce your stress levels which of course increases your blood pressure. You will find that by making the changes to your diet and exercising you will start to find things a little more easy to take in your stride, however you still need to put some more work into it. This could and should really be mentioned in diet but you must increase your water intake, being dehydrated can increase your inability to cope and therefore increase your blood pressure. To find out how much you should be drinking and when click here. Learn to get a good night’s sleep, again you will find that your sleep improves as your exercise increases and your diet gets better. However there are other measures you can take to improve your sleep. To learn about these click here.
There can be many causes of mental stress from work to depression and you need to get on top of these. That does not mean that I am being heartless as I am well aware that the ways of the mind can be difficult to resolve. However you will never regain control and reduce stress if you don’t face it. Of course facing the issues can have the immediate effect of increasing blood pressure but looking at it over the long term (which is what counts – Beeble) it is the only way you can resolve an issue. So whether you talk to someone professional or a friend, or you take the bull by the horns and face the issue yourself then the time is now for the sake of your own health.
5. Stimulants – Reduction of stimulants like alcohol, coffee, smoking and drugs.
I am not going to be popular for this advice, however these stimulants are detrimental to the health of your heart and in the case of smoking your lungs as well. Over use of these substances puts a huge amount of pressure on your heart. I am not an expert on how to reduce your consumption of your own favourite stimulant, so I am not going to say anymore than just cut back on all of them, whatever it takes, for the sake of your health. If you need help to quit smoking then please click here if you need help with your alcohol consumption (and we don’t mean a bar or pub – Beeble) then please click here for more advice. This is not the place to get into a long discussion about drugs, recreational or otherwise, but if you want to quit you should visit this website to get your questions answered.
And a Warning…
High blood pressure is to be taken seriously and whilst I have pointed out some of the ways you can improve your blood pressure you must always get the all clear to make these changes from your doctor. If your blood pressure is very high they may prefer to take a different approach to maintain your wellbeing, usually through medicine like beta blockers. If your doctor gives you the all clear to take up exercise then always take it one step at a time. Rushing in and training too hard can result in a stroke or worse. Remember it is a lifestyle change you are trying to make and not a race to get well. It has probably taken you years of bad eating habits, no exercise and high stress levels to get where you are today, so don’t expect to get changes over night.
Good luck to all of you on your fitness and health goals, I hope you have success and if there is anything we can do at Beebleblog.com then all you have to do is ask!
April 7th, 2008 at 5:27 am
Cholesterol has been around for thousands of years. It’s a natural function of the human body. Unfortunately, most people aren’t even aware they have high cholesterol until they have a heart attack or stroke. It is possible to have up to 80 percent closure of the arteries without ever feeling a single symptom! Here are 5 tips you can use straight away to start lowering your cholesterol today:
1. Reduce fat in your diet. Buy the leanest cuts of meat you can find. Regularly substitute poultry (without the skin) and fish for red meat. Both are lower in saturated fat. Switch to low fat cottage cheese and yogurt, reduced fat hard cheeses and skim or 1 percent milk.
2. Eat no more than four egg yolks a week. Many people don’t have to worry about eating cholesterol. Normal bodies adjust to increased intake by cutting back on regular product. However, since one third of Americans are cholesterol responders their blood cholesterol does go up when they eat cholesterol. You probably don’t know if you fall into this category so play it safe. Eat no more than four egg yolks a week. An average egg yolk contains 213 milligrams of cholesterol!
3. Eliminate fried foods. Buying low fat is just the beginning. You need to institute low fat cooking methods to keep the cholesterol from sneaking back in to your diet. Remove fatty skin from chicken and turkey. Don’t fry foods. Roast, bake, broil, grill or poach them instead. Use fat free marinades or basting with liquids like wine, tomato or lemon juice. Use olive or canola oils for saut?ing or baking. Both are very low in saturated fat. Use diet, tub or squeeze margarines instead of regular. Watch for the term "hydrogenated," which means some of the fat is saturated.
4. Eat vegetables and complex carbohydrates. Lowest fat foods of all are vegetables, fruits, grains (rice, barley and pasta), beans and legumes. Try substituting some of these for meat and high fat dairy products. Don’t douse your pasta with butter or your potato with sour cream. Use tomato base sauces instead of cream base. Use lemon juice, low sodium soy sauce or herbs to season vegetables. Make chili with extra beans and seasonings while leaving out the meat.
5. Lose weight. If you are overweight, the chances are almost 100% that you have a problem with high cholesterol. You can lower your LDL and elevate your HDL just by dropping some pounds. Eat fewer fatty foods and more fruits, vegetables, grains and beans and it’s a pretty good bet that you will slowly but surely lose weight.
Remember there is no substitute for your physician. Make certain that you clear any new treatments with him before embarking on any radical health changes you are anticipating. About the Author Tony Newton publishes the popular health and wellness website – http://www.1st-for-health.com With lots of informative articles on low carb diets, hair loss, arthritis pain relief, acne and lots more.
January 17th, 2009 at 8:12 am
High blood pressure can be caused by any number of factors in a person’s life or by many factors all adding together. However, the hard truth is that if you don’t control your blood pressure, it can lead to many serious medical conditions, including heart attack and stroke. By understanding the causes of high blood pressure, you can learn how to prevent your levels from exceeding the normal range and therefore promote in yourself and your family a healthier overall lifestyle.
September 14th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
I had been practicing Judo for quite sometime now. It has helped me a lot to develop my self esteem and move forward.