10 simple lifestyle changes that can reduce your blood pressure
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Loading... - Jeremy MOORE
- 20 Apr 2023
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Almost half of heart attacks and strokes are associated with high blood pressure. Here’s how to reduce your risk
It is the often-overlooked stealth killer behind 10 million deaths a year globally. The cause of 60 per cent of all strokes and half of all heart disease. If you weigh yourself regularly, ask yourself, when did you last check your blood pressure?
And yet only a handful of us will reach the end of our lives without experiencing hypertension. At age 20 there is a 20 per cent chance of raised blood pressure, at 50, a fifty per cent chance and at 80 an eighty per cent chance. “If you haven’t got it now, you’re going to have it later,” says Prof Graham MacGregor, chair of Blood Pressure UK.
Salt, stress and sitting down; our unhealthy modern lifestyles are hard wired to raise blood pressure.
An “ideal” blood pressure is usually thought to be between 90/60mmHg and 120/80mmHg. The target for over-80s is below 150/90mmHg (or 145/85mmHg if measured at home). If your blood pressure is between 120/80mmHg and 140/90mmHg, you could be at risk of developing high blood pressure, and should make lifestyle changes to get it under control.
“It’s the major killer and it’s about time we did something about it,” says Prof MacGregor.
By making small changes to your life you can start to limit your blood pressure levels. And there’s evidence that for those already taking blood pressure medication, lifestyle changes combined with the drugs make them much more effective.
Stop the takeaways
Salt is the enemy of healthy blood pressure. It encourages your body to store water and excess water in your blood puts extra pressure on blood vessel walls, and in turn raises your blood pressure, which can damage your arteries making them less elastic, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and coronary heart attack.
“Current guidelines suggest you have no more than 6g of salt per day, which equates to about a teaspoon,” says Dr Brian Fisher, GP at health and wellbeing app, Evergreen Life. But adults in England have about 8.4g of salt per day on average.
If you eat out a lot or buy processed foods it can be hard to keep on top of your salt intake. Salt is commonly added to many foods, often as a preservative, and can also be found in sauces, salad dressings, sandwiches, processed meats and cheese, cereals and ready meals. Read More…
