High blood pressure increases the risk of both heart attack and stroke. It's important to know your numbers, because if you have high blood pressure, you'll want to lower it. Talk to your doctor about the best ways to lower your blood pressure. Here are some things he or she might suggest.

Lose weight

Your systolic blood pressure (the first number in your blood pressure results) will be reduced by 5 to 20 points for every 20 pounds you lose. In fact, if you are overweight, losing just 10 pounds can help lower your blood pressure. The goal for weight loss is to have a body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and 24.9. Losing weight will also help with sleep apnea -- when breathing stops briefly many times during sleep. (This can raise blood pressure and make the heart beat irregularly). Shed the pounds slowly, combining healthy eating with exercise. Controlling your weight will help you take care of your blood pressure. Check your readings regularly at home and try to stay within your target range.

Maintain a good diet

The basic rules are not to eat or limit:

• Foods high in total and saturated fat
• Processed foods
• Sugar
• Salt
• Carbohydrates
• Caffeine
• Alcohol (no more than one drink a day if you are a woman; two or less if you are a man)

 

Eat more potassium and less sodium

Increasing potassium intake and limiting salt can also lower blood pressure. Potassium is a double winner: It reduces the effects of salt in your system and relieves tension in blood vessels. However, potassium-rich diets can be harmful to people with kidney disease, so talk to your doctor before increasing your potassium intake. It's easy to eat more potassium. So many foods are naturally high in potassium. Here are a few of them:

• Low-fat dairy products such as milk and yogurt
• fishes
• fruits such as bananas, apricots, avocados and oranges
• Vegetables such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, tomatoes, greens and spinach.
• Please note that people react differently to salt. Niektórzy ludzie są wrażliwi na sól, co oznacza, że większe spożycie soli zwiększa ich ciśnienie krwi. Inni są niewrażliwi na sól. Mogą oni spożywać duże ilości soli i wydalać ją z moczem bez podnoszenia ciśnienia krwi (16).

Stop Smoking

It can be difficult to do, but it's worth it: Quitting smoking is good for your overall health. Smoking causes an immediate but temporary increase in blood pressure and accelerated heart rate (20). In the long term, the chemicals in tobacco can raise blood pressure by damaging blood vessel walls, causing inflammation and narrowing arteries. Hardened arteries cause higher blood pressure. The chemicals in tobacco can affect blood vessels even when you are around second-hand smoke. The study found that nonsmokers who were allowed to go to restaurants, bars and workplaces with smoking bans had lower blood pressure than nonsmokers in areas where there was no policy against smoking in public places.     [cool_tag_cloud on_single_display="local"]