You can’t feel high blood pressure, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore it. When left untreated, high blood pressure damages your blood vessels and organs, putting you at risk of other health problems like kidney disease, heart disease, and stroke.
At MS Family Medicine Health Care in Mineola and Rosedale, New York, Dr. Michele Reed and our team of health experts take a preventive approach to care. We understand the dangers of hypertension and help our patients make lifestyle changes to improve their numbers and their health.
Here we share some of the key factors necessary for managing high blood pressure.
Since you can’t feel high blood pressure, it’s difficult to know when yours is high. Checking your blood pressure regularly can help you better understand your numbers and what might cause them to go up, such as stress.
Blood pressure varies throughout the day, so checking your numbers around the same time every day may give you a better picture of your usual readings. Measuring your blood pressure first thing in the morning before eating breakfast or drinking your first cup of coffee can give you a good baseline reading.
We can help you find a reliable at-home blood pressure machine and show you how to use it. Some monitors have apps that track your readings so you can see the fluctuations. You can also send your at-home readings to us. Seeing your numbers while going about your normal routine helps us develop a targeted plan.
Healthy eating is part of hypertension management. Making drastic changes to what you normally eat is hard and may backfire if you eat poorly and give up.
Instead of removing food, we recommend adding more fruits and vegetables to help manage your high blood pressure. The potassium in fruits and vegetables counteracts the actions of sodium, lowering numbers.
Watching your salt and sodium intake helps too. Take the salt shaker off the table and use herbs and spices to flavor your food instead.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends adults aim for 150 minutes of aerobic exercise a week for good health. That’s about 30 minutes five days a week.
Time is precious, so if you can’t find 30 minutes for planned exercise, break it up into three 10-minute walks. Or, start with 10 minutes of exercise a day and slowly work your way up to 30.
Any movement is better than none. If you spend most of your day sitting, get up every hour to stretch your legs and get your blood pumping. You can also take a quick walk after lunch or before dinner and do gentle stretches while watching TV.
Exercise gets your heart pumping, making it stronger and more efficient, and lowering your blood pressure. More physical activity helps with weight management and getting to a healthy weight benefits high blood pressure management.
Chronic stress contributes to the development of high blood pressure. Finding ways to relieve stress may improve your numbers.
Deep breathing, meditation, and exercise are great stress relievers that can also reduce blood pressure.
Prioritizing self-care is important for managing stress and blood pressure. This means taking time to do the things that make you happy. Joy can change your mood, outlook, and health.
Making changes to your lifestyle is the first step in managing your high blood pressure. If your numbers remain high after improving your nutrition, activity, and stress management, you may need medication. However, prescriptions work best when combined with a healthy lifestyle.
If you want to take charge of your health, let us help. Call us today or request an appointment online anytime.
