Hypertension, more commonly known as high blood pressure, was a contributing or primary factor in the death of almost 650,000 women and men in the United States per year. High blood pressure is insidious and silent. You may not even know you have it until you’re in the middle of a heart attack or stroke.
Although hypertension is a silent killer, that doesn’t mean you have no control over it. First, keep tabs on your blood pressure by having an annual visit with your cardiologist or primary care doctor. Second, if your blood pressure runs high, find ways to lower it.
At our office in Rosedale, Queens, New York, our expert cardiologist, Dr. Ola Akinboboye, strongly encourages you to take control of your blood pressure. Only one in four women and men in the US with hypertension has it under control; we want you to be part of that “one.”
May is Hypertension Awareness Month. Take these 31 days and learn about how you can prevent or lower high blood pressure with these seven simple lifestyle hacks.
You probably already knew this one: your doctor has told you for years that you need to lose weight. You’ve wanted to do so for social and aesthetic reasons, too.
Now you have yet another motivation for losing inches of fat: It’ll lower your risk of death from the complications of hypertension. Carrying excess fat — and all the extra blood vessels that go with it — means that your heart has to work harder than ever to pump your blood through your body.
If you’ve been frustrated by your own efforts to shed unhealthy weight, let us know. We may refer you to a weight-loss program or prescribe a GLP-1 agonist to help you attain a healthy weight.
Here’s another hack you already know about but may have been resisting. A good exercise regimen gives your heart a workout, helping it get stronger.
Of course, exercise — combined with healthy eating (see 3)— helps you achieve the first goal of losing weight. If you look at all these changes as interrelated (as they are), they may not seem so daunting.
Follow the American Heart Association’s guidelines of getting at least 150 minutes of heart-pumping activity into your life each week. If that sounds like a lot/too much, remember that activities like these count:
Vary your movements and find activity buddies. Spending time with friends can lower your blood pressure, too! And don’t forget to add some resistance exercise: lifting weights or doing bodyweight exercises strengthens your heart and other muscles and burns fat.
If you focus on fresh foods, you already cut out the excess sodium from junk food, processed foods, and fast food that raise your blood pressure. Keep your sodium down to less than 1,500 mg per day. Read food labels — or, ideally, buy fresh meats, vegetables, and fruit that don’t need labels.
You need to be active, but you also need to take it easy. Mental stress, worry, and anxiety can all raise your blood pressure. Try deep breathing, meditation, or prayer at least once a day to ease stress.
If you’re keeping as busy as you should be during the day, your body may need extra sleep at night. Regardless, all adults should aim for at least 7-9 hours of actual sleep at night.
If you have insomnia, let us know. You may have obstructive sleep apnea or another dangerous condition that compromises your rest and repair and raises your risk for early death.
Smoking raises your blood pressure and damages your blood vessels and heart. Let us know if you need a referral to a smoking cessation program.
Ideally, you shouldn’t drink at all. Alcohol raises your blood pressure, too. If you’re on antihypertensive medication, it could render it ineffective. Let us know if you need a referral to a counselor or program for substance abuse.
If you’ve been diagnosed with hypertension, or if it runs in your family, don’t wait until your annual exam to find out what it is. Get a home blood pressure gauge and take your blood pressure regularly. Contact us if it gets higher.
Do you have or are you at risk for the silent killer known as hypertension? Book a hypertension evaluation and treatment at 718-208-4816 or by using our online outreach form.
