Saturday, October 2, 2010

Fighting High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure (hypertension) is a blood pressure reading above 140/90. High Blood Pressure often leads to dizziness, exhaustion, chest pain among other things.Suffering from hypertension makes it hard to get insurance. Therefore, it is in your best interest to get rid of it quickly.





Despite what a lot of people think, hypertension is rarely hereditary. You can definitely control it, and in almost every case without the use of harmful medications.


Many doctors will just throw a drug at the problem, but this often does more harm than good. Even if you do end up on medication, your lifestyle will make the biggest difference to becoming healthy. Listed are three of the most effective changes you can make to your lifestyle in order to battle HBP:


#1) Change your eating habits


The diet is one of the most important variables in becoming healthier. Include more fruit and vegies in your diet. These are the staples of any good diet, regardless of what the protein source is. The best sources of protein are whole grains, fish and nuts.
Make sure to lower your intake of salt, as this is one of the worst foods for high blood pressure. Also eat lots of potassium, as this is one of the best nutrients to combat hypertension. Bananas are a great source of potassium.


#2) Stop smoking and drinking


Both these habits are proven to have very negative effects on the blood pressure.


#3) Work out vigorously


Scientific studies have proven that exercising reduces the blood pressure dramatically. Also, make sure it's intense. The more vigorous the workout, the better your chances of eliminating your hypertension.
That's not to say walking or slow jogging will hurt you. It just will not help as much as something more vigorous.


It's important that you enjoy your work out. One thing you can try is taking up a sport. That way you can get exercise and enjoy it at the same time. There's nothing worse than dreading your workout, and this is one of the main reasons many people lead sedentary lives.


The bottom line: diet and exercise are extremely important for dropping the blood pressure. Medication is very rarely necessary. Even if it is at first, by changing your lifestyle you should be able to bring your high blood pressure under control shortly.

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