More than 40 million Americans have high blood pressure or hypertension. Because those with high blood pressure often don't have symptoms, many of those 40 million people don't even know that they have high blood pressure. Approximately 20 million of those with high blood pressure are not being treated.
These facts are significant because - left uncontrolled and untreated - high blood pressure increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and other chronic illnesses. An optimal blood pressure for the general public is defined as 120/80 mm Hg or less.
What You Can Do
Fortunately, long-term studies have shown that there are things that you can do to help prevent high blood pressure…you just have to know what those things are and then act on them. Engaging in strategies to prevent high blood pressure is especially important for those people who are at greatest risk for developing high blood pressure.
Those at greatest risk include people who have a family history of hypertension, high-normal blood pressure or African American ancestry, people who are overweight, do not exercise, or drink an excessive amount of alcohol.
A recent article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association updated a report by the National High Blood Pressure Education Program Coordinating Committee (originally published in 1993) adding new and additional evidence for those lifestyle behaviors that may help prevent hypertension.
Here are six things from that report that you can do to try and prevent hypertension:
- Body weight. One of the most important things you can do to reduce your risk for hypertension is to maintain a healthy body weight or lose weight if you are overweight. Ask your doctor what a healthy weight range is for you. The body mass index (BMI) is one measurement used to determine if you are in a healthy weight range. A BMI of 18.5-24.9 is considered a healthy range. Ask your doctor about your BMI.
- Salt intake. Reducing the amount of sodium that you consume in your diet can help to prevent high blood pressure especially for those people who are salt sensitive - meaning a little bit of salt definitely affects their blood pressure. Current recommendations to prevent high blood pressure suggest that you limit your sodium intake to 1500 mg (1.5 g) of sodium a day. Again, check with your doctor about the amount of sodium that you should consume on a daily basis.
- Physical activity. If you aren't physically active get out there and start moving! Regular physical activity is important for helping to prevent many chronic diseases that can shorten your life span such as high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and others. The report recommends 30 minutes of moderate activity most days of the week. An example of moderate activity would be walking at a pace of 3-4 mph. A recent report by the Institute of Medicine suggests 60 minutes of physical activity a day to prevent chronic diseases such as those mentioned above. Don't worry about meeting those goals right off the bat…you can work up to those goals. For now, just get out there and get going!
- Alcohol consumption. While many reports suggest the health benefits of a glass of wine at night you have to be careful about the amount of alcohol you consume. As you start to consume more than a drink or two a day you can actually increase your risk for various diseases. To optimize your chances of avoiding high blood pressure, men should limit their daily consumption of alcohol to 1 oz. or less of ethanol. That equals 24 oz. of beer, 10 oz. of wine or 2 oz. of 100-proof whiskey. Women should limit their consumption to 0.5 oz. or less of ethanol per day.
- Potassium. Recent studies suggest that getting enough potassium in your diet is important for maintaining a healthy blood pressure. You should consume about 4,700 mg of potassium a day to help prevent hypertension. Getting too much potassium can actually be dangerous for certain individuals on certain medications or for those with specific medical problems, so check with your doctor before taking a potassium supplement or increasing your intake of potassium in your diet.
- The foods you eat. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that eating an abundance of fruits and vegetables every day not only helps prevent high blood pressure but many other diseases as well. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) study showed that people who had normal blood pressure and who consumed a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, certain nuts, legumes, and low-fat dairy products, and low in total and saturated fats were able to reduce their blood pressure by several points. The positive effect of this diet was even more pronounced for those individuals who already had high blood pressure. Pay attention to what you eat, and aim for five servings of fruits and vegetables every day!
Unfortunately nobody can guarantee being healthy over a lifetime. In fact, everyone experiences illness from time to time. But the good news is that there are many things that you can do to optimize your health. Studies suggest that engaging in healthy lifestyle behaviors really does improve your chances for living a long and healthy life! If you have any of the risk factors for developing high blood pressure, take these recommendations seriously, and talk with your doctor about how to optimize your chances for remaining healthy! |
