How to Lower Blood Pressure
Hypertension or high blood pressure is a big problem for adults in the US. It can lead to a heart attack or stroke, which can both result in death. The good news is that you can control your blood pressure with medications, like beta blockers or other drugs. However, medications should be a starting point to help you lower your blood pressure safely. To really reign in your blood pressure you need to focus on eating a healthy diet, that is low in salt, and exercising regularly.
Medication
Medications have come a long way in helping people with increased risk factors for premature death. But drugs are given nowadays without any real end plan. Usually you can control your blood pressure by changing your habits. The medication acts as a stop gap to help you safely lower your blood pressure. This is not always the case and you should always consult a doctor when starting a new exercise routine, so they are on the same page with your goals.
The reason I am so pro no medication (if possible) is because of all of the side effects medications can have. You may end up on 7 different medications because of one drug to lower you blood pressure. The other 6 medications are to treat the symptoms from the reaction you are having to the blood pressure medication. I am sure everyone out there has seen this with their grandparents or parents.
Diet
One of the single greatest things you can do to limit your chance for hypertension or lower your blood pressure is to control what you are eating. Salt is the single greatest issue to blood pressure. The USDA recommended amount of salt per day for an adult is 2500mg. Take a look at any fast food restaurant menu and you will see items that have all of that is one serving of food. Now, multiply that by three meals a day. That is probably closer to what the typical American eats in salt per day.
Controlling weight, calorie intake, and salt intake are the best changes you can make to reduce your blood pressure. Eating foods that are not processed help reduce the salt in the food and increase the nutrient density of the food. Nutrient density is just a way to say food with calories that are packed with vitamins and minerals and not just calories.
Exercise
There is a lot of information out there about how beneficial exercise can be for your health. There are many different ways to exercise and you need to pick what you can realistically keep up for you.
If you have hypertension already, then you will be advised by your doctor to exercise, but they might not approve a very hard workout routine at first. You will most likely be advised to start with a light to moderate exercise routine
A light to moderate exercise routine entails slow continuous cardiovascular exercise, like walking or jogging. Many exercise physiologists and personal trainers use either heart rate training or the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale. Most people have fitness watches that are accurate enough for a light to moderate routine, but if they don't, then they can use the ROE scale. The old RPE scale was from 5 to 22 and the current scale is 1-10. The old scale was to say how you felt and it would correlate to your heart rate, but that scale was too hard for people to understand. The scale from 1-10 starts with 1 being your sleeping and 10 being a heart attack how a person feels. This is a total body feeling, not just the lungs or muscles.
The goal forost light to moderate cardiovascular exercise is 30 minutes. If that seems hard to do, then I have some good news! You can break it up over the day and you get the same benefit as continuous exercise! Isn't the body amazing?
Also, walking 30 mins a day most days of the week reduces your chance for all cause mortality by 50%! Think about that, that is a big benefit from a small amount of effort. This applies to blood pressure. If you keep up with a progressive cardiovascular program and eat healthy, you can lower your blood pressure.