High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, increases the chances of life-threatening complications at any age. This is because the higher your blood pressure, the harder your heart has to work to pump blood round your body.
The condition puts strain on blood vessels and can enlarge your heart, making blood vessels clog, burst or leak, and can cause damage to your major organs.
These can put you at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, gout, vascular dementia, and problems with your vision.
Symptoms can include headaches, shortness of breath, dizziness and heart palpitations.
The best way to check if you have high blood pressure is to have it regularly checked – your GP can do this.
So for those looking to reduce high blood pressure, or help control it if you’ve already been diagnosed, what can you do? British Heart Foundation (BHF)lists six top tips.
Regular physical activity
It advises: “Try to do some moderate-intensity activity every day and build up to at least 150 minutes per week, in bouts of 10 minutes or more.”
Keep to a healthy weight
For some people, losing weight is all they need to do to get their blood pressure down to a normal level, according to the charity.
Eat a healthy balanced diet
As well as it being a recommendation by BHF, the NHS suggests cutting down on the amount of salt in your food and to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables.
Cut down on salt
BHF says: “Don’t cook with salt or add any to your food at the table, and cut down on processed foods, which contain a lot of salt.”
Don’t drink too much
If you drink alcohol, stick within the recommended limits. The charity recommends no more than three to four units a day for men and no more than two to three for women.
Take your medicines as prescribed
BHF says: “Most people will need to take more than one type of medicine to control their blood pressure.
“Don’t stop taking your medication without consulting with your GP first.”
Drinking alcohol regularly for a long period of time increases your risk of high blood pressure.
So how much alcohol is safe to drink both for hypertension patients and people wanting to prevent high blood pressure?
According to Dr Louisa Draper for Superdrug online doctor, the government currently recommends there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.
