Regulating Your Blood Pressure Could Save Your Life! What organ in your entire body works as hard as your heart? Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, Fifty-two weeks a year for every year of your life, your heart is pumping blood and oxygen, vitamins and nutrients throughout your entire body. And if it stops, so do you.
That's why is so important to be sure you blood pressure is maintained at a healthy rate. If it runs too high, excess strain causes undue stress on the heart muscle, leading to heart disease, vascular disease and strokes, to name just a few life threatening conditions. Regulating your blood pressure is crucial to maintaining your quality of life.
So the question is: What drives up normal blood pressure?
Plaque is a sticky substance made up of fat and cholesterol that tends to build up in the blood stream, narrowing veins and arteries, and in the worst cases blocking them completely. As the vessels are compromised, the heart has to work harder to push the blood through in order to keep the rest of your vital organs supplied. Over time, this causes the heart muscle to enlarge and weaken, leading to a host of medical problems.
One of the reasons high blood pressure goes undetected for so long is that there really aren't any obvious outward signs to tip you off that you're having a problem until you are in or near the crisis stage. High blood pressure is known as the 'silent killer'. That's why a yearly physical is so important for detecting and regulating high blood pressure in it's earliest stages, when it's easiest to treat and reverse.
What is a normal blood pressure rate for an adult?
Medical authorities recommend maintaining a healthy blood pressure below 140/70 mm Hg for an adult at rest. Your blood pressure will rise a little normally during physical activity, but should return to at or below this level with a little rest.
What factors contribute to an increased risk of high blood pressure?
- Obesity
- Smoking
- Diets high in fat and sodium
- High cholesterol rates
- Excessive consumption of alcohol
- Heredity factors such as one or more family members diagnosed with hypertension.
- Pre-existing medical conditions such as Diabetes and kidney disease.
- Age- men over 40, women over 50.
- Race- African Americans face a significant risk increase for developing high blood pressure.
- Taking birth control pills
Medications for regulating your blood pressure.
If your physician has diagnosed you with high blood pressure, then it's important to take immediate steps for regulating your blood pressure in order to maintain your health. This can be achieved in different ways.
Using medication for regulating your blood pressure is perhaps the first thing your doctor will want to try in order to achieve immediate results that will quickly reduce your risks.
In the past, many medications for regulating blood pressure produced unwanted sexual side effects that many patients felt ruined their quality of life. Today's medications for regulating high blood pressure are much more effective and leave many of those unwanted complications behind. Meds such as ACE inhibitors, alpha and beta blockers, and diuretics are just some of the tools used for regulating high blood pressure the modern way.
Regulating your blood pressure with lifestyle changes.
While medication for regulating your blood pressure can bring significant relief, it is not a cure all by itself. Making some lifestyle changes will go a long way toward regulating your blood pressure, and help keep high blood pressure from returning.
- Eat healthy. Choose nutritious foods low in fat and sodium to help reduce the production of plaque in your blood stream which assists regulating your blood pressure.
- Quit smoking. Nicotine has been proven to constrict the blood vessels, forcing your heart to pump harder to keep up the flow, working against whatever other measures you are taking for regulating your blood pressure.
- Limit your alcoholic beverages to no more than one a day. Excessive drinking has been linked to high blood pressure.
- Begin a program of low impact exercise to increase your blood flow and help your body to produce more nitric oxide, a substance that helps keep your blood vessels open to wash away plaque build-up. You should also see excess weight drop off, easing stress on your heart muscle and helping with regulating your blood pressure back to a normal level.
By regulating your blood pressure through diet, exercise and doctor prescribed medication, you will be helping yourself to live a longer, and hopefully happier life. Remember to have your blood pressure checked on a regular basis as part of an overall health care program. Regulating your blood pressure just makes good sense.