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Once you have been diagnosed with hypertension, there are several very important steps that you can take to improve your condition, lower your risk of harmful end-organ damage, and add benefits to your overall health. The number one thing providers will tell you to do is modify and adjust your current lifestyle. By this I mean to make changes to your diet, change your activity habits, and reduce all other risk factors. Let’s quickly dive into each of these changes, and what specifically needs to be accomplished in order to give you maximum benefit as it pertains to lowering your blood pressure. ………………………….. Regarding your diet, numerous studies have proven that reduction in salt intake is one of the most important things you can do to help keep your blood pressure under control. The American Heart Association recommends daily sodium intake does not exceed 1500 milligrams per day. Taking time to look at the nutrition labels on the food you buy can go a long way to ensure that you are not eating more salt than is recommended. Additionally, research shows that increasing the amount of potassium you consume also can have a beneficial effect on blood pressure and may contribute to lower blood pressure numbers. Fruits and vegetables are a fantastic source of potassium. Foods like bananas, avocados, spinach, and sweet potatoes are all great sources. As we discussed in the risk factors portion of this series, excess alcohol use can contribute to multiple health problems including higher blood pressures. Current recommendations state that men should consume 2 or fewer alcoholic beverages daily while women should consume no more than one. One standard alcoholic drink is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of eighty-proof liquor. One dietary program you may have heard of before is the dash diet. The “dash” diet is a well-known diet plan that has been shown to lower blood pressure numbers and improve cholesterol. Dash stands for “Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension”. It involves eating four to five servings of fruit, four to five servings of vegetables, and two to three servings of low fat dairy on a daily basis. It also limits foods that are high in saturated or trans fats as well as high sodium items. ……………………….. In addition to your diet, exercise and increasing activity levels are extremely beneficial in lowering and controlling your blood pressure. While the exact time of exercise needed to benefit you is up for debate, most health professionals agree that a minimum of 30 to 40 minutes a day for at least 3 days per week will provide benefit. In other words, if you can exercise for a minimum of 90 minutes per week, you will see benefits in your overall health and blood pressure. When discussing exercise or activity levels, I do not mean that you need to immediately be running on a treadmill or jumping right into a weightlifting program. Start slow. Things like walking, working on projects outside, gardening, parking further away at work or the grocery store, and taking the stairs are all examples of increased activity levels that you can start with as you gradually work to be more active. As you incorporate these activities and build up endurance, you can ramp up your activity levels. Making efforts to improve your diet choices and increase your activity levels are also great for losing weight. Like many of the issues we have discussed, weight loss is beneficial for many aspects of your health but specific to this issue of hypertension, studies have shown that even as little as a one-kilogram reduction in weight can lower your blood pressure by up to 2 millimeters of mercury. ……………….. Also, as we discussed when going over risk factors that led to the development of hypertension, smoking tobacco products have been shown to have a small impact on blood pressure, but when combined with other risk factors that may lead to adverse cardiac events, like a heart attack, smoking and hypertension have been found to have a synergistic relationship. This means that those who smoke despite their hypertension diagnosis will be at greater risk of a cardiac event. For this reason, smoking should be avoided in individuals who have been diagnosed with hypertension. If you are interested in this, please discuss it with your provider for help, support, and cessation strategies! …………………………………….. Now, there may come a time when your provider recommends medication to ensure adequate control of your blood pressure. This could be due to how high your blood pressure is on initial readings or may be because it still runs high despite you trying different lifestyle modifications. In the event that you do need medication, you will be started on one of a number of different medicines known as “Anti-hypertensives”. These medications are grouped into several categories with several different mechanisms of action. In the event that you do need these medications, make sure to discuss any questions or concerns that you may have with your provider! I am sure they would be happy to chat with you. …………………………………….. To summarize. Hypertension is a very common diagnosis among Americans. It also carries with it the potential for serious adverse effects if it is not properly managed. Some of the best things you can do for your health to manage this condition are to limit your salt intake, eat large amounts of fruits and vegetables, and limit your alcohol consumption. Exercising for an average of 90 minutes per week can provide great benefit to your heart health, but ease into it! Start with small activities for shorter periods of time and then work your way up. Additionally, if you do smoke, strongly consider cutting back or quitting entirely. There are many great resources out there and many people, including your provider, who can assist you if this is a goal of yours. The benefits will be tremendous. Thank you very much for watching! If you do have more questions, please reach out to your provider! This is the end of the series I am only typing this so that the audio doesn’t get messed up at the end because that has happened in the past for some odd reason. BYE