(advertisement)
High blood pressure can affect anyone. You do not need to be overweight or unfit to develop the condition, which is also known as hyper-tension.
High blood pressure affects about 40% of all adults and the likelihood of developing it increases with age.
The best ways to prevent and treat high blood pressure are:
- Eat a low salt diet, avoid salt whenever possible
- Eat a low fat diet – generally high blood pressure can be helped with diet
- Take regular exercise, ideally exercise every day for 30-45 minutes
- If you are overweight, lose weight, as being overweight does increase the chances of developing high blood pressure
- If you smoke, give up. Although smoking does not affect high blood pressure, if you develop high blood pressure then smoking increases the chances of having a stroke or heart attack.
- Reduce stress – take relaxation exercises, learn to deal with stressful conditions, find solutions to work related stress. Speak to your HR department if you are stressed.
Staying fit and healthy is the best way to deal with blood pressure problems. There are some organisations that help people with high blood pressure:
(advertisement)
- www.bpassoc.org.uk – Blood Pressure Association, a UK Charity
- www.hbpf.org.uk – High Blood Pressure Foundation
- www.americanheart.org – American Heart Association
(advertisement)