How do you measure up? - Lifestyle change to lower blood pressure.

What lifestyle changes
do you need to make?

Many of us have been to the doctor’s to be told to change our lifestyle if we want to lower our blood pressure.  The British Hypertension Society recommends a number of key changes that we should make to support our blood pressure management.  Check them out below to see how you measure up.  Over the next week or so we will be looking at each one of them, looking at the real impact that they can have on your blood pressure and what you can do about it.

Recommendations:

Maintain a normal weight for adults (body mass index 20-25)

In the UK almost a quarter of us are obese.  More than one in three of us are considered overweight.  Weight can be a real factor in high blood pressure and it has been estimated that losing 10kg could reduce your systolic blood pressure by up to 10mmHg

Reduce salt intake to < 100 mmol/day ( < 6g NaCl or <2.4 g Na+/day)

Salt intake in the UK has been falling but we still eat far too much.  Average salt intake is around 9g per day when we should be looking to reduce our salt intake to less than 6g.  Most of the salt we eat is in processed food.  Did you know the average slice of bread contains half a gram of salt?

Limit alcohol consumption to ≤ 3 units/day for men and ≤ 2 units/day for women

To keep your blood pressure down, it is important to try and keep to government recommendations for alcohol intake.  Binge drinking can be a particular risk for stroke.

Engage in regular aerobic physical exercise (brisk walking rather than weightlifting) for ≥ 30 minutes per day, ideally on most of days of the week but at least on three days of the week

Do you exercise enough?  Tell the truth now…  Exercise plays a real part in lowering your blood pressure.  We are not necessarily talking about hours down the gym.  You can start and end with basic brisk walking.  Thirty minutes a day is recommended and there is some evidence that you can even do that in three ten minute stints.

Consume at least five portions/day of fresh fruit and vegetables

A considerable number of us do not consume our 5 a day.  Did you know that your 5 a day does not need to consist of fresh fruit and vegetables?  Dried fruit, tinned or frozen vegetables it all counts – apart, I think, from the tomato paste on your pizza!  How much fruit and veg do you eat every day?

Reduce the intake of total and saturated fat

We all need to reduce our fat intake.  But do you know which fats are bad and which fats are good?

Follow Through the Roof as we look at these issues in more detail over the next few weeks. Why not sign up on our news feed.