Start Lowering Your Blood Pressure Today

Have you ever heard of high blood pressure? Blood pressure is measured by the force of the blood pushing against the walls of the arteries as the heart pumps the blood. If this pressure gets too high and stays high for long periods of time, it can cause harmful damage to the body. High blood pressure is a serious condition that can lead to coronary heart disease, stroke, kidney failure and even heart failure if the disease goes untreated.

Currently, in the United States alone, 67 million adults are living with the “silent killer,” high blood pressure - that’s 1 in 3 adults. Blood pressure is widely known as the silent killer because you can have it for years without even knowing it as it often doesn’t yield any symptoms.

You may be asking yourself:  How do I know if I have high blood pressure? The best way to know for sure is making sure you’re getting in those regular visits to your doctor. Since high blood pressure can sometimes have no signs or symptoms, your doctor will be the best person to tell you what your blood pressure numbers are and if you have or are at risk of high blood pressure. You can also monitor your blood pressure at home with a automatic blood pressure unit. These devices are generally easy to use and offer a variety of features to help you monitor your heart health!

How to treat high blood pressure and keep it under control

There are many different steps you can take to keep your blood pressure under control or even lower it significantly. These include, but aren’t limited to:

Quit smoking or DON’T start! Smoking is the number one cause of high blood pressure and has been proven to take a heavy toll on the heart.

Exercise! Maintaining a regular exercise program is a great way to maintain healthy blood pressure numbers and even lower high blood pressure.

Avoid salty, fatty foods! Like sugar, sodium plays a massive role in regulating fluids in the body and a high sodium intake can drastically increase blood pressure

Cut down on the alcohol! Having more than three drinks a day could directly contribute to high blood pressure. The consumption of alcohol has been found to raise blood pressure by interfering with the flow of blood to and from the heart.

Each of these habits can clog our blood vessels and when they become clogged due to plaque buildup of cholesterol and fat, it makes our heart work twice as hard to pump enough blood to our vital organs which can spike blood pressure. Before this happens, follow our tips and tricks for lowering and maintaining blood pressure!