People who have high blood pressure may have more success with treatment if they follow the DASH diet and join a supervised diet and exercise program.
When the pressure of your blood is consistently too high, it is known as high blood pressure. Blood pressure is a measure of the force of blood flowing through a person’s blood vessels.
More Exercise And A Better Diet Means Better Blood Pressure
Almost half of the American adults have hypertension and many of them don’t even know that they have it. The best way to know is to find out whether you have high blood pressure is to get it checked by a professional.
In most instances, no obvious symptoms exist. You can be put at a higher risk of high blood pressure due to certain physical traits and lifestyle choices.
The damage that high blood pressure does to one’s circulatory system when left untreated for prolonged periods is a significant factor that contributes to heart attack, stroke, and other threats to health. The old adage that says that prevention is much better than cure is particularly apt at this point.
Healthy lifestyle choices are a great place to start if you can’t avoid high blood pressure altogether. Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension is abbreviated as DASH. This is a regimen that is rich in fruits, vegetables, limited in salt, and full of low-fat dairy products.
Researchers from Duke University found that people with treatment-resistant high blood pressure could lose weight through DASH. They also found that when people participate in a supervised diet and exercise program, they can increase their fitness at a cardiac rehab center.
James Blumenthal said that their findings revealed that lifestyle modifications in people who have hypertension that is resistant can lose weight successfully and increase their physical activity. As a result of this, they can lower their blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke.
James is a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine, in Durham, NC.
Resistant hypertension is when high blood pressure is uncontrolled.140 adults were found with the condition during the 4-month trial. There was a 12 point drop in systolic blood pressure in those who were in the supervised program. In contrast, those in the self-guided group had a drop of 7 points.
Systolic pressure is represented by the first number in the reading of blood pressure. This measures the amount of force your heart puts on the walls of arteries as it pumps blood.
There were also greater improvements in other key indicators of heart health seen in the people in the supervised program.
According to the authors of the study, this might mean that there is a lower risk of a heart attack or stroke.
Blumenthal said in a news release from the American Heart Association that some people may be able to make changes in their lifestyle by themselves. He added that it would be more effective if a structured program of supervised exercise and dietary modifications were conducted by a multidisciplinary team of health care professionals in a cardiac rehab program.
He said that the findings do not suggest that people can stop taking their medications for high blood pressure.
He added that it just means that they might consult their doctors about lowering to dosing of the medication or changing the medication based on the improvement in the readings of high blood pressure.
He also noted that if healthy lifestyle habits are not maintained, the benefits of the lifestyle modification may be reduced.
He said that the most important thing to note is that it is not too late to make healthy life choices and lower blood pressure. Adopting a healthy lifestyle is beneficial.
