Dr Sarah Jarvis
High blood pressure is common – up to 50% of over-50s and 60% of over-60s has it.
It’s a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke, but you won’t know your blood pressure is high unless you have it measured. So regular checks and keeping it controlled are vital.
Millions of people in the UK take regular tablets to keep their blood pressure down, but lifestyle changes can be highly effective, too – and they have no side effects!
When you have your blood pressure checked, you’ll be given two figures (“140 over 80”, for instance). Your heart pumps blood day and night, supplying your organs with vital oxygen. Your arteries carry blood away from the heart and your veins carry it back. The higher figure is the pressure inside your arteries (measured in millimetres of mercury, or mmHg) while your heart is pumping; the lower figure is the pressure between beats.
Your blood pressure tends to go up and down during the day, but a level consistently over 140/90 puts you in a high risk group. The DASH diet, Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension, is an obvious place to start to reduce your blood pressure naturally. You can either follow it strictly or just pick parts of it, as long as the rest of your diet is healthy. If all my patients followed the DASH diet even partly I’d be delighted, regardless of whether they had high blood pressure! It’s all-round sensible, healthy eating which can cut the risk of heart attack, stroke and cancer too. And hurrah! Lots of people in the DASH diet
LOSING 10KG IF YOU’RE OVERWEIGHT DROPS YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE BY AS MUCH AS A REGULAR TABLET. EVEN SMALLER LOSSES MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
HAVE YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE CHECKED AT LEAST EVERY 5 YEARS IF YOU’RE OVER 40, AND MORE OFTEN IF YOUR DOCTOR ADVISES.
study lost weight, too. Areas to focus on include: ◆ Plenty of wholegrain foods like wholegrain bread, brown rice, oatmeal or wholemeal pasta (avoid white, processed, starchy and sugary foods) ◆ 4-5 servings a day of vegetables (ideally different types; they all contain different nutrients) ◆ 4-5 servings a day of fruit (whole fruit is best; an apple or orange is a portion) ◆ No more than 6oz of lean meat or chicken (keep red meat for treats) ◆ 2 portions a day of low fat dairy products (a single yogurt or 240ml of milk is a portion) ◆ 4 or 5 servings a week of nuts, seeds, lentils and pulses ◆ As little sugar as possible.
A further study showed that cutting salt intake, as well as following the DASH diet, provided even greater blood pressure reductions. It’s the sodium in salt that causes the problem. Public Health England points out that while our salt intake as a nation has gone down in the last few decades, there’s a long way to go. They recommend a maximum of 6g (1tsp) a day of salt from all sources. On average we eat more than 8g a day. If everyone in England cut their intake by 1g a day, they estimate it would prevent 4000 deaths a year. Top tips to cut salt include limiting foods like bacon, salami and pickles; cooking from scratch so you know how much you are adding; using herbs and spices instead; checking ingredients for lower salt foods; and using a reduced sodium alternative such as LoSalt.
A new study shows people with a high salt intake may be at greater risk of developing the serious abnormal heart rhythm atrial fibrillation. So do your heart a favour in more ways than one by cutting salt.
Regular exercise can help lower blood pressure as well as protecting bones and heart and warding off depression. What’s not to like? Next week: Are you tired all the time?