Why focus on your blood pressure?
In Australia nearly 1 in 3 adults have high blood pressure. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics National Health Survey, just 11% of diagnosed adults have their condition under control. In addition:
- Uncontrolled high blood pressure increases a person’s stroke risk by up to 6 times.
- Lowering your blood pressure can reduce the risk of cardiovascular problems such as heart attack, stroke, heart failure and cardiovascular death by 25%.
What is blood pressure?
Blood pressure is the force on your arterial walls as your heart pumps blood around the body.
Your blood pressure does not stay constant throughout the day. The simplest way of explaining this is by comparing your blood pressure to how your body reacts on a roller coaster. When you are on the flat section of a roller coaster you feel relatively relaxed, but when the roller coaster changes speed and direction or descends sharply, your body feels this and reacts by releasing adrenaline and becoming excited.
Similarly, your blood pressure changes throughout the day because your body senses a change in its position, a change in your mood or your activity level etc. This variation in blood pressure is perfectly normal, but it is detrimental to your health when you have a consistently high resting blood pressure.
Your blood pressure is important because if it is too high, it affects the blood flow to your organs.
Five ways to improve your blood pressure.
- If you have been prescribed blood pressure medication, ensure that you take it according to your doctor’s guidelines. Why? High blood pressure medication works best when taken as prescribed. Only 20% of people on blood pressure medication take it correctly.
- Switch from white bread to brown and/or whole grain bread varieties. As a general rule, the darker the grain, the healthier it is. Why? Studies show that eating three servings of whole grains a day is linked to a reduction in systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading).
- Swap one packaged food item each day for a piece of fruit to reduce your salt (sodium) intake. Why? Even a small reduction in the sodium in your diet can improve your heart health and reduce blood pressure by about 5 to 6 millimetres of mercury (mm Hg).
- Move more! As little as two 10 minute brisk walks per day may lead to a meaningful reduction in blood pressure. Why? Exercise strengthens your heart so it can pump with less effort, reducing the pressure placed on artery walls. Exercise also burns off the stress chemical cortisol which is linked to vascular dementia.
- Choose a relaxing or stress busting activity to do every day (every second day if you can’t fit it in daily). It can be as simple as spending 10 minutes reading your favourite magazine or taking a few minutes for some deep breathing. For example, listening to music daily has been shown to reduce systolic blood pressure. Why? Chronic stress is thought to increase blood pressure due to the release of stress hormones into the body.