5 Tips for Managing Hypertension in Our Senior Years
Hypertension is common amongst senior citizens.
It is a part of the ageing process.
Unfortunately for us, as we grow older we are also likely to reap the harvest of years of poor lifestyle choices in the form of type 2 diabetes and being overweight.
Both of which make our blood pressure higher than it need be.
Just because we are feeling the passage of years does not mean there is nothing we can do about it.
First of all, we must accept that there is no cure for high blood pressure (BP).
All we can do is manage our condition and take effective action to keep our BP within the range of normal levels for our age.
Here are some practical tips for managing your hypertension: # 1.
Monitor your own blood pressure at home: Your doctor will advise you what he or she considers to be a normal BP range for your age.
Regularly measuring our own BP:
Keep active: According to the UK's Arthritis Society, movement is the best medicine.
There is a wide variety of low impact exercise that we can take, such as walking, swimming, dancing and cycling.
The key thing is to build this form of exercise into our daily routine.
It has the following benefits:
Have a healthy diet: What we eat can dramatically affect our BP readings.
Adopting a healthy balanced diet can help manage our hypertension.
Follow these simple tips:
Lose some weight: The health risks for senior citizens of being overweight are great.
It makes us more liable to coronary heart disease or of having a heart attack or suffering a stroke.
These risks are even greater if we also suffer from type 2 diabetes.
They keys to controlling our weight are:
Quit smoking: It is never too late to do this.
As hypertensives, the risk factors of us developing coronary heart disease or of having a heart attack or suffering a stroke are greatly increased if we smoke.
Smoking also contributes indirectly to our high blood pressure.
Our blood pressure increases as we age.
Despite the passage of years, by following the above five tips we can take effective action to manage our hypertension in our senior years.
It is a part of the ageing process.
Unfortunately for us, as we grow older we are also likely to reap the harvest of years of poor lifestyle choices in the form of type 2 diabetes and being overweight.
Both of which make our blood pressure higher than it need be.
Just because we are feeling the passage of years does not mean there is nothing we can do about it.
First of all, we must accept that there is no cure for high blood pressure (BP).
All we can do is manage our condition and take effective action to keep our BP within the range of normal levels for our age.
Here are some practical tips for managing your hypertension: # 1.
Monitor your own blood pressure at home: Your doctor will advise you what he or she considers to be a normal BP range for your age.
Regularly measuring our own BP:
- can reassure us that our readings are within the range considered normal for our age; and
- can give an early warning of a potential problem if the trend is upwards.
Keep active: According to the UK's Arthritis Society, movement is the best medicine.
There is a wide variety of low impact exercise that we can take, such as walking, swimming, dancing and cycling.
The key thing is to build this form of exercise into our daily routine.
It has the following benefits:
- it lowers our blood pressure - the beneficial effects can last for almost a day; and
- t helps us to control our weight.
Have a healthy diet: What we eat can dramatically affect our BP readings.
Adopting a healthy balanced diet can help manage our hypertension.
Follow these simple tips:
- cut down on your consumption of highly processed, high fat foods and reduce your sodium intake.
- eat more grains, fish, poultry, fruits and vegetables - especially green vegetables.
- Replace your sodas and high caffeine drinks with water.
Try to drink about eight 250ml glasses of water each day.
This will keep your body properly hydrated and your arteries and blood vessels will retain more of their elasticity.
The loss of this elasticity as we age is thought to be one factor contributing to hypertension in senior citizens.
Lose some weight: The health risks for senior citizens of being overweight are great.
It makes us more liable to coronary heart disease or of having a heart attack or suffering a stroke.
These risks are even greater if we also suffer from type 2 diabetes.
They keys to controlling our weight are:
- taking regular exercise; and
- having a healthy balanced diet.
- it can reduce our blood pressure
- reduced risk of developing coronary heart disease or of having a heart attack or suffering a stroke
- if we have type 2 diabetes, it can help in the management of that condition, which in turn can have a beneficial effect on our hypertension
Quit smoking: It is never too late to do this.
As hypertensives, the risk factors of us developing coronary heart disease or of having a heart attack or suffering a stroke are greatly increased if we smoke.
Smoking also contributes indirectly to our high blood pressure.
Our blood pressure increases as we age.
Despite the passage of years, by following the above five tips we can take effective action to manage our hypertension in our senior years.