MED for hypertension

M-Medicines, E-Exercise, D-Diet is considered to be the best approach for tackling the blood pressure marching northwards.

 E-Exercise

Everyone knows that sedentary lifestyle is the most important risk factor for developing hypertension but very few know what to do precisely about it. These are some general tips about exercising when you are diagnosed with hypertension

• “Never ever over do”- Missed a week of exercise and want to compromise it the next week? That will be a bad idea for your body. The body recognizes overdoing as a sort of stress and you know where your blood pressure if going when you are in stress
• “Brisk walking” – The best one for hypertension and obesity; 30-45 minutes daily and 5 times a week will benefit the most. Others like swimming, jogging will also have the same benefit.
• “Plan long term” – The exercises are to be continued infinitely just like the medicines for hypertension. There are several tips to adhere to the schedule like having a mate for motivation, meticulous planning and others. The bottom line is having a regular exercising schedule goes a long way in addressing the hypertension and lipid issues.

 D-Diet

The catchword for diet in hypertension is the “DASH diet” and here are some broad suggestions based on it.

DASH : Dietary approach to stop hypertension

The main crux of this approach is to lower the intake of sodium ions and increase the intake of potassium, calcium and magnesium ions along with increase in fiber intake.

Decrease in sodium intake : We Indians love to add table salt every time we eat along with already existing in the dish. And we are strangely in love with pickles, which is again a great source of sodium. The cut down on the use of salt in dish and as add on will certainly take a toll on the bad sodium ion.

Increase in potassium, calcium, magnesium and fiber content : The best way to achieve this is going for fresh fruits and vegetables especially the green leafy ones. And if you are thinking that you are going to get these ions through supplements, you are exactly wrong, as they do not have the same effect as obtaining them naturally.

A strict no to junk foods: The blood pressure hates to be high all alone; it always tries to drag your serum lipid levels and glucose also towards it and form the so-called metabolic syndrome. The best way to avoid it is to cut down heavily on junk fatty foods and having a tighter targets for the waistline.

 Medicines

Once diagnosed with hypertension, the medicines are usually for lifetime. The diet and exercise are always complementary to medicines in such cases and helps to stabilize the blood pressure with as much less medications as possible with added benefits. The prehypertensive stage can be effectively tackled by diet and exercise alone with close consultation with a physician.