September is Self Improvement Month and Blood Pressure Awareness Month. We have combined the two to bring you 4 tips that you can use which could help you improve your blood pressure, and your long-term health.
Many people don’t know that Hypertension (High Blood Pressure) doesn’t have any clear symptoms. The most reliable way to understand your blood pressure is by checking it regularly and discussing any changes with your GP.
If left untreated Hypertension can lead to life threatening complications including heart attack, stroke or cardiac arrest.
Just because you can’t see it, it shouldn’t be ignored.
Hypertension can affect anyone – our recent research found that Millennials (aged between 25-34) are the generation considered most ‘at risk’ of developing high blood pressure, read about our survey results here). Lifestyle plays a key factor in changes to blood pressure, which is why self-improvement can play such an important role in staying as healthy as possible.
Here are 4 key self improvement tactics that you can incorporate into your life right now to help maintain healthier blood pressure:
Activity
You don’t have to be a long-distance runner or a pro-athlete, but taking regular exercise (twenty minutes, 5 times per week) will improve your fitness and weight – which in turn will make your heart healthier and help lower your blood pressure.
Diet
Selection of healthy food on rustic wooden background
Adding the following to your diet will help lower your blood pressure:
- Fresh fruit (particularly berries which are high in anti-oxidants)
- Leafy green vegetables (try to stick to that magic 5 a day!)
- Oily fish (2-3 times per week)
- Foods higher in potassium (bananas are a fantastic source for this)
It is also important that you keep salt intake to a minimum – avoid cooking with it or adding extra to your meals.
Hydrate
Keep an eye on your alcohol levels! Not only is alcohol damaging to your liver, it is also high in sugar and calories which will have an adverse effect on your weight and fitness.
Keep up your fluid intake to flush out unhealthy toxins from your body. Drinking up to 2 litres of water per day will keep your body nicely hydrated.
Awareness
The overall key factor in maintaining healthy blood pressure is by improving your awareness and understanding of how important it is to your overall health. Even reading this blog post I a positive step towards a more health conscious you!
Familiarise yourself with what is considered a high and low blood pressure reading. Check yours regularly – and encourage your friends and family to do the same.
You can take your blood pressure with a Kinetik Blood Pressure Monitor (Shop Here), enter your reading into our online blood pressure checker for immediate insights and advice on what your numbers indicate.
Follow Kinetik Wellbeing on Facebook and Twitter for news on Blood Pressure Awareness Month 2019 – as well as sharing tips, information and advice on managing and monitoring your blood pressure health.