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Blood pressure is a key metric that provides an important glimpse of what’s going on inside your body. If you have high blood pressure, this could lead to a number of dangerous outcomes, such as heart disease and stroke, which are two of the top five causes of death in the United States.
However, having high blood pressure doesn’t mean you’ll inevitably become a statistic. At Generations Family Practice, in Cary, North Carolina, our highly skilled team can give you a thorough evaluation and help decrease your blood pressure and improve your health. In this blog, we explain how.
In order for your body to operate optimally, every cell, tissue, and organ needs oxygen rich blood. In order for this to take place, there needs to be sufficient pressure to pump blood from your heart to your lungs to oxygenate your blood and then deliver that oxygenated blood to the rest of your body. Sufficient is the operative word here. The overarching goal is to circulate oxygenated blood to your organs and tissues without making your heart work too hard.
A blood pressure reading measures the force or pressure of the circulating blood within your arteries and veins. If this force is too much, this can damage the walls of your blood vessels and even lead to blockages, which, in turn, could lead to heart disease, stroke, and other issues.
In general, blood pressure is considered high if the systolic pressure is 130 or higher and the diastolic pressure is 80 or higher.
Here are a few things you can do to help manage your blood pressure:
What’s particularly encouraging about high blood pressure as opposed to some other medical conditions is that patients can take an active role in managing their condition through lifestyle decisions.
Eating a healthy, balanced diet can greatly help reduce blood pressure. Build your meals around lean protein, whole grains, and plenty of fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, cut back on red meats, processed foods, and foods that have lots of fat and salt.
Another lifestyle factor that can help you manage high blood pressure is getting regular exercise. Being sedentary can increase your blood pressure and lead to other health issues. So get up and get active.
If you’ve never participated in routine exercise before, talk with your doctor about what’s appropriate and safe for you. Even taking a short walk everyday can make a difference.
When you’re overweight, you make your heart work harder to pump blood, and this, in turn, raises your blood pressure. However, what’s great about managing high blood pressure with lifestyle changes is that many of them connect with each other. Case in point is that maintaining a healthy weight is much more doable once you start eating well and becoming more active.
At Generations Family Practice, our compassionate and highly trained providers are experts in helping patients manage their blood pressure. We can give you a thorough evaluation and design a treatment plan to help you lower and maintain your blood pressure.
For example, we offer medically supervised weight loss plans, smoking cessation programs, and blood pressure medications as needed. If you have questions or concerns about managing your blood pressure, call 919-752-3714 or book an appointment online with Generations Family Practice today.
