Hypertension facts that you should know is our focus today. This illness is a silent killer, many people miss it because they don’t know what to watch out for. There’s a reason that doctors start every medical examination by taking every patient’s blood pressure. In fact many only discover that they have high blood pressure during routine doctor visits they visits.
Blood pressure is the force that your blood exerts on your arterial walls as your heart pumps away. If this force is too high, then you have high blood pressure or hypertension. Left unchecked, this will eventually cause damage to your arteries and eventually your heart.
There are some simple and yet unknown facts about hypertension that we will be discussing here. Let’s get into it then, shall we?
1. Less Sodium
If you have a family history of hypertension or you are already dealing with high blood pressure, then you might want to reduce your sodium intake. You get sodium mostly in your diet by consuming salt.
If you are in the group mentioned above, you should take less than 1,500mgs. This comes to about 3/4 of a teaspoon, remember this when you are salting your food.
Also remember that processed food like cereal, bread, meat products also contain lots of salt. Some natural foods too including cheese, olives, seafood contain a high salt content.
2. Lots of sleep
This might sound simple and obvious, but it is easy to overlook the effectiveness. During slow wave sleep (deepest stage of sleep) there is a noticeable reduction in blood pressure.
Normally, you have up to one and half to two hours of slow wave sleep per night. Research have shown that getting less slow wave sleep every night will increase your risk for developing high blood pressure. To get your blood pressure controlled, make sure to get enough sleep.
3. Silent but deadly
Hypertension is one of the most silent but deadly illnesses around. Most people would not even know something is wrong with them until they have a heart attack.
To make sure this does not happen to your, you need to keep a wary eye on your blood pressure. Also keep your weight controlled, exercise often and eat well.
If you do show symptoms, they are likely to include chest pains, palpitations, dizziness, and shortness of breath. Whether you show symptoms or not, try to stay healthy and watch that blood pressure like a hawk
If you want to learn some more about hypertension. Or you want to know if your blood pressure is normal or high, this article explains it in more details.
