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TIPS TO MAINTAIN YOUR BP

TIPS TO MAINTAIN YOUR BP:

1. Do not stop your medications without consulting your Doctor.
2. Weight reduction helps lower your blood pressure. Loosing as little as 4-5 kg may help you enough to lower your blood pressure. It may also enhance the effect of your medications.
3. Reducing your stress also helps – talk to someone/ take rest/ practice slow breathing/ exercise daily.
4. Increase your physical activity.
5. Quit Smoking
6. Cut down on visible & invisible salts. Visible – cooking salt. Invisible salt – present in canned, packed & preserved foods. Therefore always check the nutrition labels for the presence of additional salts. Avoid foods which have high salt content like pickles, pappads etc.,

Hypertension

HYPERTENSION means that at least one of the two: systolic pressure or diastolic pressure is high. You can find out whether you are hypertensive or not by measuring your blood pressure on a regular basis.

Above 140/99 MM of HG on two or More occasional indicates High BP.

FACTS TO THINK UPON:

1. Hypertension increases stroke by 4-6 times.
2.  It is one of the common causes of hemorrhagic stroke.
3. People who have hypertensive parents are twice more likely to develop high blood pressure.
4. Smoking 2 cigarettes cause a temporary rise in both systolic and diastolic pressure by an average of 10 mmHg each. If you smoke heavily, your blood pressure is increased throughout the day.
5. Smoking can interfere with certain hypertensive medications.

Author: Dr. Ashok Kapoor, MD (Int. Medicine), DM (Cardiology), Specialist in Cardiologist