High blood pressure prevention knowledge

Prioritize the control of four intervenable life risk factors: high salt intake, overweight and obesity, long-term alcohol abuse, and excessive mental stress. Measure blood pressure at least 1-2 times a year. For people with family history, monitor every quarter starting from the age of 30. More than 80% of the risk of essential hypertension can be blocked.

Oh, by the way, don’t come up and think that this is something that middle-aged and elderly people need to care about. I met a 29-year-old product manager at a community free clinic last month. After two major versions were launched in a row, I was so dizzy that I couldn’t stand before I came to take a test. His blood pressure had reached 152/96mmHg, which is borderline hypertension. Our blood vessels are like rubber bands. Occasionally, the blood pressure will jump due to staying up late or getting angry, and then it will go back down when you relax. If you are in a high-load state every day and the rubber band is stretched all the time, it will not be able to relax after a long time, and high blood pressure will come to you.

Let’s first talk about the pitfall that everyone often steps into – eating too salty. At present, the academic community’s recommendations for salt intake are not completely unified: the mainstream opinion in the nutrition community is that it should not exceed 5g per day, which is about the amount of a beer bottle cap. However, many front-line clinical doctors will be more pragmatic. If you can’t live without pickles, sauced meats, and heavy takeaways, and you can eat 15g of salt in a day, then you don’t need to get stuck on the 5g line all of a sudden. Lower it to about 8g first. If you can persist, it will be better than anything else. I would also like to mention here the issue of low-sodium salt that has been quite controversial recently: For ordinary healthy people, eating low-sodium salt can indeed reduce sodium intake, which is good for controlling blood pressure. However, people with renal insufficiency and taking potassium-sparing antihypertensive drugs must not take it. Elevated blood potassium can be life-threatening, so don’t follow the trend and buy it blindly. There was an aunt who heard from a neighbor that low-sodium salt was good, and her husband, who had kidney disease at home, also followed her. Within half a year, she went to the emergency room because of hyperkalemia. You really need to pay attention to this.

After talking about salty eating, let’s talk about weight. A lot of popular science on the Internet says that the BMI must be reduced to below 24 to be safe. In fact, geriatric doctors often relax the standard: it is better for people over 65 years old to maintain a BMI between 24 and 25. If you have enough muscle mass, your blood pressure will be more stable. If you are too thin, you will be prone to orthostatic hypotension and dizziness. I met a 32-year-old programmer before. He was 175 and 180 pounds, and his blood pressure was 145/95. He didn’t want to take medicine, so he started training hard, hoping to reduce it to 140 in 3 months. However, in the second month of training, his blood pressure jumped to 150. This was because his body had a stress response after losing weight too quickly. Later, the rhythm was adjusted for him. He did not need to pursue the "efficiency" of losing 2 pounds per week. Losing 0.5-1 pounds per week was enough. Even if he lost 5 pounds first, his blood pressure could drop by 2-3mmHg. He later walked downstairs for half an hour after dinner every day, and changed the takeout from fried chicken to a set meal with vegetables. He did not feel hungry. He lost 18 pounds in half a year, and his blood pressure has been stable at around 120/80.

Let’s talk about the most controversial drinking issue. In the past few years, there was always a rumor that "drinking a small amount softens blood vessels." Recently, the Lancet study also said that abstaining from alcohol is the healthiest. The two sides were arguing. In fact, there is no need to be black and white: if you don't like to drink, then of course it is best not to drink. ； If an elderly person who has been drinking for 30 to 40 years only drinks one tael of liquor a day, there is no need to give up forcefully. Sudden withdrawal will be prone to stress reactions and greater blood pressure fluctuations, which is not good. On the contrary, young people who don't usually drink but drink when they get drunk when socializing should be aware that it may take three or four days to recover from the impact of a drunken drink on blood pressure. The elasticity of blood vessels will disappear after more times.

At this point, someone may ask, my parents both have high blood pressure, am I sure I can’t avoid it? No, heredity only increases the risk, not a death sentence. I have seen people whose parents have high blood pressure. They usually eat light meals and take walks three times a week, and their blood pressure is very stable until they are 60 years old. I have also seen people who have no history of hereditary disease in their family, stay up late and drink heavily every day, and are diagnosed with high blood pressure at the age of 30. There is another point that everyone easily overlooks: Don’t wait until you feel dizzy and have a headache before you think of measuring your blood pressure. 70% of early-stage hypertension has no symptoms at all. By the time you feel it, it may have been high for two or three years. Spend dozens of dollars at home to buy an upper-arm electronic blood pressure monitor. You can measure it for two minutes without any problem. It is more useful than any anti-hypertensive tea or anti-hypertensive device.

In fact, the prevention of high blood pressure is really not something difficult to achieve. You don’t need to buy a bunch of messy IQ taxes online. Just fix the small things such as eating, moving, and sleeping. It’s better than anything else. If you are really found to have high blood pressure, don’t panic. You should see a doctor and take medicines if necessary. If you control it well, it will not affect your life at all. If you are afraid that you will not take it seriously and wait until heart, brain, and kidney complications arise to regret it, then it will be too late.