Tips for preventing high blood pressure

You don’t have to cook every meal, or force yourself to run 5 kilometers every day. The core effective logic for preventing high blood pressure is to change the small details in your life that increase blood pressure that you haven’t noticed, and just find a comfortable rhythm that you can stick to for a long time. If you do this well, you can avoid 80% of the risk of essential hypertension.

Oh, by the way, don’t believe it. I accompanied a friend from the community hospital for a home follow-up visit a while ago, and I met a 62-year-old Aunt Zhang. She usually puts less salt in cooking than anyone else. She eats celery and onions, the “anti-hypertensive dishes” spread on the Internet, every day. As a result, she eats them every day. The blood pressure was at the critical value of 140/90. It took me a long time to find out the problem: the small plate of pickles she eats for porridge every morning, the preserved plums she eats when watching dramas in the afternoon, and even the soda crackers she usually eats to fill her stomach when she is hungry, are all hidden salt consumers. Many people think that salt control means adding less salt to vegetables. In fact, this is not the case. According to the requirements of the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents", adults should eat no more than 5 grams of salt per day, which includes all sodium in processed foods and condiments. Oh, by the way, there are different opinions in the academic circles about salt substitution: the mainstream view is that low-sodium and high-potassium salt can help lower blood pressure and is suitable for most healthy people. However, people with renal insufficiency and blood potassium metabolism problems must not eat it blindly, otherwise they will be more likely to be dangerous. I usually flip through the ingredients list when I go to the supermarket. As long as the NRV% of sodium exceeds 30%, I basically put it back. If I was craving for hot pot or braised food the day before, I would make a cup of light corn silk water and drink it the next day. I have personally tested it to eliminate edema faster than just drinking plain water, and there will be no transient increase in blood pressure.

Talking about eating and then moving again, the academic circle had been arguing about this for a while before: Is it better to exercise at a moderate intensity for 30 minutes continuously every day, or is it better to do it in fragments to make up enough time? Now the latest version of the "China Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Hypertension" has given the correct answer: both are effective. There is really no need to force yourself to run or lift just to make up for the exercise time. After sitting for an hour at work, stand up, stretch your waist, and get a glass of water. Get off the bus two stops before get off work and walk for 10 minutes. You can even stand and clean the bowl for 15 minutes after eating. It is enough to get your heart rate to about 100 for 30 minutes a day. It is much more effective than running 3 kilometers on weekends, and it will not hurt your knees. I have a programmer buddy who works on the backend. His diastolic blood pressure was stuck at the critical value of 90 during last year's physical examination. He didn't take any medicine, so he just walked around the park twice after lunch every day. After three months of reexamination, it returned to 82. The effect is real.

There is another point that is easily overlooked by everyone: don’t always let your emotions get stuck in a “half-over” state. What's the meaning? Even when I was scolded by my boss at the weekly meeting and didn't dare to say anything back, I was stuck in traffic for half an hour after work and felt so depressed, and when I went home to tutor my children on homework that my throat burned up and I suppressed it, this kind of "suffocated fire" hurts my blood pressure the most. Every time you feel tightness in your chest and pounding in your temples, your blood pressure has quietly risen by dozens of millimeters of mercury. There is no unified standard answer for emotional regulation. Some people say that you should vent your emotions, while others say that you should meditate and absorb them. In fact, as long as you feel comfortable, it will be fine. If you are really annoyed, go to the corridor and take three deep breaths, or watch cat cafe videos for two minutes to get rid of the panic. I used to know an old cardiologist who is 68 years old and has very stable blood pressure. His little trick is to stand by the window and count the sparrows flying by in 30 seconds after taking a difficult patient call. No blood pressure lowering exercise is as effective as this trick.

Oh, by the way, don’t overdo it. I once met a young man in his 20s who had a family history of high blood pressure. In order to prevent illness, he ate no salt at all and cooked vegetables every meal. As a result, he went to the hospital due to hyponatremia and fatigue within half a month. There was also a person who measured his blood pressure ten times a day. If it was slightly higher, he would be very nervous. Instead, the higher the blood pressure, the higher the blood pressure. It is completely unnecessary.

To put it bluntly, the prevention of high blood pressure is not a chore that requires willpower. It is just about incorporating these small details into your daily life. If you live comfortably and not feel depressed, your blood pressure will naturally be stable.