It’s important to take care of your overall health, including your blood pressure. How you live your life now can determine whether your blood pressure puts your health at risk in the future. Make taking care of your BP a priority.
Here are some helpful ways you can take care of your blood pressure at home.
1. Find new ways to exercise.
Sometimes it can be hard to get started with exercise, to know where to go or what to do. But it’s important that you find ways to get your heart pumping. Think of it as a challenge and find fun ways to get out of your ordinary routine. Remember, not getting enough physical activity increases your risk of getting high blood pressure.
“I think that exercising for many at this time takes creativity, and people should focus on finding ways to do it every day. Think outside the normal routine for other ways to get it in. Exercise videos, web classes, home gyms, and challenging friends to routines via zoom are particularly popular.” — Dr. Mark Backus
Other creative exercise ideas include:
2. Keep your diet in check.
Stress, fatigue, the high cost of groceries or cravings for comfort food—all can lead to overeating or eating foods that don’t help your body perform at its best. Take time to review your current diet and make some changes if necessary. A diet that is too high in salt, calories, sugar, and saturated and trans fat carries an additional risk of high blood pressure.
Good nutrition is essential for your health. Every day is a new day and a new opportunity to take better care of yourself. Your body will thank you.
3. Manage stress.
Too much stress, along with pain, anxiety and worry, may contribute to higher blood pressure. But there are ways you can manage it for the good of your overall health. Try simple, low-cost relaxation techniques, such as:
If media consumption or excessive screen time is a source of stress for you, try to limit the amount of time you spend focusing on the news of the day.
4. Keep tabs on your BP from home.
It is important to know your blood pressure. There are many easy, free ways to check your BP, but for those with high blood pressure, it is advisable to monitor it at home. If you don’t already have a blood pressure monitor, it might be a good idea to invest in one. Before using it, be sure to learn how to properly measure your blood pressure yourself.
5. Put a lid on drinking.
Keep bad habits in check, especially those that can have a negative impact on your blood pressure. Regular, heavy use of alcohol can cause many health problems, including heart failure, stroke and an irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia). It can cause your blood pressure to increase dramatically and can also increase your risk of cancer, obesity, alcoholism, suicide and accidents. Even one drink a day can be too much, depending on your blood pressure and other health issues. Consider mixing it up with a mocktail, like one of these refreshing nonalcoholic alternatives.
6. Now’s the time to quit. Vaping and smoking hurt your health and your BP.
Whether you’re smoking, vaping or chewing, tobacco can cause your blood pressure to temporarily increase and can contribute to damaged arteries. Secondhand smoke also increases the risk of heart disease for nonsmokers. Additionally, the CDC has identified people who smoke or vape as being a high-risk group more susceptible to infectious diseases and serious complications. Take care of your BP and your lungs. It’s a win-win!
Get help! The Oregon Quit Line is a telephone and web-based counseling service to help Oregonians quit using tobacco and nicotine products. The Quit Line is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Oregon Tobacco Quit Line 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) quitnow.net/oregon 1-855-DEJELO-YA (1-855-335356-92) quitnow.net/oregonsp