Posted on December 20, 2013 by Jenny Cromack

High blood pressure (hypertension) can damage your body for years before symptoms show. Left uncontrolled, you may end up with a disability, a poor quality of life or even a fatal heart attack. However with some key lifestyle changes you can control high blood pressure which in turn reduces your risk of life threatening complications. Some of the most common issues associated with high blood pressure include.

• Damage to your arteries – narrowing and aneurysm
• Damage to your heart – coronary artery disease, enlarged left heart, heart failure
• Damage to your brain – stroke, dementia, mild cognitive impairment
• Damage to your kidneys – kidney failure, kidney scaring

To find out how healthy your blood pressure is, motive8 North offer blood pressure testing (along with lots of other health assessments) at our personal training studio in leeds.

You probably have high blood pressure (hypertension) if your blood pressure readings are consistently 140/90 mmHg, or higher, over a number of weeks.

Here are our Top 5 tips to help control blood pressure without medication:

1. Lose Some Body Fat – Blood pressure often increases as weight increases. Losing just 10 pounds can help reduce your blood pressure significantly. In general, the more weight you lose, the lower your blood pressure becomes. Losing weight also makes any blood pressure medications you’re taking more effective. Beside losing body fat the waist line is a good indicator of risk of high blood pressure.

• Men are at risk of high blood pressure if their waist measurement is greater than 40 inches (102 cm).
• Women are at risk of high blood pressure if their waist measurement is greater than 35 inches (89 cm).

2. Exercise Regularly – Completing four sessions of focused intense training will produce amazing results to help control high blood pressure. If youalready have high blood pressure you need to check with your GP that you are ok to exercise. Research has shown that regular exercise can reduce blood pressure by 4-9mm of mercury every week, this over a number of weeks dramatically improves your health and well being.

3. Eat A Clean And Healthy Diet – Eating a diet that is rich in organic grass fed protein alongside fruits and vegetables with reduced amounts of dairy products and saturated fat can lower your blood pressure by up to 14 mm Hg. At our personal training studio in Leeds all personal trainers monitor the nutritional intake of our clients to ensure that they not only achieve their body composition goals but achieve a superior level of health. The best tips I can give you regarding following a healthy nutritional plan is:

• Fill in a food diary weekly
• Look at the balance of what your putting in your body….. i.e it shouldn’t be processed carbohydrates for breakfast lunch and tea
• be a smart shopper- don’t go to the supermarket without a list of which meals you’re eating all week, don’t be tricked into buying junk food. CLEAN AND LEAN all the way!

4. Reduce Dietary Sodium – A small reduction in the sodium in your diet can reduce blood pressure by 2 to 8 mm. The recommendations for reducing sodium are.

• Limit sodium to 2,300 milligrams (mg) a day or less.

If you follow step 3 and have a healthy diet the problem of high blood pressure practically clears itself up, as the amount of salt included in processed food is ridiculous.

5. Reduce Your Stress – I know this is much easier said than done, however stress or anxiety can temporarily increase blood pressure. If this happens over a longer period of time (chronic stress) you can cause a whole range of health issues similar to those observed with high blood pressure. Once you know what is causing your stress, consider how you can eliminate or reduce this stress. Nothing in the world is as important as your health, make sure you never forget this. I know sometimes that it feels like certain things seem like they are the most important things in the world, however I doubt you’ll look back on them when your days are done.

In conclusion there are several strategies you should incorporate to reduce and control your blood pressure, turning to medication should be a last resort. Why fix something medically when for the majority of people a better lifestyle will help.