Hypertension prevention promotion content

By controlling your weight, controlling your salt intake, maintaining a stable work and rest schedule, and measuring your blood pressure regularly, you can avoid more than 80% of the risk of essential hypertension. There is no need for complicated health-preserving recipes.

I have been working as a chronic disease manager in the community for 7 years. I have seen too many people who could have completely avoided high blood pressure, but ended up taking medication for the rest of their lives because they did not take it seriously. I have also seen many young people who have just been diagnosed with critical high blood pressure, and they have completely returned to normal after adjusting their lifestyle for two or three months. Last month, I met a 31-year-old Internet operator. He felt dizzy after working overtime for half a month. He went to the hospital and his blood pressure was measured at 152/96. The doctor prescribed antihypertensive drugs for him. He was afraid that he would not be able to stop taking them, so he came to me to ask if there was any other way. I gave him a life plan for two months. When I took the test again last week, it was already stable at 125/82, and he had not taken any medicine.

Many people don’t know that half of the reasons for the high incidence of hypertension in our country are related to eating too much salt. By the way, I would like to mention the low-sodium salt issue that has been quite controversial recently. The academic community has been arguing for a long time: one group believes that people with normal kidney function can reduce their sodium intake by 30% without changing their taste by eating low-sodium salt, which is particularly friendly to blood pressure control. ； The other group is worried that people with hidden kidney disease don't know they can't eat, and that they won't be able to excrete potassium, which will put them at risk. Now the latest guidelines also give a clear statement: adults who do not have chronic kidney disease and have normal blood potassium can safely switch to low-sodium salts. If you have been diagnosed with kidney disease, you should first see your attending doctor for evaluation, and do not just switch casually. I usually don't tell everyone to cut the salt amount to 5 grams per day. People who eat heavy food can't hold on if they insist on it. It's better to halve the invisible salt seasonings such as MSG, chicken essence, and oyster sauce first, then add salt at the end of cooking, and use onions, garlic, lemons, and spices to enhance the flavor. After two months, you can get used to it slowly, which is much more effective than trying it hard.

When I give education to residents, the most common thing I say is, if you really can’t control your mouth, you can just take a few more steps to control your weight. Don’t believe it, for every 5 kilograms of weight loss, systolic blood pressure can be reduced by 4-9 mmHg, which is much more effective than many health care products. There used to be a man named Zhang who drove an online ride-hailing service. He was 176 and weighed almost 200 pounds. Every time he came to have his blood pressure checked, his blood pressure was above 150. When he was asked to take medicine, he always said he didn’t feel like it and didn’t want to take it. Later, I gave him a trick: Don’t directly take medicine after picking up the car every day. He went home and lay down, walked around the community for 40 minutes, and replaced half a bowl of white rice with corn for lunch. He persisted for half a year and lost 21 pounds. Last week, his blood pressure was measured and it was 118/79. Even the gout attack that he always suffered from before has not occurred for a long time.

Speaking of work and rest, many young people used to argue with me, saying that I am a night owl and cannot sleep before 11 o'clock. Will I get high blood pressure sooner or later? In fact, there is no unified conclusion in the academic circles on this issue: the traditional view is that to follow the circadian rhythm, it is best to go to bed before 11 o'clock, otherwise it will disrupt the sympathetic rhythm and increase blood pressure. ； However, studies in recent years have also shown that as long as your daily schedule is fixed, for example, going to bed at 2 a.m. and getting up at 10 a.m. every day, sleeping for 7-8 hours, with a stable rhythm, the impact on blood pressure will be much smaller than going to bed early and late every day, and often sleeping only four or five hours. Of course, it would definitely be better if you can go to bed early, but if you really can't, at least don't stay up all night and catch up on sleep until the afternoon. A disrupted schedule is the worst thing.

There is another pitfall that many people fall into. They think that since I am young and not dizzy, I don’t need to measure my blood pressure. Last year at a community free clinic, I met a 27-year-old girl who works as a beauty blogger. She usually has a reverse day and night schedule, but she didn't feel any discomfort. When her blood pressure was measured at 147/93, she thought our machine was broken, so she went home and took the test herself for three days. The highest was 150. Fortunately, it was discovered early and it took more than two months to adjust and it fell back to the normal range. If it took three to five years, the elasticity of blood vessels would become worse, and it would be difficult to adjust it again. I generally recommend that people over the age of 30, regardless of whether they have symptoms or not, should have an electronic blood pressure monitor at home and measure it once every six months. Those with a family history should be more diligent. It only takes 5 minutes to measure it once every three months.

People often ask me, should I buy deep-sea fish oil and coenzyme Q10 to prevent high blood pressure? I’m not talking nonsense. There are currently two schools of thought: some studies show that these supplements can indeed help regulate blood lipids and protect blood vessels. If your diet is particularly unbalanced and you often eat takeout, there is no harm in supplementing it appropriately. ； But another school of thought is that as long as you can ensure that you eat one pound of vegetables and half a pound of fruits every day, as well as meat, eggs, and milk, there is no need to spend extra money. Supplements are always a supplement and cannot replace lifestyle adjustments. My advice to patients has always been, if you have enough budget and are willing to buy it, then buy it, but don’t expect that you can just eat this stuff and not exercise, it’s useless.

To put it bluntly, the prevention of high blood pressure is really not something that requires you to spend a lot of money or a lot of effort. It is just a small matter of eating, sleeping, and walking. Don’t wait until your body has problems to pay attention to it. Keep an eye on it early, it is better than anything else.