“Despite extensive knowledge about ways to prevent as well as to treat hypertension, the global incidence and prevalence of hypertension and, more importantly, its cardiovascular complications are not reduced — partly because of inadequacies in prevention, diagnosis, and control of the disorder in an ageing world. Elevated blood pressure is the strongest modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease worldwide.”
This statement, that I found in one of the recent Lancet’s articles (The Lancet is one of the world’s oldest and best known general medical journals), caught my attention. There are many sources that deal with high blood pressure as well as much good advice relating to prevention of this worldwide problem. The question that arises is why we are still so vulnerable to this silent but devastating condition? What triggers my reflection on this topic is the fact that, despite everything – including the risk of the possible fatal consequences to our health and life, we continue to disobey the recommendations. We smoke, we drink excessive quantities of alcohol, we eat salty and sugary food and we tend not to be as active as we should and we avoid preventive health checks. Of course, not all of us.
The prevention checklist for high blood pressure is probably well known to all but let us just very shortly remind ourselves what’s on the list:
- Maintain a healthy weight
- Exercise regularly
- Reduce salt intake
- Consume alcohol moderately, if at all
- Reduce stress – ah, well, this is hard to go into details, but you know what creates your stress and eventually you learn how to overcome it
Check up the nutrients that are favorable for you personally, depending on your blood tests. Some otherwise recommended food could present a risk for you, so follow your internal feeling when choosing your diet and consult your physician. On the list of nutrients that reduce blood pressure are potassium, calcium, magnesium, garlic, fish oils.
Today’s life style clearly doesn’t go well with the high blood pressure situation worldwide. These are things and facts that are good to be aware of, which could motivate us to check from time to time where are we personally in relation to this problem. Some light preventive checkups can become part of your leasure time, such as Wellbe’s long weekend packages offers dedicated partly to your health, partly to some fun and relaxation. Despite some of the doubts about connecting these two things together, we still believe in it: We believe that prevention is the best friend of good health and we advocate the relaxation that we should allow ourselves from time to time.
