The "optimal blood pressure value" for Chinese people is released! Changing one small habit can be as effective as taking blood pressure medication

Hypertension is one of the "three highs". Once you have hypertension, you need to control your blood pressure for a long time. What many people don't know is that although hypertension is a chronic disease and seems not fatal, it has many long-term harms.

Many patients with hypertension do not die from hypertension in the end, but from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases caused by hypertension, such as coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, heart failure, cerebral thrombosis, cerebral hemorrhage, hypertensive nephropathy , etc.

At present, lowering systolic blood pressure (high blood pressure) to less than 140 mmHg is the recognized standard antihypertensive treatment. However, simply controlling blood pressure below 140/90 mmHg is not the ultimate goal. What is more important is to reduce the harm of high blood pressure to the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular system! To what extent can blood pressure be lowered to minimize the risk of cardiovascular death?

Image source: pixabay

The "optimal blood pressure value" for Chinese people is released

Recently, at the 2023 Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Heart Association (AHA), the results of a large-scale randomized clinical trial led by Professor Li Jing of the Fuwai Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences were announced. The study found that for people with hypertension, compared with the standard blood pressure reduction of systolic blood pressure (high pressure) to <140 mmHg, the intensive blood pressure reduction of systolic blood pressure (high pressure) to <120 mmHg can significantly reduce the risk of adverse cardiovascular diseases and the risk of death.

In other words, lowering high blood pressure to 140 mmHg is not the end of the story. The best outcome is to lower it to less than 120 mmHg!

The study included 11,255 cases from 116 hospitals and health service centers in 23 provinces/municipalities across the country. They were aged ≥50 years, with systolic blood pressure of 130~180 mmHg, and had vascular disease or at least two major cardiovascular risk factors.

The results after 3 years of follow-up showed that compared with the standard blood pressure lowering group (<140 mmHg), the intensive blood pressure lowering group (<120 mmHg) had a 12% reduction in major adverse cardiovascular events, a 39% reduction in cardiovascular mortality, and a 21% reduction in all-cause mortality.

A change in life,
The blood pressure-lowering effect is comparable to that of antihypertensive drugs

Many people suffer from high blood pressure because they eat too much salt, which is mainly due to the sodium in salt. When the sodium content in our body exceeds the standard, the osmotic pressure in the blood will increase.

In November 2023, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a clinical trial study that found that a low-sodium diet can lower systolic blood pressure. The researchers commented in the paper: The effect (of a low-sodium diet in lowering blood pressure) is similar to that of commonly used first-line antihypertensive drugs.

The study recruited 218 trial participants, and the researchers first measured the sodium and salt intake of the 218 people. Their median daily dietary salt intake was 11.3 grams (about 4.45 grams of sodium), which is similar to the daily dietary salt intake of many people in my country.

The researchers asked the participants to try a high-sodium diet for one week, which means consuming 12.7 grams of salt (about 5 grams of sodium) per day; then they tried a low-sodium diet for one week, which means consuming 3.22 grams of salt (about 1.27 grams of sodium) per day. The study found that the low-sodium diet can reduce systolic blood pressure by an average of 8 mmHg. The Chinese Dietary Guidelines recommend that adults should not consume more than 5 grams of salt per day!

Therefore, for many people with high blood pressure, don't think that you can eat as much as you want after taking antihypertensive drugs. If you want to control your blood pressure below 120 mmHg, in addition to taking medication as prescribed by your doctor, it is also helpful to reduce your daily salt intake.

Four habits to lower blood pressure that many people don’t know yet!

1

Keep exercising in your daily life

In March 2021, the European Society for the Prevention of Heart Disease released a consensus on exercise prescriptions for the prevention and treatment of hypertension. For patients with hypertension, exercise is indeed effective in lowering blood pressure. The consensus recommends aerobic exercise including: brisk walking, jogging, swimming, cycling, aerobics, rope skipping, etc. The average systolic blood pressure can be reduced by 4.9~12.0 mmHg, and the diastolic blood pressure can be reduced by 3.4~5.8 mmHg.

Image source: pixabay

2

Replace your home salt with low-sodium salt

In January 2022, Professor Wu Yangfeng of the Peking University Clinical Research Institute published a study in the Chinese Journal of Circulation showing that replacing the salt at home with low-sodium salt can reduce 1 million deaths each year! Low-sodium salt is a mixture of a certain proportion of potassium chloride, which is also salty, with ordinary table salt (sodium chloride content 90% to 99%) to reduce sodium intake.

Therefore, when buying salt in the future, you can try to choose low-sodium salt . However, low-sodium salt contains potassium, which is not suitable for people with kidney disease or high blood potassium.

3

Quit smoking and drinking as soon as possible

Smoking can increase blood pressure and heart rate. Chemicals in tobacco can damage blood vessel walls, cause inflammation and hardening of blood vessels, and constrict arteries. Arteriosclerosis can increase blood pressure. Secondhand and thirdhand smoke can also affect blood vessels.

Drinking is also one of the important factors leading to high blood pressure. Many people who love to drink often suffer from high blood pressure. You should observe carefully in your life. This is because drinking a lot of alcohol will increase the excitability of the sympathetic nervous system, increase heart rate and cardiac output, and thus increase blood pressure.

4

Don't stay up late, make sure you get enough sleep

A study published in the authoritative medical journal Hypertension in 2023 found that difficulty falling asleep, interrupted sleep, and short sleep duration are all associated with a higher risk of hypertension. The study included 110,000 female nurses without hypertension. In a 16-year follow-up study, it was found that women who reported shorter sleep duration had a significantly increased risk of hypertension compared with those who slept 7-8 hours a day; moreover, women who had difficulty falling asleep or had interrupted sleep or woke up early had a significantly higher risk of hypertension.

References

[1]Li J. Effects of intensive blood pressure lowering treatment in reducing risk of cardiovascular events. Presented at: AHA 2023. November 13, 2023. Philadelphia, PA.

[2]Gupta DK, Lewis CE, Varady KA, et al. Effect of Dietary Sodium on Blood Pressure: A Crossover Trial. JAMA. Published online November 11, 2023. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.23651

[3]Hanssen H, et al. Personalized exercise prescription in the prevention and treatment of arterial hypertension: a Consensus Document from the European Association of Preventive Cardiology (EAPC) and the ESC Council on Hypertension. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2021 Mar24.

[4] Wu Yangfeng. Scientific evidence for promoting low sodium salt and its public health significance. Chinese Journal of Circulation, 2022, 37: 1-3. DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1000-3614.2022.01.001

[5]Shahab Haghayegh,et al.Sleeping Difficulties, Sleep Duration, and Risk of Hypertension in Women.Hypertension.2023.https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/epdf/10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.123.21350

Planning and production

Source: Health Times

Reviewer: Tang Qin, Director and Researcher of the Science Popularization Department of the Chinese Medical Association

Editor: Yang Yaping