In order to control high blood pressure, besides taking medicine, what should we pay attention to in diet and exercise?

Author: Zhao Lixin, Chief Nurse, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University

Reviewer: Zhu Dan, Chief Physician, Peking University Third Hospital

If you have high blood pressure, diet, exercise and medication are essential and are good friends that must always be with you.

In the early stages of hypertension, when blood pressure is not very high, it can be controlled through diet and exercise, and you do not need to take antihypertensive drugs first. If blood pressure reaches a certain value, a doctor needs to add medication in time according to the blood pressure value.

Even if patients with hypertension take antihypertensive drugs, diet and exercise are still important and indispensable parts of controlling blood pressure.

Today, let’s talk about the diet and exercise considerations for patients with hypertension.

1. What should patients with hypertension pay attention to in their diet?

The diet of patients with hypertension should be light, and they should adhere to a low-salt, low-fat, low-cholesterol, high-fiber, and high-calcium diet to maintain a balanced nutrition.

Patients with hypertension should strictly control their sodium salt intake, as sodium salt can increase blood pressure. The World Health Organization recommends that the daily salt intake per person should be less than 5 grams.

Studies have reported that if you reduce salt intake by 2 grams per day, your systolic and diastolic blood pressure will drop by 2mmHg and 1mmHg respectively. If you stick to a low-salt diet for a long time, your blood pressure can drop by 2-8mmHg. High-salt foods, such as various condiments, monosodium glutamate, and chicken essence, also contain sodium. You should eat less or no salty food, such as pickles, mustard tubers, and fermented tofu.

Potassium ions can fight against sodium ions. It is recommended to eat foods rich in potassium, foods rich in vitamins and high in potassium, such as fresh vegetables and fruits. It is recommended to eat 400-500 grams of vegetables and 1-2 pieces of fruit per day, which is about 200 grams.

At the same time, patients with hypertension should eat foods rich in fiber, such as whole grains, oats, and millet. They can eat them 2-3 times a week, combining coarse and fine grains.

Be careful to limit your intake of oil, especially cooking oil, and limit animal oil. Olive oil is the best choice. The daily amount of cooking oil should be less than 25 grams, which is about two and a half tablespoons of the usual soup spoon. At the same time, be careful not to overheat the oil when cooking.

Eat low-fat, low-cholesterol foods, such as fish, egg whites, and skinless poultry, which are all low-cholesterol foods. It is recommended to eat more fish because it contains unsaturated fatty acids. Animal offal, fat, egg yolks, fish roe, and crab roe are all high-cholesterol foods and should be consumed less. Animal food should be controlled at 50-100 grams per day, and eggs should not exceed 5 per week. In addition, fried foods should also be avoided. You can eat some nuts in moderation.

To supplement protein in moderation, it is recommended to drink low-fat milk or skim milk, and choose milk with a relatively high calcium content, 300-500 ml a day. Artificial milk, like trans fatty acids, is avoided.

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In terms of diet, doing the above is beneficial to blood pressure control, but many hypertensive patients have the habit of smoking and drinking. Does smoking and drinking have any impact on blood pressure control?

2. Does smoking and drinking have an impact on blood pressure control?

Smoking can aggravate high blood pressure. Nicotine, a harmful ingredient in tobacco, can cause blood vessels to constrict and lead to arteriosclerosis. Smoking a cigarette can increase the heart rate by 5-20 times and the systolic blood pressure by 10-25 mmHg, so smoking is harmful.

There are many different opinions about drinking. Some encourage drinking in small amounts, believing that it is good for the heart, while others restrict drinking, believing that it is harmful to the body. In any case, drinking in large amounts is definitely not good for you.

Drinking a lot of alcohol can increase blood pressure, and alcohol is also a major risk factor for high blood pressure. The US Dietary Guidelines recommend a daily alcohol intake of: one ounce of liquor, one bottle of beer, and two tall glasses of red wine. It is fine to drink no more than this amount every day, but it is best not to drink.

3. What kind of exercise is suitable for patients with hypertension?

Exercise can effectively lower blood pressure. Studies have shown that systolic and diastolic blood pressure can be reduced by 11 mmHg and 6 mmHg respectively after exercise.

Hypertensive patients are suitable for aerobic exercise, low to moderate intensity, rhythmic, long-lasting and regular exercise. For example, gymnastics, Tai Chi, brisk walking or jogging are all aerobic exercises. Strenuous exercise should be avoided, such as competitive sports, such as running.

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It is recommended that each exercise time should be more than 30 minutes, and you should exercise 5-7 times a week, or the total exercise time in a day should reach 30 minutes. It is best to exercise every day, reduce sedentary time, and get up and move every hour.

How to control the intensity of exercise? Subtract age from 170. For example, if you are 50 years old, 170-50 is 120. If your heart rate reaches 120 beats/minute during exercise, it is appropriate, indicating that the exercise intensity is appropriate. If your heart rate exceeds 120 beats/minute, it means that the exercise intensity is too high.

For patients with hypertension, it is not recommended to exercise in the morning, because blood pressure will be higher between 6:00-10:00 in the morning. Early morning is the peak period for cardiovascular events, so it is recommended to exercise in the afternoon or evening.

Hypertension is a chronic disease and a lifestyle disease that requires long-term control. Exercise and diet cannot be ignored. It is not just about paying attention to your diet and exercising occasionally. It requires persisting day after day and year after year to effectively control blood pressure.