Hypertension: Effective ways to lower high blood pressure without medication
Hypertension: Effective ways to lower high blood pressure without medication
Drs. Anthony Levinson and Richard Sztramko discuss what lifestyle changes you can make to help reduce your blood pressure or lower your risk of developing hypertension in the future.
0:00 - Meet Russel
0:23 - How many Canadians are impacted by high blood pressure?
0:49 - What are some of the complications of uncontrolled high blood pressure?
2:42 - What are some lifestyle choices you can make to keep your blood pressure healthy?
4:32 - Is there a recommended diet for maintaining healthy blood pressure?
5:48 - What type of exercise is recommended to reduce blood pressure?
7:44 - Back to Russel
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Content
0.24 -> russell tracked their blood pressure at
2.399 -> home for two weeks
4.08 -> their blood pressure was consistently
6.24 -> 140 over 90.
8.4 -> they took their blood pressure diary to
10.639 -> their primary care provider who then
12.96 -> diagnosed them with hypertension
15.679 -> their primary care provider recommended
17.92 -> they make some lifestyle changes before
20.64 -> they talk about the need for medications
24.32 -> six million canadian adults have high
27.039 -> blood pressure representing 19 of the
30.56 -> adult population
32.64 -> of canadians with high blood pressure 17
36.32 -> are unaware of their condition and only
38.879 -> 66 percent have it treated and under
41.68 -> control
43.04 -> there are a lot of things that you can
45.12 -> do to keep your blood pressure in a
47.28 -> healthy range
48.96 -> so
49.76 -> what are some of the complications of
52.079 -> uncontrolled high blood pressure
54.64 -> having elevated blood pressure
57.68 -> over periods of time can result in
59.84 -> damage
61.12 -> to several different organs including a
63.68 -> heart the blood vessels in many parts of
66.4 -> your body such as the brain which could
68.64 -> result in a stroke
70.56 -> your limbs which could result in
72.4 -> narrowing the arteries and peripheral
74 -> vascular disease
75.92 -> or your kidneys which can decrease the
78.32 -> filtering capabilities and
81.439 -> cause chronic kidney disease
84 -> some of the symptoms that people might
85.439 -> experience would be chest pain if they
87.68 -> have narrowing of heart arteries
90.32 -> called angina so when people walk around
93.28 -> or exert themselves or have emotional
95.36 -> stress they may have chest discomfort
98.32 -> a heart attack will occur when the blood
100.799 -> supply to the heart has been compromised
104.079 -> usually when a clot forms on an
106 -> atherosclerotic plaque blocking off
108.32 -> oxygen floats apart
110.159 -> and heart failure where heart muscle
112.88 -> weakens over time or becomes too stiff
115.28 -> to pump and
117.52 -> your body will start retaining fluid and
120.079 -> that fluid can go into the heart the
121.84 -> lungs and people will have challenges
124.64 -> breathing and may have swelling in their
126.479 -> legs
127.6 -> also irregular heartbeats which can
130.16 -> lead to
132.16 -> things like atrial fibrillation or other
134.56 -> heart rhythm disturbances that may even
136.879 -> result in death
139.28 -> we're talking about the brain
140.72 -> specifically we mentioned a stroke where
142.959 -> blood flow is cut off people can also
145.2 -> have
146.16 -> blood can have hemorrhages
148.72 -> where blood vessels may burst and cause
151.44 -> damage to the brain
152.959 -> that way
154.08 -> and also high blood pressure can result
156.4 -> in
157.12 -> cognitive problems and small blood
159.04 -> vessel damage in the brain and is even a
161.68 -> risk for alzheimer's disease what are
163.76 -> some lifestyle choices that you can make
166.4 -> to keep your blood pressure healthy this
168.48 -> is a great question because there's so
170.64 -> much that can be done to
172.879 -> lower your blood pressure that's not
174.959 -> related to medications and what we find
177.519 -> is that if you know exercise on a
179.76 -> regular basis
181.2 -> decreases your blood pressure by
183.519 -> five
184.56 -> um and a diet can decrease your blood
187.04 -> pressure by two to five
189.2 -> um and decreasing your salt intake can
191.599 -> decrease your blood pressure there's an
193.44 -> additive effect of all of these things
195.36 -> so the first thing is maintaining an
197.36 -> ideal or healthy body weight
200.319 -> eating a healthy balanced reduced fat
203.28 -> diet
204.319 -> reduce the amount of salt in your diet
206.08 -> by lowering your consumption of foods
207.92 -> that have added salt or foods that have
210.159 -> high salt content to begin with you can
213.44 -> look through food labels and learn how
215.44 -> to do this from a dietitian or be
217.68 -> coached by your physician
219.68 -> participating in regular physical
221.44 -> activity is important
224.08 -> being smoke
225.84 -> and limiting your alcohol intake so
229.36 -> alcohol is one of those substances that
231.68 -> when you consume it it can increase your
234.159 -> blood pressure so there are people that
236.64 -> may have hypertension
238.799 -> or high blood pressure and it goes away
240.879 -> just because they decrease or eliminate
243.519 -> their alcohol consumption
245.439 -> and then avoiding caffeine so
248.239 -> some people may have four or five cups
250 -> of coffee a day and that's quite a lot
253.439 -> and that can result in high blood
254.799 -> pressure as well so there's a whole host
257.519 -> of things that you can do before you
259.44 -> even consider a medication that can
262.639 -> significantly decrease
264.72 -> your blood pressure and as a result
267.28 -> decrease your risk of having these
270 -> negative outcomes that we've described
272.08 -> you you mentioned trying to lower salt
274.72 -> intake
275.759 -> is there a recommended diet to help with
278.24 -> lowering or maintaining healthy blood
280.24 -> pressure absolutely so the dash diet or
283.84 -> dietary approaches to stop hypertension
286.72 -> eating plan has been shown to help
288.24 -> reduce blood pressure in individuals
290.32 -> with high blood pressure the dash diet
292.72 -> is lower in total fat particularly
295.36 -> saturated fats and is rich in vegetables
298 -> and fruit it includes low-fat milk and
300.639 -> milk products and is lower in sodium
304.08 -> as we talked you can target specifically
305.919 -> the sodium and the rest of your foods
308.16 -> and in some people uh potassium
310.16 -> supplementation has been shown to help
312.88 -> diminish or decrease
314.8 -> blood pressure as well
316.72 -> so um reducing your salt intake to about
319.68 -> 2 000 milligrams per day is a general
322.32 -> rule of thumb people may need to
324.639 -> decrease their sodium intake if they
326.88 -> have other conditions like heart failure
329.12 -> where your body wants to hold on to the
331.36 -> sodium or chronic kidney disease
333.84 -> if you're in that situation it's always
336.4 -> good to have supervision from healthcare
338.72 -> providers such as
340.24 -> dietitians to be very specific and help
342.96 -> you learn how to eat in the appropriate
345.28 -> fashion for
346.96 -> your body
348.32 -> what type of exercise is recommended and
351.039 -> for how long to reduce blood pressure
353.199 -> well the first thing to note is how
354.56 -> effective exercise can be at reducing
357.6 -> your blood pressure getting some
359.759 -> exercise
360.88 -> can reduce your blood pressure by five
363.36 -> to ten millimeters of mercury um
365.44 -> depending on the study and whether it's
366.96 -> a systolic or diastolic the canadian
369.919 -> physical activity guidelines offer a
372 -> useful guide so it's recommended to get
374.319 -> 150 minutes a week of moderate to
377.039 -> vigorous intensity aerobic physical
379.68 -> activity
381.039 -> these can happen in outs of 10 minutes
383.52 -> or more
384.88 -> and adding muscle and bone strengthening
386.88 -> activities also
389.039 -> are advised so you want to pick
391.28 -> activities that you enjoy so you're more
392.96 -> likely to stick with it any activity
395.12 -> that increases your heart rate and
397.52 -> breathing is considered aerobic activity
400.479 -> these can include cycling
402.8 -> running swimming dancing gardening so
405.52 -> there's a whole host of things
407.52 -> that you might find enjoyable that can
409.199 -> help you achieve these goals and
411.759 -> combining aerobic and resistance
414.16 -> training seems to provide the most
416.56 -> benefit for
418.319 -> heart health
419.759 -> i think too when you're trying to change
422.639 -> behaviors and patterns setting
425.199 -> goals that are specific so instead of
428.16 -> saying i'm going to do 150 minutes of
430.72 -> exercise next week
433.36 -> and that might be very
435.599 -> overwhelming for some people so starting
437.52 -> out and saying i'm going to do five
439.919 -> minutes a day for the next week and then
441.84 -> i'll do 10 minutes a day the following
443.919 -> week
445.199 -> and then being able to measure those
446.56 -> goals making sure that your goals are
448.72 -> attainable so they're not unrealistic
451.759 -> and time-bound so not just saying
454.72 -> generally i'm gonna improve my exercise
457.039 -> but saying
458.08 -> this week or over the next two days i'm
460.56 -> going to improve my exercise
463.199 -> by this amount
464.8 -> following their primary care providers
467.039 -> recommendations
468.56 -> russell made some lifestyle changes and
470.72 -> decided that they would check in again
472.4 -> after three months
474.16 -> they continued walking every day and
476.56 -> adjusted their diet to align with the
479.12 -> dash diet
481.44 -> russell reduced their daily salt intake
484.08 -> to less than 120 milligrams per meal
488.24 -> although russell had made some great
490.08 -> lifestyle changes their blood pressure
492.639 -> was still in the hypertension range
495.599 -> together with their primary care
497.199 -> provider
498.319 -> russell decided that they would consider
500.639 -> medication to help reduce their blood
503.039 -> pressure
510.319 -> you
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fraTGpklU0Q