4 lifestyle changes to help manage hypertension | Health & Medicine | Khan Academy
Aug 24, 2023
4 lifestyle changes to help manage hypertension | Health & Medicine | Khan Academy
Remember that a good diet, exercise, losing weight, and quitting smoking can lower blood pressure! Rishi is a pediatric infectious disease physician and works at Khan Academy. Created by Rishi Desai.https://www.khanacademy.org/science/h … https://www.khanacademy.org/science/h …www.khanacademy.org , join us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at @khanacademy. And remember, you can learn anything. https://www.youtube.com/subscription _…
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1.96 -> So let's say that you
have hypertension,
4.53 -> and you'd like to figure
out what to do about it.
7.405 -> There actually is a
lot of good news here.
9.52 -> So there are about four
different major things
14.24 -> I can think of that you
can do to help reduce
17.49 -> hypertension-- fairly
easy things you
19.25 -> can do in your own home.
21.19 -> The first is your diet.
23.35 -> So there's something called
the Dietary Approaches
32.619 -> to Stopping Hypertension,
which basically
36.152 -> means that you can
actually use your diet
37.86 -> to help reduce your
blood pressure.
40.89 -> And a few different
groups have actually
43.31 -> come together and endorsed
this set of guidelines,
48.73 -> like the American Heart
Association and the Mayo
52.16 -> Clinic.
54 -> And I actually went
through and tried
56.13 -> to figure out exactly
what this DASH
59.24 -> diet would recommend for me.
61.88 -> So I'm going to draw
for you a plate.
64.79 -> This is kind of a
plate of food, if you
67.17 -> can imagine-- all my meals in
one day on one plate of food.
69.89 -> This is what the DASH
diet would recommend.
72.31 -> This is one day.
75.55 -> And I take about 2,000
calories in a day.
78.76 -> So the DASH diet
suggests that for me, I
81.56 -> should have about
five fruits in a day.
85.87 -> And I should have five
vegetables in a day.
91.73 -> So a total of 10
fruits and vegetables.
95.85 -> And then on top of that,
about seven grains,
100.53 -> of which three are whole grains.
104.73 -> So three whole grains.
107.23 -> And for the remainder
of my plate,
109.63 -> it suggests two dairy products.
113.7 -> So that would be something like
non-fat milk or low-fat milk
116.94 -> products, like yogurt, cheese.
119.81 -> And two meat products.
121.59 -> So it's not required
that you eat meat.
125.14 -> In fact, it's not
necessary at all.
127.12 -> But if you do,
the recommendation
128.979 -> is to have no more than
two meat servings in a day.
133.924 -> And if you are
going to have meat,
135.34 -> definitely like a lean meat.
137.66 -> So these are the servings in
one day that it recommends.
140.65 -> And on top of
that, in a week, it
142.29 -> says I should probably have
about four servings of nuts
146.33 -> and seeds.
148.91 -> And it also went on to
say that I should probably
151.81 -> try to limit how many
sweets I take in.
156.24 -> This would be like candy or
any sort of dessert-- donuts.
160.02 -> And any sort of
fatty food or oil.
163.39 -> So fats and oils.
165.63 -> And this would be like
potato chips or fries,
167.737 -> things like that.
168.445 -> So really try to
limit those things.
170.03 -> And if you do this
for a couple weeks,
172.17 -> you're actually shown in studies
to have lower blood pressure
176.092 -> at the end of it.
176.8 -> So within two weeks,
this starts to make
179.49 -> a difference, which
is pretty phenomenal.
182.44 -> So you can tell
based on the way I've
184.17 -> drawn this out that the DASH
diet is really stressing
186.86 -> fruits-- I'm writing as an
"F," and "V" for vegetables.
191.38 -> And also stressing
lots of grains, "G."
195.14 -> So lots of fruits,
vegetables, and grains.
198.5 -> It's also mentioned
in the DASH diet
201.74 -> that you should be
on a low-sodium diet.
204.42 -> So low sodium, which
is a limit of 1,500
210.76 -> milligrams of sodium in a day.
216.16 -> And finally, the DASH diet says
that if you drink alcohol--
221.35 -> let's say you drink alcohol--
that you should really
225.07 -> try to limit your
alcohol to less
227.1 -> than two servings
of alcohol in a day.
231.08 -> So less than, or equal to, two
servings of alcohol in a day.
237.1 -> Now, in addition to diet,
there are a few other things
239.36 -> you can do as well.
240.151 -> So you could exercise.
241.93 -> And exercise is actually
very important in trying
244.37 -> to reduce your blood pressure.
246.931 -> And there are a few
different types of exercise.
248.93 -> There's resistance
training with weights.
251.22 -> There's stretching, as folks
that do yoga can tell you.
256.57 -> But the type of
exercise that's probably
258.579 -> most helpful for hypertension
is aerobic exercise.
261.94 -> So you want to try to
stress aerobic exercise.
266.52 -> Now, when I say
aerobic exercise,
268.19 -> I mean things like going for
a swim or going for a jog.
274.97 -> And maybe even a brisk walk,
if that suits what you enjoy.
280.95 -> Or a bike ride.
281.95 -> So something like this that
really gets your heart pumping,
284.42 -> and getting blood to flow all
the way throughout your body,
288.83 -> instead of just
one muscle group.
291.374 -> So aerobic exercise
is really important.
293.04 -> And in terms of how
much aerobic exercise,
296.31 -> a rough rule of
thumb that I use is
299.73 -> suggesting about 30 minutes per
day for about five days a week.
306.26 -> And I find that that's
a very reasonable thing
308.22 -> that a lot of people can
do, and find enjoyable.
312.84 -> OK, so diet and exercise.
313.98 -> If you're doing
these two things,
315.92 -> you're likely to
be losing weight.
318 -> And I'm going to
talk about weight
319.42 -> in terms of a BMI,
a Body Mass Index.
322.79 -> So if you're hypertensive,
it's a really good idea
327.86 -> to try to get your BMI
in a healthy range.
331.15 -> And for adults, that would
be between 18.5 and 25.
335.22 -> It's a very healthy
range of BMI.
339.274 -> And it's actually
really important
340.69 -> that you get there, especially
if you're on the high side.
344.3 -> So let's say you're obese
and your BMI's over 30,
346.49 -> or you're slightly
overweight, over 25.
349.64 -> Getting that BMI down below
25 is really, really critical.
354.72 -> And finally, for smokers,
it's really important
358.75 -> to try to quit smoking.
360.84 -> So this is a fantastic time
to kind of take your health
363.85 -> into your hands and finally
quit smoking or using
368.37 -> tobacco products.
369.89 -> And nowadays, we actually
have so many medications
373.81 -> that really help with this,
as well as counseling,
376.73 -> that it makes it much, much
easier to try to quit smoking.
381.28 -> It's never an easy thing
to do, but it's certainly
383.45 -> a lot easier when you have
medications and counseling
386.019 -> to help you, and you have
a good reason to do it,
388.06 -> like you have hypertension.
389.99 -> So these are the
four kind of things
391.68 -> to keep in mind in terms of
things you can do at home.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2B6j7poiKI
