HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

Having high blood pressure means that you must make some changes in your life. You’ll need to do some or all of the following:

Lose weight if you’re overweight
Be physically active
Choose foods low in salt and sodium
Limit your alcohol intake
Take your high blood pressure pills.

You don’t have to try to make all of the changes necessary right off the bat. The key is to focus on one or two at a time. Once they become part of your normal routine, you can go on to the next change. Sometimes one change leads naturally to another. For example, increasing physical activity will help you lose weight.

The first four steps can also help prevent many people from developing high blood pressure. So you can follow them with your family to keep everyone healthy.

Let’s go through each change:

Lose weight if you are overweight.

Losing extra pounds is a very important step that you can take to reduce your high blood pressure. Losing just a small amount of weight can help lower your blood pressure. For some people—those with less severe high blood pressure—losing weight may be all that’s needed to control their hypertension. For others, losing weight may reduce the medication they need to take for their high blood pressure. Two things count about weight: how much and where.

TYPES OF DRUGS USE TO TREAT HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

Diuretics are commonly used for lowering high blood pressure. They’re sometimes called "water pills" because they flush excess sodium and water from the body through the urine. This lessens the amount of fluid in the blood. Sodium is also flushed out of the blood vessel walls, allowing the blood vessels to dilate. As a result, there is less pressure on the blood vessels. Diuretics come in different brands, and doctors prescribe different kinds for different people.
Beta blockers reduce the number of nerve impulses that occur in the heart and blood vessels. This reduction slows the heart, which beats less often and with less contracting force—so blood pressure drops and the heart works less hard.
Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) inhibitors block a hormone which is made in the kidney. This hormone narrows the blood vessels and causes blood pressure to rise.
Calcium channel blockers keep calcium from entering the muscle cells of the heart and blood vessels. This causes the blood vessels to relax.
Alpha-blockers work on the nervous system to relax the blood vessels, allowing the blood to pass more easily.
Alpha-beta blockers work the same way alpha-blockers do but also slow the heartbeat so less blood is pumped through the vessels.
Nervous system inhibitors relax blood vessels by controlling nerve impulses.
Vasodilators open blood vessels by relaxing the muscle in the vessel walls.