Managing high blood pressure can be very challenging for a newly diagnosed hypertensive. The problem is finding the will power to do it day in, day out, knowing that it will never end. This makes finding the energy to monitor yourself daily is hard and even frustrating. We need to do it despite our negative feelings because our blood pressure changes daily and waiting till our next doctor’s visit will lead to failing to spot dangerous fluctuations or missing the onset of a trend.
When it comes to managing hypertension studies have shown that those who regularly monitor their pressure do a better job of it than those who do not. Keeping a good record of your readings is also an important step in taking care of hypertension and its challenges.
There are a lot of options when it comes to specific treatment of high blood pressure. This ranges from simple medications to complex medications. However proper management of high blood pressure consists of not just medications but also includes nutritional changes like cutting down on salt intake while increasing the eating of vegetables. The third component is exercise and life style modifications that help to reduce or eliminate those risk factors associated with hypertension like stress, excessive weight and smoking.
If you have the best medication in the world for hypertension and you do not actually take it, there will be change in your hypertensive status. One of the reasons this happens is when one has to take multiple medications per day then the mid-day doses that coincide with work or other activities of daily living get forgotten.
The key to good management of hypertension is adjusting treatment options to fit your lifestyle. For example, if you know that your work schedule makes the afternoon very intense for you, ask for “once a day “medications that you can take in the morning without worrying about an afternoon dose. This will help you to be more consistent in taking your medications.
If you plan to lose weight as part of your management of hypertension, find a weight loss plan that will fit into your personality and life style. If you hate doing things in a crowd or are nervous at the thought of meeting people then going to the gym as a means of losing weight to help reduce your blood pressure will not work for you. For those who love working with people and love the crowd, the gym might be a good idea.
To get the best results out of managing your high blood pressure, choose medications and exercise options that fit your personality, work and lifestyle.
