Keeping your blood pressure in control is very important, especially if you have diabetes. Having high blood pressure and diabetes together increases the chances of heart attack and other problems.
People with diabetes should keep their blood pressure in check. High blood pressure is not good for health. Those people who have high blood pressure are at a risk of various cardiovascular problems. High blood pressure means the flow of blood through the blood vessels and the force applied on the wall of the arteries is very high. It is also known as hypertension.
Diabetes and High Blood Pressure
Hypertension:
When you measure your blood pressure and find that it is more than or equal to 150/110 mmhg, then you are having a high blood pressure. It needs immediate medical attention. You need to bring some major lifestyle changes to protect yourself from the ill effects of diabetes and blood pressure problems.
There are no signs of hypertension, however, this does not mean that you cannot have it. High blood pressure is thus called a silent killer. You won’t be able to identify the condition until you get it checked by your physician. Thus, it is recommended to keep regular checkup routines to identify the problem. For patients with diabetes, the ADA or (The American Diabetes Association) recommends to keep the blood pressure below 130/80 mmhg.
The causes of high blood pressure:
Although most of the families have this problem in their genes and thus individuals are prone to have diabetes if their parents have it. High blood pressure might be mostly caused due to the varied lifestyle choices. Too much of alcohol, smoking, obesity, inactive ness and too much of salt in diet can cause diabetes. Another cause of diabetes is kidney failure that occurs due to increased blood pressure.
Ways to control high blood pressure and diabetes:
Reduce the salt intake:
It is very necessary to limit the salt intake as it will reduce the sodium that goes into the body. It is very helpful in controlling BP. You should not consume more than 1500 mg of sodium each day. Avoid salted snacks, canned foods, seasoned salts, ketchup’s and salty dressings, etc. And opt for the condiments like mustard and herbs to make up the food tastier and rinse canned food to remove salt from it.
Eat healthy meal:
Include those food items in your daily diet that should contain more of fruits, vegetables, whole grain food items and fat free milk. These are rich in other important minerals like magnesium, calcium, fiber and proteins, but low in dietary sodium.
Limit alcohol consumption:
If you are an avid drinker then you must understand that too much alcohol is harmful for your body and you need to take alcohol in moderation. Both high blood pressure and diabetes can become worse if you take more than two drinks each day in case of men and one drink each day in case of women.
Stop smoking:
Smoking is not good for the health of a normal person; leave alone a person having high blood pressure and diabetes. Smoking is known to constrict the blood vessels and causes them to harden, making it difficult for the blood to flow smoothly through the blood vessels.
Indulge in physical activity:
Daily physical exercise is very important for a person suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes. Always consult with your doctor before picking up an exercise as it might become strenuous in some cases. The doctor will recommend the best form of exercise. Generally doctor recommends thirty minutes of daily physical activity, it might be a 30 minute morning jogging, dancing, household chores or a simple brisk walk. Doing this five days a week is enough to maintain a good health.
Maintain a healthy weight:
Being overweight is a big problem, especially for those who have high blood pressure and diabetes. Thus, it becomes very necessary that you lose weight by different effective means to reduce blood pressure.
Take medications on time:
Everyone is not prescribed to take medicine to control high blood pressure, and many others are prescribed more than one number of blood pressure medication. Hence, the case varies with different people. In case you are prescribed certain medications to control blood pressure then you should take the medicine as prescribed by him and take it regularly without missing.