Understanding and Maintaining a Healthy Blood Pressure

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  0:00  
As soon as my blood pressure was high, the doctor was like, Okay, I'm for a pill. And I have to admit, I'm one of those people that try to resist as much medications as I possibly can. So my first thought was, well, what else can I do? Is there something else I can do? Can I do? What dietary changes? Do I need to make? You know, what, what exercise changes do I need to make? What lifestyle changes do I need to make to get this blood pressure down? And unfortunately, my medical professional just didn't have any. Any really good answers for that. 

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All right, let the shenanigans begin. Hey, I'm Dr. Fitness and this episode is on blood pressure, how to understand and maintain healthy blood pressure, you know, blood pressure is a big deal. And it's like the most prominent risk factor for heart disease, it occurs, you know, when your blood pressure in your arteries and your blood pressure, blood vessels are too high. And this causes your heart to overwork itself and supply the blood blood that's needed to your vital organs. And basically, in a nutshell, that is what high blood pressure is. It runs in my family. So I'm very aware of high blood pressure in it's really kind of neat. You know, for as long as I can remember, people have been talking about I have blood pressure in taking blood pressure pills. So it's very normal and people I know. So it's just like an everyday thing to the people I know. But one of the things that's not as normal is, you know, what can I do about it? And, you know, what are the things that I can do to manage it or maintain it or reduce my blood pressure? You know, so out of all those compensations that for years, my family have been having about blood pressure, because it's hereditary for us. And we'll kind of talk about that too. But all those years, no one really has talked about you know, what to do about it, what should we all be doing to better manage, and potentially even reduce our blood pressure, you know, so as the one thing that comes up all the time, though, that you do hear from time to time is hey, just to lower your salt content, you know, reduce the amount of salt that you're eating. And that's going to be better, you know, for your blood pressure. So it won't be as high. So that's one of the things but it's so much more complex than that. When we're dealing with blood pressure, and that's like in when I hear it, it's like one of those just off the top of your head, oh, you might be eating too much salt. Now. It's a little bit deeper than that. And then for example, you know, why my family, you know, is more challenged by blood pressure is that a lot of people I guess aren't familiar with this. But when slaves were brought over from Africa, to slaves that survived the Middle Passage journey, were the ones that could hold on to water better. And they had high blood pressure. So people that have high blood pressure can hold on to salt in their body better. And so there's something about the people that are predisposed for high blood pressure. survive that middle passage. Ernie, and in the Africans that weren't, most of them died. So because of that, a percentage of, you know, their descendants now are more predisposed to have high blood pressure. So that's kind of, you know, one of the pieces of the High Blood Pressure puzzle, when it comes to the African American puzzle there. Now, mind you, there are cultural things, too, that play a role in that. And in, you know, in each culture has its own thing. But really, it's interesting that how many people have high blood pressure in America. So high blood pressure in America is very, very common. Millions of Americans have high blood pressure. Unfortunately, a lot don't have it under control. And there's a lot of reasons for that, too. I mean, our Unfortunately, our healthcare system, we don't have universal care, like some countries. And high blood pressure is one of those things if you're being treated and followed. And in some countries, even coach you, they have coaches that help with lifestyle management to help reduce blood pressure, and medications, we have less of the coaching to avoid medications in this country, we tend to be more, you know, your blood pressure is high, it's time for a pill. We tend to go in that direction faster. It's soon as my blood pressure was high. But doctor was like, Okay, I'm for a pill. And I have to admit, I'm one of those people that try to resist as much medications as I possibly can. So my first thought was, well, what else can I do? Is there something else I can do? Can I draw? What dietary changes? Do I need to make? The you know, what, what exercise changes do I need to make? What lifestyle changes do I need to make to get this blood pressure down? And unfortunately, my medical professional just didn't have any. Any really good answers for that. There was the thing about, again, the salt thing always comes up. But other than that, there was kind of nothing, you could hear crickets in that room, so you know, it always makes me wonder, I mean, I get it, I understand it's protocol, there are things that you know, our, our physicians have to do, it's just policies or, or whatever we call it just protocols. So high blood pressure, we prescribed that. And I kind of didn't want to get on that wheel of just, okay, that being my only options, let me really do some investigating. But when it really comes down to it, there are a lot of people that don't get the treatment they need. And I do believe that if you aren't willing to remember, this is my opinion. But if you aren't willing to make some serious lifestyle changes, and to really look at what's going on in your life, and check your blood pressure on the regular, I'm telling you, I have a blood pressure cuff sitting right next to me all the time, I could bet I could put my hands on it. But it's always with me, because it's really important that I know what my blood pressure is all the time. And so I must take my blood pressure for at least four times a day, and I log it. So I recommend that you take your blood pressure four times a day and login. It's important to be proactive about these kinds of things when it comes to your health. And you can go to any drugstore and buy blood pressure cuff or taker, the whole load unit, I got one word batteries, and you can you know, carry it with you take it do what you need to do. But I just tell you this, it's vital to know it. I mean, I mean it's essential to know it and it's essential to track it and it's really important to be on top of it. Now, whether you're on medication or not. Okay.

You need to know what your blood pressure is because you Your doctor can put you on medicine and go, Oh, well, we're under medicine. And they may check it on those appointments when you come in. But the damage then is being done all the time, if it's still high. So that means you really are in a really tough situation, if you're continuing to go along, even on medication, and your blood pressure could still be high. So I'd recommend that if there's a hint of you, having blood pressure challenges, that you step up and do some serious work to continue to know what it is, and log it, because tracking is really important. You want to know what it's doing over time, okay. And those blood pressure cuffs you can buy him online, they're really reasonably priced. A mean $30, maybe even under $30. So, but definitely under $40, you can get a heart rate monitor, I mean, a heart. Yeah, heart monitor, you know, it can be purchased online. It's worth the investment. And it's really a small investment. But it is one of the best investments I think you could ever make, is having your own blood pressure monitor, just I mean, the best investment that you can make, it's vital to have it and to take it frequently, you know, so, but remember, once again, when you are when the pressure when your blood pressure is high, it's going to really make it hard for your arteries and your blood vessels and put pressure on them. And they kind of expand. And when those arteries expand, what happens is it creates kind of these cracks in the vessel that can catch plaque. Okay, so, so often it's referred to as a silent killer, because as you're going through, when you're experiencing high blood pressure, there are usually no symptoms. So you won't even know what's going on. And high blood pressure may lead to a stroke. And I've seen strokes in young people too, from high blood pressures, and they won't even notice because sometimes they're smaller strokes. But, but definitely know what's going on with your blood pressure is just a real normal thing i i equated to checking your weight, you know, people were like, Oh, this is what my weight is, I think no one wants your blood pressure is is 10 times more important to know what your weight is. If that gives you any indication of you know, how important I'm I'm trying to stress because, you know, your weight is kind of not a silent killer. In my opinion. When you when you look at your body, and you're really way overweight, there's not an sondland about that, you can see it. I mean, it's not sneaking up on you. It's real visual, you know, unlike your blood pressure, you can't see it, you can't see it happening. You know, and in most cases, you can't even feel it happening. And so it's really important that you are checking your heart rate on a regular basis, it's important that you know your numbers, and you're probably gonna want to watch my numbers be, well, if you're concerned about that, I'm gonna tell you that, you know, the standard is 120 over 80. Now, for some people, it's a little different, it could fluctuate a lower than that, or higher than that. Okay? And, but once you get to over 140 on that top number, and put the bottom number over 100 You really want to pay close attention. And at this point, if you don't have a doctor, you should find a medical professional. You know, you should find a medical professional and just keep an eye on now, you know, it could be a temporary spike for whatever reason because blood pressures do fluctuate, you know, but the more you track it you can determine what your norm and what's a trend For a spike. And that's why knowing your numbers are so important. So when you have that appointment with that doctor, you can give them the data of what's been going on with your blood pressure over an extended period of time. And that will be really helpful information for them to determine what to do next, and what recommendations to make. I would also recommend if you have a family history of being even more on top of it, you know, so if you have a family history, even more on top of it, and remember, tracking this is really information because you do want to have this information that you can present to your either your future doctor for discussions, or your current doctor for discussions, okay? If it goes unnoticed for too long, it could cause severe damage to other organs, such as your kidneys, or even your brain. And you want to definitely make sure that if you have high blood pressure, that it's being managed. Or if you're not even sure, you want to check regularly to make sure that that you don't, you know, so this is one of those things to really keep an eye on, particularly if you, like me have a family history of high blood pressure. So keep an eye on it, because you can make lifestyle changes that can change it. And if you didn't listen to last week's show, I recommend that you go back and listen to the sleep show, because getting proper sleep will definitely help you to reduce and manage your blood pressure. And I would also recommend you go back for the nutrition show, because that will help you to make sure that you're eating in a way that's going to be better for your blood pressure, as well. And managing your stress is another huge thing that's going to totally help you to manage your blood pressure better. So having a system in place for all these things. So go back, cover the last few shows, and all those things together, will actually help you to manage your blood pressure, because blood pressure automatically increases as we age. So as we get a little older, blood pressure risk tends to go higher. Okay. But make no I'm not saying that when you're younger, it's not there. Because I have a friend who was 30 when he had a stroke, because his blood pressure spiked too high. I mean, that's really young. And it came on, he was driving to work when it hit him, fortunately, was a smaller stroke, but he managed to get to the side of the road and call for help. And so thank God for that. But I'll tell you, I can hit you at a at a time where it can be bigger, and it can be a lot more dangerous. So and you may need medication to lower it and keep it under control. So just keep that in mind as you go through this.

So there are steps. And like I did get talked about everyone talks about lowering your sodium content, but there are foods that you can eat too, that will actually help lower your blood pressure. You know, Greenlee fees are really good for blood pressure management. So you know, keep a meal that's really high in green leafy vegetables, besides of course, lowering that sodium so try not to eat as much salt. And I'll tell you the American diet is so high in salt, it's crazy. You use usually in like one meal, we have 10 times the daily amount of salt that we should be having. So that is a big deal. But so keep an eye on that. And because the risk of high blood pressure. Again, it usually really increases as we get older, and it affects all races, but it may be 100 Attari to you and yours and so definitely check in with your family. Find out if your grandmother your mother, your your dad, or grandfather have high blood pressure in some cases, check on siblings to see If any of your siblings may have high blood pressure, so that they can make or help you to figure out what they're doing, and you can do some research and kind of help them, because a lot of times the same family can have ailments, and no one knows about it. But I'll tell you a story. I went to a family get together, who was for the holiday. And it wasn't Thanksgiving I visited was Christmas dinner of some really wonderful family in Charlotte, North Carolina. And I went to visit for a beautiful Christmas dinner. And I'm telling you, the dinner was amazing. But a lot of my family is overweight. And I asked, Hey, does anyone have high blood pressure? Because there was so many foods that were not only high end sugar, but high insulin? And I was just kind of curious. And almost everybody, I think everybody raised their hands. Oh, yeah, I have high blood pressure. And I said, Oh, wow, why are we eating all this stuff? And he just looked at me, well, I know, when my head starts hurting to slow down a bit, and I'm thinking, Oh, okay, well, I gotta say, and I said, Well, does anyone have diabetes, everyone, you know, about 60% had diabetes, too. And they're same responses were eating and stuff, but we know when to stop. You know? And so I'm afraid, you know, some people think of the medicine as Oh, because I'm taking the medicine, I can eat whatever I want to eat, and it's gonna be okay. And I would like to encourage people not to have that attitude. And think of the medicine as you use it until you figure out lifestyle changes to, to bring your pressure into, to lower your blood pressure, you know, to bring it a bit normal, be, you know, definitely take advantage of the medication. But if you can not think of the medication as a long term solution. I think it would incentivize or encourage people to do more with lifestyle planning is really the hope. At least, that's what in my case, it did. And I'm hoping that, and you know what, now that I think about it even more, my family has kind of moved to that page too, because some of my relatives that, at that same dinner, have sent this for several years ago now has since turned around, and I'm seeing them to post on their Facebook pages now, with them doing exercises and doing their thing. So I'm happy to hear that. I'll tell you that first year, I didn't even get invited back for Christmas dinner. The year after that, though, I'm just saying, I love you all. But I did get invited back the year after that Christmas dinner. So it's a thank you for listening to your health moment and getting us information on blood pressure. So the takeaway is definitely know what your blood pressure is, invest in a blood pressure of blood monitor, they're not very expensive, it's going to be the best investment that you ever made. I suggest you do it today. You can go online, you know, you can find everything on Amazon. You can go to support some health websites, I would recommend doing that. And I would recommend, definitely check with your doctor to and finding out if you have a family history of high blood pressure. Those are really important things to know. Hey, thanks again. Have a great day. Have a really fantastic week. And but next week, we are going to be talking about stress. Now you may not feel stress. But we will be talking about how stressful situations may be impacting your health and what to do about it. So stay stay tuned for next week. 

Thank you so much for listening to another episode of Your Health Moment. Learning what tools will help you to live a life you love is so important, and I encourage you to check out some of the other episodes. If you're ready to take the next step for your health. I'd love to have that conversation. Head over to wwwiamdrfitness.com or go to my Instagram @iamdrfitness and that spelled I am Dr. Fitness to get in touch with me and we will put together a plan that starts right where you are today. My name is Dr. Fitness, and I will see you next time on Your Health Moment.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai