The next time you check your blood pressure, expect your healthcare provider to be a little more aggressive about high levels. And if you like dinner or glass of wine with cocktails over the weekend, it suggests that new guidelines for Ashouls Yourself: American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology were released on Thursday.
The Heart Organization Committee can continuously evaluate the latest research to ensure providers understand the best approach to hypertension, but this is the first set of new guidelines since 2017. Heart disease is the number one killer in the world, and blood pressure is one of the easiest ways to avoid such death. Reducing blood pressure also reduces the risk of kidney disease, type 2 diabetes, and dementia.
Almost half of all adults in the United States have higher blood pressure than normal. According to guidelines, the target number for adults has not changed. Normal blood pressure is below 120/80 mm Hg, and blood pressure rises is 120-129/80 mm Hg. According to the new guidelines, if it is above 130/80 mmHg, providers would like to make some changes.
Blood pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury, abbreviated as MM Hg. Measurements have upper number, or systolic readings, and low diastolic readings. Systolic pressure measures the force of blood as it pumps from the heart into the artery.
High blood pressure usually does not have any symptoms. However, when blood pressure is high, both the blood vessels and the heart must work more vigorously, as the power of the blood is pressed against the walls of the blood vessels, reducing efficiency. Without treatment, hypertension ultimately damages the arteries, increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
According to new blood pressure guidelines, if systolic blood pressure ranges from 130 to 139, providers should first encourage healthy lifestyle changes. If your lifestyle changes alone after 3-6 months, don’t lower your blood pressure to the target range, and new guidelines suggest that medications are recommended. This is a shift from 2017 recommendation that anyone with systolic blood pressure above 140 should change their lifestyle and prescribe medication.
“So it’s better for more people and we know that lowering blood pressure can actually help reduce the risk of dementia by simply trying to control blood pressure more aggressively to prevent cardiovascular disease, stroke and kidney disease.
According to new guidelines, lifestyle changes include maintaining or achieving a healthy weight, eating healthy heart-healthy diet, eating and drinking, managing stress, and resistance exercises such as weight training, such as at least 150 minutes of weekday physical activity, and resistance exercise.
There is another shift from 2017. The new guidelines also recommend inducing alcohol.
The guidelines said that if people choose to drink, it should be a drink for women less than a day, while men should be less than two days. Jones said there is too much evidence that alcohol can have a negative effect on your blood pressure.
“Many people enjoy drinking, but there’s evidence, so we want you to make an informed decision,” said Jones, dean of the University of Mississippi School of Medicine and professor emeritus. “There is a lot of personal variation in the relationship between alcohol and blood pressure, but we suggested that as a celibacy and for those who chose to drink, fewer than one woman and fewer two men.”
Based on growing evidence, there is also a focus on how important it is to lower blood pressure to reduce the risk of developing dementia, Jones said.
In more studies on women who have problems with hypertension during pregnancy, the guidelines also said they have highlighted new emphasis on how important it is for those who want to or are pregnant to monitor their blood pressure. High blood pressure can hurt pregnancy and can increase the risk of people who will continue to experience blood pressure even after pregnancy.
Dietary recommendations include dash diets with high low-fat, sugar and tropical oils such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, chicken, beans, nuts, vegetable oils, and coconut and palm oils.
“We harp sodium again. We know that salt and alcohol are favorites for many, but we recommend limiting salt intake and increasing potassium intake,” Jones said. One easy way to do that is if you are cooking at home to use potassium-rich salt alternatives. Sodium intake should be less than 2,300 mg per day and should move towards a more ideal limit of 1,500 mg per day.
For people who are overweight or obese, the guidelines recommend losing at least 5% of their weight. For people with more severe obesity, the guidelines recommend that what Jones says is a clinically proven intervention: diet and exercise, and weight loss medications that include GLP-1. For people with very severe obesity, the guidelines also suggest surgery.
Jones said he knows it’s difficult for people to keep their blood pressure down, but taking these steps can really help people’s health.
“The reality is that it is the first line of recommendations for both the prevention and treatment of hypertension, and it has to do with diet, and we live in a very difficult environment for food. Low sodium intake makes it difficult for people to eat enough potassium. “It’s difficult, but it works.”
