What factors can cause high blood pressure?

In China, there is about one patient with high blood pressure in every three adults.High blood pressure is not only present in the elderly, but also in children and adolescents, pregnant women and young people. High blood pressure is often called “silent killer”. Most patients can come on without any symptoms, and the long-term pressure of blood vessel wall that is higher than normal will lead to coronary heart disease and stroke. High blood pressure is a disease that can be controlled but must be treated for life. It is mainly controlled by improving lifestyle and drug treatment. In addition to heredity and age, high blood pressure is mainly related to poor lifestyle. So, what unhealthy lifestyle can cause high blood pressure?

1. High salt and fat food

Salt intake is closely related to high blood pressuren. Research has found that when the intake of potassium and calcium in the diet is insufficient or the proportion of sodium is increased, high blood pressure is easy to occur. High potassium and high calcium diet can reduce the incidence rate of high blood pressure. In recent years, people have attached great importance to the antihypertensive effect of potassium in diet. The study found that daily intake of 5~7g potassium can reduce systolic blood pressure by 4~9mm Hg, and can also reduce the mortality of high blood pressure complications. For patients with high blood pressure, increasing the intake of food potassium can diuretic, increase the excretion of sodium and cholesterol, increase the elasticity of blood vessels, and reduce blood pressure.

The incidence of dyslipidemia in middle-aged and elderly people is high. Eating more high-fat diet is easy to promote vascular aging. In addition, middle-aged and elderly people have less activity, poor digestion and absorption function, and suffer from high blood pressure and arteriosclerosis. Therefore, middle-aged and elderly people need to reduce fat intake in their diet, especially animal fat. The daily fat supply of middle-aged and elderly people accounts for 20%~30% of the total daily calories. The dietary oil for the middle-aged and the elderly is mainly vegetable oil, which contains more unsaturated fatty acids. Unsaturated fatty acids are easier to burn than saturated fatty acids, and can also accelerate the decomposition of cholesterol into cholic acid, which is conducive to reducing blood cholesterol content.

2. Smoking and drinking

Smoking is one of the important factors to promote high blood pressure and coronary heart disease. For a large number of smokers, the incidence rate of malignant high blood pressure has significantly increased, which will also increase the risk of sudden death from coronary heart disease. The study found that the incidence rate of stroke and coronary heart disease in long-term smoking patients with high blood pressure was 2-3 times higher than that in non-smoking patients.

A small amount of alcohol consumption per day has no acute effect on human blood pressure, but long-term heavy drinking will significantly increase the incidence rate of high blood pressure, and is positively correlated with the amount of alcohol consumption. Long-term heavy drinking, increased systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Those who drink 100 ml of alcohol every day have three times the death rate of high blood pressure and stroke compared with those who do not drink. The increase of blood pressure caused by alcohol may be related to the stimulation of glucocorticoids and catecholamines in the body by alcohol, which further enhances the effects of angiotensin, vasopressin and aldosterone, and increases blood pressure. Regular drinking will affect the efficacy of antihypertensive drugs and make high blood pressure difficult to control.

3. sedentary and lack of exercise

Nowadays, many people do not eat at home, talk about important things around the table all day, have few sports activities and are not alert to their own fat. In the long run, it will lead to constipation, fatty liver, high triglyceride, abnormal blood sugar and high blood pressure. Fat people are about 4 times more likely to suffer from high blood pressure than ordinary people, and even 3/4 of them suffer from high blood pressure due to obesity.

4. Stay up late for a long time

Staying up late may be something that many people often do. Many people have the habit of nightlife, and often staying up late will make their mental state appear tired and tense. In a long time, it is easy to make the blood flow blocked, which will lead to high blood pressure.

The following aspects can be taken to prevent high blood pressure:

1. Reduce sodium salt intake: the daily salt intake of each person should be controlled below 6g, and the intake of potassium should be appropriately increased. Potassium can promote the excretion of sodium, such as bananas, oranges, bean products, kelp, seaweed, which are all foods containing potassium.

2. Reasonable diet: reduce the intake of red meat and animal fat, and eat more meat rich in unsaturated fatty acids, such as fish, seafood, etc.

3. Weight control: make the body mass index<24, the waist circumference of men is recommended to be controlled below 90cm, and the waist circumference of women is recommended to be controlled below 85cm.

4. Quit smoking: Avoid secondhand smoke.

5. Limit alcohol: It is recommended not to drink or limit alcohol consumption.

6. Increase sports: mainly with moderate intensity, such as cycling, walking, swimming, play badminton, etc. It is better to sweat slightly, 4-7 times a week, lasting 30-60 minutes each time.

7. Reduce mental pressure: maintain psychological balance.

8. Regular blood pressure monitoring: if the average value of family self-measured blood pressure is greater than 135-85mmHg for a period of time, it indicates that the patient may have high blood pressure, and it is recommended to go to the hospital for treatment in time.

There is a free heart rate monitor app – “AFibCheck“, which can be downloaded and used after searching in the mobile app store. It is simple and convenient to operate.

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