Risks of High Blood Pressure – Why You Need to Be Worried About High Blood Pressure?

Though it is difficult to know the exact cause of many diseases, there are several illnesses that are associated with or are caused by your lifestyle. These diseases include chronic ailments and other illnesses that people suffer from. Moreover, along with lifestyle these diseases could be the result of genetics as well as the environment that surrounds you.

Hypertension or high blood pressure (BP) is one such cause that triggers many diseases. In many instances, there are hardly any warning signs and the patient get diagnosed only when the situation becomes critical. On the other hand, there are some people who come to know about their blood pressure being high after going through a regular check-up or while getting a check-up for another ailment. The risk of such ailments gets high if the patient has hypertension. So, let’s discuss what causes high blood pressure and importance of life insurance in this case.

Health Conditions Caused by High Blood Pressure (BP) : What Should you be Prepared for?

One should be prepared to face aggravated health conditions caused by high blood pressure because high BP comes with no warning signs at times. Thus, having an all-inclusive health insurance is important to cover you and your family so that you can stay away from the worries of getting into severe health situations due to high BP.

As we know, the consequences brought about by high BP can, at times, be deadly.  Hence, it is necessary to stay prepared. Further, it is also known that there are many people who are even unaware that they are patients of hypertension. So, when a health emergency strikes suddenly requiring hospitalization, people can easily sail through the expenses with health insurance. Hence, by buying a health insurance policy at an affordable price, one can ensure the financial security of the individual and his/her family without getting into huge burden of debts.

Why is Hypertension so Risky?

As mentioned above, hypertension at times does not come with any warning signs. It emerges suddenly without any high blood pressure symptoms. Moreover, high BP can get your blood vessels and other organs strained, which in turn can lead to severe health risks such as heart attack, stroke, kidney malfunction and so on. Thus, it is essential to stay covered under a health insurance plan and to get regular check-ups to identify symptoms caused by hypertension.

Do you Need to be Concerned about High Blood Pressure ?

Keeping a tab on your blood pressure is important especially because it might enhance the risk of many health conditions. There are several factors that raise the risks of getting hypertension, which in turn raises the risk of several critical diseases.  Many of these factors are within the control of human beings and can be taken care of. Making certain changes in lifestyle allow individuals to control such factors that might cause hypertension. Habits like excess consumption of alcohol, drinking too much caffeine, or being a chain smoker can enhance your chances of having high BP. Also, not being active or not doing any workout, being sleep deprived, consumption of  too much salt and being overweight are other causes that might enhance the risk of high BP.  Further, there are other factors like hereditary, age etc. which are also causes of high BP, especially among people above 65 years of age.

In the above situation, if you fall under any of the above categories, it is important to be cautious and concerned about your BP. So, in such a case, you must keep a check on your BP by regularly checking and managing it. You can get your BP checked at any nearby clinic or at home by using a BP monitor.

8 Ways to Reduce the Risk of High Blood Pressure

If you are at risk of hypertension or have already developed it, you may follow the below tips to control it.  Even if you are a fitness enthusiast it is still possible that you may develop high BP, so better to stay covered with an all-inclusive health insurance plan along with maintaining blood pressure with the help of the below mentioned tips:

1. Keep your weight under control by shedding the excess weight – High BP and weight are linked closely. If your weight increases, it results in the chances of getting high BP.  Similarly, if you have an excess amount of belly fat, it is also an indication of high risk of getting hypertension. So, it is important to reduce belly fat by shedding excess weight and maintain your waistline for staying away from high blood pressure.
2. Don’t leave exercise – Exercise is very important to curb high BP. So, if not more, at least practice half an hour of regular exercise daily to lower your BP. However, you must be consistent in terms of the regular exercises you practice as without consistent activity you will not get proper benefits and results. So, move your body through activities like running and walking, cycling or swimming etc. If you visit the gym, you can practice weight training or other exercise forms as per the guidance of the coach. However, it is important to check with your doctor if you are just starting a new exercise regime.
3. Keep a watch on the food you eat –  Patients of hypertension are generally advised on Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension or DASH diet. This diet is said to help patients of hypertension in curbing the condition of high BP.  This diet encourages the patients to consume whole grains along with fruits and vegetables.  Low fat dairy products are also encouraged to consume under this DASH diet. Further, people are encouraged to eat home cooked and fresh food and limit the consumption of ghee and refined flour. Overall, you are likely to avoid cholesterol and high saturated fats.
4. Limit your salt consumption  – Most food items you eat outside in the restaurants as well as the packed food are often high in sodium. consuming them regularly will make your taste buds used to such flavors.  On the other hand, consuming home cooked food will help to control your salt intake, which will control blood pressure. Hence, try to keep the sodium intake restricted for best results.
5. Avoid excess consumption of alcohol – Though moderate consumption of alcohol within one or two drinks per day can be effective in reducing blood pressure levels. But if you consume beyond that level, you may be at risk of high blood pressure. Conversely, if you already are affected by high BP and under medication you may avoid alcohol consumption completely.
6. Quit smoking  – Like alcohol, smoking is also a bad habit that increases the risk of high blood pressure. Hence, it is best to quit smoking to help your body stay away from several risks like cardiovascular diseases to cancer etc caused by high BP.
7. Limit caffeine –  Caffeine is also said to enhance blood pressure among some people, though it has not been confirmed. However, it is still better to limit the intake of coffee for best health results.
8. Stay relaxed – Pressures of any kind are not good for patients of hypertension. Thus, it is better to identify things that trigger stress and work to keep them at bay. Try to relax with positive thoughts and activities that you like as it acts as effective high blood pressure treatment.