Some simple steps on how to control high blood pressure effectively. By Clive Jenkins.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, as it is commonly named, is a condition that can affect us without even knowing its specific symptoms, because there are none. The silent killer can be controlled with the proper medicated treatment and by following what the doctor advises. The first thing you have to do after you have been diagnosed with hypertension, is to be aware and to learn how to live with it, because the faster you take some measures, the faster you can stop it from threatening your life.

Being a chronic disease, there is nothing yet that can cure it. We can only try to ameliorate it and to control it by making drastic changes in our lives.

Begin with changing the way you eat, change the lifestyle you have and make sure you follow the medicated treatment prescribed by your doctor: these are the right steps towards healing hypertension.

Hypertension can lead to major breakdowns of our body's systems if we do not take the right measures, the consequences are very serious: complicated heart attacks, strokes or the failure of your kidneys.

This article will provide you with a simple 3-steps program that can help you reduce and regulate your high blood pressure and prevent it from taking over your life.

Step 1: Eat Healthy!

Eating healthily might seem easy for someone who hasn't tried it yet. It involves changing your whole way of life and you must forget and put away your old eating habits and apply the new rules of healthy eating. You can begin with a small step, like reducing the quantity of salt you use to prepare meals. A higher quantity of salt can produce edema, which is the retention of water. Normally, the water from our body must be eliminated through the urine. The salt interferes in the process and a big part of the water that should be eliminated is blocked within our bodies, creating excess. This will cause a pressure on the walls of the blood vessels, the main reason for the occurrence of hypertension.

If you feel you can't live without salt, you can replace it with salt substitutes or tasty combinations of other seasonings. The taste of the food might not be the same as before, but your hypertension will slowly lose its power.

Changing the way you eat and the things you eat, will likely lead to you losing excess weight, too. It is a common fact that hypertension is caused by obesity, by the fat accumulated in our body which thickens the walls of the blood vessels and increases the blood pressure as a consequence.

To guide people in finding the right way to control hypertension through healthy eating, in 1997, the Journal of Medicine from New England published a work that was lately approved by the US government as an excellent method to prevent hypertension. This amazing writing was the DASH diet, which means Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. This is a diet based on healthy food which is tasty and beneficial for our body too. It includes all the proteins, vitamins, fibres and minerals necessary to our body.

Step 2: Quit Smoking and Reduce Alcohol Intake!

If you are a smoker or you are used to having more than a couple of drinks daily, you might take a minute and think about how this affects your health. It is hard to leave behind those nasty habits, and the best way to do it isn't to go through it by yourself. You will not make it.

Step 3: Be Active!

A sedentary way of life will certainly not help you in reducing the risk of hypertension. Our busy schedules don't leave us much choice when it comes to our free time. We prefer to relax and watch a movie instead of exercising our bodies. Do not worry; you do not have to spend hours at the gym. Ten minutes a day can work wonders on your blood circulation by reducing the negative effect of hypertension on our bodies.

There is the case though, that we inherit hypertension. During check-ups, tell your doctor if you ever had a history of hypertension in your family; it is possible that you might have it too. The only thing you can do is to protect yourself by avoiding the things that allow the hypertension to become serious in the first place. There are also drugs included in the category of anti-hypertensive; not every one of them might work for your type of body, and you will have to try a whole list of drugs until you find the one that works on your hypertension. Pay attention, though. If you take the drugs and still go on with your old lifestyle, do not expect any results! The right combination of hypertension inhibitors includes: healthy food, exercises and a healthy way of life (no cigarettes or alcohol).

Clive Jenkins writes for the High Blood Pressure Medication Site which provides comprehensive help and advice on all Blood Pressure issues. www.highbloodpressuremedicationsite.com.

KeeptheDoctorAway.co.uk is not responsible for the content of external websites