blood pressure

Cardiovascular disease is caused not by one risk factor alone, but by several factors. Combinations of risk factors multiply, rather than merely add, their individual effects on your likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease. At the same time, the presence of certain risk factors may influence the subsequent development of other risk factors. For instance, smoking, which in itself sharply increases a person’s risk of heart attack, tends to lead to high blood pressure, which is another contributory factor for heart disease. Fortunately, the majority of these risk factors can be reduced by making changes to your lifestyle. - Extract from the Singapore Heart Foundation

Back to Top

What is Blood Pressure? Blood pressure is the force in the arteries when the heart beats (systolic pressure) and when the heart is at rest (diastolic pressure). For adults, HIGH blood pressure is defined as a blood pressure greater than or equal to 140 mm Hg / 90 mm Hg. What can happen as a result of high blood pressure? - High blood pressure is the silent killer. Without warning, high blood pressure can lead to life-threatening conditions such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease. Why should you monitor your blood pressure at home? - To be consistently aware of a vital indicator about your overall health - Doctors recommend it - To see how you’re responding to medication How often should you monitor your blood pressure? - Your blood pressure can vary throughout the day and be affected by activity, stress, medications and other factors. This is why you should consult with your healthcare professional to determine how often and when you should monitor your blood pressure.

Back to Top

What is High Blood Pressure? High blood pressure is defined as having systolic pressure of 135mmHg or higher and or diastolic pressure of 85mmHg or higher. The normal BP for adults is less than 130/80mmHg. If the average BP is more than 135/85 mmHg. Consult your doctor.

Back to Top

Facts about Blood Pressure Management Blood pressure is never constant Blood pressure changes throughout the day, and even fluctuates by the minutes. Measuring only once a day does not reflect the actual status of the blood pressure condition. Monitoring trend of blood pressure fluctuation would provide better evaluation of the patient’s condition. Blood pressure measured at the clinics may be different from those measured at home Besides fluctuations, an observation known as “white coat effect” may also contribute to different blood pressure readings. Most people are anxious when visiting the doctor and could experience a rise in blood pressure. On the other hand, people are usually more relaxed at home, and have lower blood pressure readings. High blood pressure has few symptoms Many people who suffer from high blood pressure are unaware, as the illness has no symptoms. If left undetected, these people are at risk of developing more serious illness like stroke, heart failure, kidney failure, and even heart attacks. Early detection for people who are at risk can be achieved by regular blood pressure measurement. High blood pressure is not related to family history Even a person with no previous history of high blood pressure can develop hypertension from lifestyle factors. Some of these factors include: Stress Gender Lack of exercise Increasing age Poor diet Being overweight The wide range of factors that can influence blood pressure is an important reason why one should monitor blood pressure as often as possible.

Back to Top

Dietary Keys To Reducing High Blood Pressure Fruits and Juices Increase consumption of juices, fruits (especially bananas) and whole grain based cereals to counteract high levels of potassium found in other foods and in your body. Monounsaturated Fats Increase consumption of products with monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil, in your diet can greatly diminish your risk of high blood pressure and may even eliminate the need to take medication to control the situation. Omega-3 Fatty Acids Increase consumption of omega-3 fatty acids that are commonly found in cold-water fish. These acids are proven to reduce high-blood pressure as well as lower your cholesterol. Whole Oats Increase consumption of whole oats help to help control your high blood pressure. Additionally, they also have positive affects on cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Vitamin C Increase consumption of products containing Vitamin C to battle high blood pressure. This may mean a daily vitamin supplement or be part of an increased consumption of fruits, such as oranges.

Back to Top

Finding Ways To Get Fit Getting Fit Outside Getting Fit Inside Building Strength - Walk wearing wrist weights - Push your child in a stroller around your neighborhood - Explore the surrounding areas on your bike - Exercise on an elliptical trainer - Use free weights or machines at the local gym - Jump rope to increase upper body strength Building Endurance - Go for a hike through the local park - Develop a daily walking/running routine with a neighbor - Go swimming at the local pool - Walk/run using a treadmill - Play basketball - Enroll in an aerobics class Building Flexibility - Play tennis or badminton - Wash your car by hand - Play nine holes of golf - Take a yoga class - Stretch during TV commercials - When cleaning your home, place emphasis on stretching to get hard to reach areas

Back to Top

Helpful Blood Pressure Reminders Have your blood pressure checked by your doctor. If you have high blood pressure, follow your doctor’s advice about changing your diet and lifestyle habits. If your doctor has prescribed medication for your high blood pressure, it is very important to take it regularly. If you have any new symptoms, call your doctor. Measure and record your blood pressure at home regularly. This information may be valuable to your doctor in evaluating your condition. Cooperate. You and your doctor must work together in order to keep your blood pressure and your diabetes under control.

Back to Top

Can i take a measurement during exercise? Omron Blood Pressure Monitors are not intended for use during exercise or activity. We recommend you avoid eating, smoking and exercising for at least 30 minutes before taking a measurement.

Back to Top

Regular Walking Can Decrease Potential Health Problems Anxiety Blood pressure Blood triglycerides Body fat Bone loss Constipation Depression Falls & fractures Glucose Mobility limitations Pain Risk of some cancers Risk of heart attack, hypertension and stroke Risk of diabetes Stress Weight

Back to Top

Regular Walking Improves Your Health, Both Mentally and Physically Ability to regulate body temperature Aerobic capacity Balance Blood sugar Bond density Cartilage and joint health Circulation Energy level and endurance Flexibility/range of motion HDL (good) cholesterol Heart health Joint Mobility Life span Mental Capacity Metabolic Rate Mood Muscle mass and tone Overall general health Quality of life and sleep Reaction time Feeling of accomplishment Self-esteem Strength

Back to Top

Six Steps to Healthy Living Stay Physically Active People often have misconceptions about the intensity and type of exercise needed to produce healthy benefits. The best way to become physically active is to find something you enjoy doing when it’s convenient for you. Eat Foods Low In Saturated Fats and Cholesterol The American Heart Association recommends that you limit your average daily cholesterol intake to less than 300 milligrams. Maintain Proper Weight Measurement of body fat composition is the key to long-term success. Have Regular Medical Checkups You and your doctor must work together to keep your health in check. Don't Smoke or Use Other Tobacco Products As soon as you stop smoking, your risk of heart disease and stroke starts to drop. Have Your Blood Pressure Checked Regularly High blood pressure makes your heart work harder, which may add strain on the heart and arteries. If you have high blood pressure, follow your doctor’s advice about changing your diet and lifestyle habits.

Back to Top

Understanding Why High Blood Pressure Is A Problem Generally, normotension (normal blood pressure) is defined as less than 130mmHg for systolic value (SBP) and less than 85mmHg for diastolic value (DBP). The higher the blood pressure, the more load on the blood vessels, and this can damage the vessels. In the worst case, blood vessel walls can develop holes causing internal bleeding. When this happens in the brain, it is called a stroke. In addition, high blood pressure increases the myocardial workload so that the heart must work harder to maintain adequate blood flow to the body. This causes ischemic heart disease (IHD) such as a heart attack (myocardial infarction) and angina. People with hypertension have the increased risk of suffering from of having a stroke. Conversely, It is also known that those with normal blood pressure have a lesser risk of ischemic heart disease (myocardial infarction and angina) and stroke. Thus, it can be concluded that keeping blood pressure within a normal range to prevent these occurrences is of the utmost importance.

Cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular disease is caused not by one risk factor alone, but by several factors. Combinations of risk factors multiply, rather than merely add, their individual effects on your likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease. At the same time, the presence of certain risk factors may influence the subsequent development of other risk factors. For instance, smoking, which in itself sharply increases a person’s risk of heart attack, tends to lead to high blood pressure, which is another contributory factor for heart disease.

Fortunately, the majority of these risk factors can be reduced by making changes to your lifestyle. - Extract from the Singapore Heart Foundation

10 factor to help u stay MOTIVATED & SUCCEED..

Success in the fitness world depends on lots of different factors that are variable depending on the individual. Everyone will have their own methods for what keeps them focused and determined to keep working towards their goals, but there are a few factors that are common to most people. By ensuring that you are utilizing these concepts, you will help ensure that you will reach your goals in a productive and pleasurable manner.

1: Self-Efficacy
This has been shown to be one of the most important factors contributing to success in a workout program. Self-efficacy can be defined as your personal belief that you are in fact capable of performing the behavior or achieving your goal.
For example, someone with high self-efficacy would have confidence in themselves that they will be able to run for 30 minutes if this is what they decide to do. A person scoring low on self-efficacy on the other hand would not believe they were capable of doing this and therefore would most likely not put in the effort to even try. Believing in yourself and your abilities is a huge component in sticking with your exercise program.

2: Family & Friend Support
Taking up a new exercise regime will require many changes in your daily schedule. You may have to give up some of the responsibilities you previously held in order to find the time to commit to exercising. With a supportive family and friend network, this task will be much easie
Maybe your husband or wife will take over the role of cooking meals on certain nights of the week so you can stop at the gym on the way home from work, or a friend might be willing to give up your weekly night at the movies for a session of yoga class instead. Whatever the compromise, having these people support your goals will make the whole process much less stressful and easier to complete.

3: A Positive Attitude

Having a positive attitude about your workout program will go along way to helping you stay motivated and committed. When you have positive thoughts regarding exercise, it makes it seem like less of a chore and more of an enjoyable experience to you. If you remain positive at all times, even when you may not be seeing all the results you dreamed of, you will still be able to stay focused and look at how far you have come.

Being able to look at the big picture is a large step in achieving success, as many of the results you gain from exercise are not noticeable right away, therefore this requires a great deal of patience. By staying positive so that you will see results eventually, you won't get discouraged as quickly and drop out.

4: An Action Plan
The next most important aspect of any workout program or goal for that matter is having an effective action plan. You need to have the means to reach your end and without a detailed account on how you plan on going about obtaining your goals, you will have great difficulty getting there as quickly as you hope.
If you just take a casual approach to your goal, you will most likely waste a lot of time just figuring what steps to take next. By having everything outlined from the beginning you will know where you need to go and in what order. You will also have something to compare your progress to to ensure you are on track with regards to your original plan.

5: Organizational Skills
Having good organization is very important when you talk about fitness. Everyday life poses many, many challenges to sticking with a workout routine, from meetings, to family emergencies, to less than ideal weather.
If you aren't organized with your time, you will find that other projects keep pushing back your gym appointment and that the drive through looks like a signal sent from god since you have so much work to take home that you can't even think about chopping a vegetable little own cooking a full meal.
A great investment is a daily planner that is large enough for you to schedule all of your tasks in, including your workout. Book your time at the gym in like you would any other appointment. This will ensure nothing steals this time away from you.

6: Intrinsic Motivation

There Are Two Types Of Motivation:

• Intrinsic
  Intrinsic motivation on the other hand is the type where you are performing the action based strictly on the fact that you love doing it and find a personal satisfaction from doing it. This is more common among athletes (those who are more at the beginner levels and are not playing to win prize money or titles), and those who take up a hobby that they tend to loose themselves in.

  Studies have shown that exercisers who exercise for intrinsic motivations are much more likely to stick with their workout program than those who are motivated extrinsically (to fit into a dress for example).

	What Motivates You To Keep Healthy? My Current Physique. My Workout Partner. My Physical Trainer. Positive Influences (i.e. Personal Idols). Negative Influences (i.e. Bad Habits). Bodybuilding.com

• Extrinsic
  Extrinsic motivation is the type where you are not really doing an activity because you truly love it, but rather because you are being rewarded from an external source. For example, if someone was paying you to work out.

  This type of motivation tends to decrease our desire to perform the action since we almost begin to view it as something that has to be done, rather than something we are doing on our own will.

7: A Reward System
This may seem like a funny point considering what you just read on extrinsic motivation, however having a reward system can be very beneficial. What is important is that the rewards are set by you and have a particular meaning to you. This will keep everything under your control so you won't begin to feel like you are being regulated by someone else (as is usually the case for extrinsic motivation).
By setting small rewards after each step in your plan, you will give yourself something to look forward to and keep yourself motivated to keep pushing onward.

8: A Role Model
Role models can be very important tools in any type of goal program. By having someone who you look up to, whether it is for their values, their hard work, or how they look, you will be providing yourself with a measure on which to measure yourself with.
Granted, it is not good to measure yourself against everyone you see, as this may make you start to feel inadequate and upset with yourself, but by having one chosen individual who you wish to become more like, you will be able to compare yourself and see what areas you need to improve on and where you have made a great deal of progress.

9: Knowledge
Having a good knowledge base is critical to putting together any workout program. If you yourself don't know a whole lot about fitness and weight training, consulting a fitness trainer, physical education instructor, or someone who is currently working out and has a great deal of experience with this issue, is a great idea.
On the other hand, if you are more independent, you could take up reading some quality (remember, a lot of information out there is mostly propaganda so you need to be selective in your choices) books, journals, magazines, and online sites such as this one.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/workoutdatabase.htm

You may also which to join a forum, such as the ones offered by bodybuilding.com so you can have some personal interaction with others who share your similar goals and interests. This is a great way to gain some knowledge, meet some new friends, and start a support system.

10: Other Hobbies And Interests
The final factor that is important in your success is having outside hobbies and interests. While it's important to be truly passionate and dedicated to your fitness routine and diet, if it's really your only interest you will become burnt out very quickly.
You will also tend to ruminate if you are not seeing results as quickly as you had hoped since you will feel as though you are putting all your time and effort into this one endeavor. Having outside interests will help keep your mind fresh and keep you looking forward to each and every one of your workouts.

Conclusion
By taking the time to ensure you include each of these factors into your life before you start an exercise program, you will help to ensure you encounter nothing but success. You will also make yourself less stressed out about the lifestyle changes you are making and everything will run much more smoothly.