Four Things Women Can Do to Lower Their Blood Pressure

What are the four things that women can do to lower their blood pressure?

Before discussing those four things, let's discuss how high blood pressure can affect your body.  Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP, writes in High Blood Pressure — Lowering The Strain, "Sadly, most people experience no discernable sign of high blood pressure until the damage is done and cannot be reversed. Chronic high blood pressure can shorten your lifespan by 10–20 years and is linked with some of our most entrenched degenerative problems, like type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease (CHD). Ultimately, hypertension places you at high risk for stroke, heart attack, and renal failure."

And, what a lot of women don't seem to recognize is that women have just as much of a risk of high blood pressure as does a man. "With one in four women in America being diagnosed with high blood pressure, chances are you or a woman you love will be affected," says Pick.

According to the Mayo Clinic, uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to any of the following: 

• Heart attack or stroke. High blood pressure can cause hardening and thickening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), which can lead to a heart attack, stroke or other complications. 
• Aneurysm. Increased blood pressure can cause your blood vessels to weaken and bulge, forming an aneurysm. If an aneurysm ruptures, it can be life-threatening.
• Heart failure. To pump blood against the higher pressure in your vessels, your heart muscle thickens. Eventually, the thickened muscle may have a hard time pumping enough blood to meet your body's needs, which can lead to heart failure.
• Weakened and narrowed blood vessels in your kidneys. This can prevent these organs from functioning normally.
• Thickened, narrowed or torn blood vessels in the eyes. This can result in vision loss.
• Metabolic syndrome. This syndrome is a cluster of disorders of your body's metabolism, including increased waist circumference; high triglycerides; low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, the "good" cholesterol; high blood pressure; and high insulin levels. These conditions make you more likely to develop diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
• Trouble with memory or understanding. Uncontrolled high blood pressure may also affect your ability to think, remember and learn. Trouble with memory or understanding concepts is more common in people with high blood pressure. (Read more here: High Blood Pressure.) 

Now, there are some things that you can not change when it comes to improving your odds against hypertension. For example, some women get high blood pressure as they become older, specifically "once women lose the protection of estrogen after menopause, the incidence of high blood pressure rises sharply to reach levels similar to men’s."  Certainly, you and I both know that turning back the hands of the clock to become younger is an impossibility.  

You also can not change your genetic make up. If you have a history of hypertension in your family due to heritage, you can’t change that.

However, there are four actions that you can take to lower your blood pressure.

#1  You must have a healthy diet in place.

Eating healthy can help to lower your blood pressure. Having a diet consisting of natural foods like fruits and vegetable and choices of lean meats and fish can greatly improve hypertension.

Learning which foods lead to and cause high pressure is critically important.  Processed foods, red meats, and foods high in sugar can cause high blood pressure.  Eating too many salty foods and adding a lot of salt to your food can lead to higher blood pressure levels.  And, eating the wrong kinds of food can cause you to gain weight and thereby lead to high blood pressure. 

Alcohol raises your blood pressure and so does smoking.  The Mayo Clinic Staff notes, “Over time, heavy drinking can damage your heart. Having more than two drinks a day for men and more than one drink a day for women may affect your blood pressure.” So, if you drink alcohol, you may want to think about cutting back on its consumption or quitting  all together.  

“Not only does smoking or chewing tobacco immediately raise your blood pressure temporarily, but the chemicals in tobacco can damage the lining of your artery walls. This can cause your arteries to narrow, increasing your blood pressure. Secondhand smoke also can increase your blood pressure.” (Mayo Clinic Staff) If you can’t stop smoking on your own, perhaps, you can get help from family members or your doctor.

#2  You need to maintain a healthy body weight.

For a woman, a healthy body weight is determined by the following by your age, height, and body frame.  If you are considerably overweight and feel challenged by the thought of losing a significant amount of weight, focus on shedding maybe ten or twenty pounds at a time.  Set your sights on losing about ten percent weight loss when you first start.  Shedding even ten percent of your total body weight can help to lower your blood pressure.

#3  You can exercise to lower your blood pressure and lessen how hard your heart has to work.

Even if you absolutely hate the thought of exercise, there are still ways that you can get active doing things you enjoy. If you enjoy swimming, you can swim, and, even though it’s a fun activity, it’s still exercise, and it’s helping to lower your blood pressure. Playing games like tennis or badminton can lower your blood pressure just like jogging or an aerobic workout can. 

#4  You need to lower your level of stress which will greatly lower your blood pressure.

Situations at home or in the office or chronic worrying can significantly raise your blood pressure level.  Seek out ways to change what is causing you stress, and learn ways to manage those stressful situations that you know that you cannot change.

If you’re eating right, have healthy habits in place, maintaining your weight, exercising, and avoiding stress, then you should be able to bring your numbers down to a safe level for your body.

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