heart attack

Things that can be done to lower high blood pressure…

What is High Blood Pressure?
Arteries carry blood from heart to rest of the body. While carrying blood they put pressure on artery walls. This pressure is called blood pressure and high blood pressure occurs when your blood moves through your arteries at a higher pressure than normal.
The upper or first number in a blood pressure reading is the systolic pressure which is the peak blood pressure when your heart is squeezing blood out and the lower or second number is called the diastolic pressure which is the pressure when your heart is filling with blood relaxing between beats. A normal blood pressure is less than 120/80. Symptoms may include dizziness or dizzy spells, headache or nosebleeds.

Causes of High Blood Pressure
- Weight
- Activity level
- Use of tobacco
- Excessive sodium intake
- Stress
- Low potassium intake
- Age and alcohol consumption
- Diabetes
- Some causes are kidney disease, hormonal disorders, thyroid disease, adrenal gland disease, and the use of certain drugs.
The complications that are caused by high blood pressure are narrowing of the arteries, stroke, heart attack, heart failure, kidney failure or eye damage.

Things that can be done to reduce high blood pressure
- Reducing your salt intake, eating more fruit and vegetables and keeping to alcohol limits will lower your blood pressure.
- Being more active and taking regular exercise lowers blood pressure by keeping your heart and arteries in good condition.
- Being the right weight lowers blood pressure because your heart doesn’t have to work so hard.
- Try Yoga, it will reduce stress.
- Eat a healthy and well balanced diet.
- Limit the intake of alcohol.
- Avoid tobacco products and secondhand smoke.
- Cut your caffeine intake.
- Have cholesterol and triglycerides checked regularly.
- Increase your fiber intake.

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How fit you are can be judged by your heart rate during exercise and rest…

Resting heart rate or bradycardia refers to the number of times the heart beats per minute, when you are at rest. Normal range is 50 to 100, most people’s hearts beat 60 to 80 times a minute. Above 100 is considered a rapid pulse, called tachycardia. resting heart rate varies from person to person and over the course of the day, due to genetics and other factors. Heart rate is faster when you get excited, anxious, or angry or if you are in pain or fever. It rises temporarily if you smoke or drink a lot of alcohol or coffee. On the other hand, resting heart rate slows during sleep and tends to be lower if you are very fit.

In general, a slower heart rate is better than a faster one as faster rate puts more pressure and stress on your heart and blood vessels. In fact, studies have shown faster resting heart rates increases risk of heart disease and death from all causes, independent of fitness levels and other cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and being overweight.

A higher heart rate is linked to poorer outcomes in both healthy people and those with heart disease. Resting heart rate may be an even better predictor of premature death than cholesterol and blood pressure. Reducing heart rate is an accepted treatment goal for people with certain heart conditions, but it may also benefit people with hypertension and, preliminary research suggests may be even healthy people.

Heart rate during aerobic exercise raises your heart rate for at least 20 minutes. This enhances aerobic capacity – that is, the ability of your cardiovascular system to deliver oxygen to the body’s cells during exercise.
How long it takes to reach your target heart rate largely depends on how conditioned you are. If you are in poor shape, your heart rate will go up quickly with exercise. If you are in good shape, it will take longer. If your heart rate is naturally low, one has to overwork to get into the standard target zone; if your heart rate is high to start with, you may get into the zone too easily.

the length of time it takes for heart rate to return to normal is a good measure of fitness. The more fit you are, the faster the recovery. Heart rate drops most sharply in the first minute after you stop exercising, it should then fall about 20 beats a minute – a drop of less than 12 beats a minute is considered abnormal. This recovery heart rate is measured as part of an exercise stress test.