High blood pressure is a common health condition for people nowadays and it is a top “silent killer” around the world. According to American Heart Association (AHA), nearly half American adult have high blood pressure, but many of them don’t even know their condition. This is because people might not feel anything since there is no sign and symptom, and this may worsen the condition with life-threatening effects.

High Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is the force created when the blood flow through blood vessels. High blood pressure is a condition that the force of blood flow through blood vessels is too high. This is the situation inside your body. But how do you know if you are high blood pressure? You can only know your blood pressure level by measuring your blood pressure with a sphygmomanometer. However, it is better to confirm your condition by a medical professional.

Blood Pressure Reading

Blood pressure is measured in mmHg (millimeters of mercury), the first number (top number) is the systolic blood pressure and second number (bottom number) is the diastolic blood pressure.

Systolic blood pressure is the reading that indicates the force exerted on artery walls when the blood pump out when the heart contracted; Diastolic blood pressure is the reading indicates the force in the artery when the heart is relaxed. The systolic blood pressure always higher than diastolic blood pressure since systolic pressure is the force needed to pump the blood that flow through the whole body, while the diastolic pressure is the force remain after the blood pump out from heart.

Risk factors

1. Family history and the genetic. If your family or grandparents have high blood pressure, or death due to hypertensive heart attack, you are in the risk as well.
2. Overweight or obesity. There are studies found that obesity is a major cause of high blood pressure, and Framingham Heart Study revealed 5 % weight gain increase risk of hypertension while weight loss can reduce blood pressure.
3. Unhealthy diet. Consume too much salt (sodium) and too much fatty fried foods in the diet:
   • Consume too much salt increase sodium level in the bloodstream, the body will retain water and these exerted extra strain on the blood vessels, which will increase the blood pressure.
   • Consume too much fatty or fried foods can cause fat deposits on the wall of arteries. This will narrow the blood vessels and causes blood pressure increase.
4. Low physical activity level. Lacking of physical activities or exercises may lead to overweight and obesity. However, the main concern of increase physical activity is that it can help to strengthen the heart, so the heart will pump more blood with less the force on arteries.
5. Smoking.  The cigarette and tobacco products contain several toxic substances, nicotine and carbon monoxide are especially toxic to heart and blood vessels. These toxic substances will increase systolic blood pressure, increase heart rate, and may increase the risk of cardiovascular and kidney diseases.
6. Drinking too much alcoholic beverages. There are studies found that alcohol stimulates sympathetic nervous system and vasoconstriction. This might causes constriction of blood vessels, which narrow the blood vessels and causes increase in blood pressure.
7. High caffeine intake. Caffeine may raise systolic blood pressure, increase heart rate, and increase stiffness of blood vessels. Caffeine is not only found in coffee, it is also found in tea, energy drink, soft drinks and chocolate.

How to Manage

1. Eat healthier diet is an important way to control and reduce blood pressure. You may reduce or avoid fatty fried foods, canned foods, pickled foods, and processed foods. Also, limit your sodium intake is important. AHA recommendation for sodium intake is no more than 2300 mg sodium intake per day, but for those with hypertension should not consume more than 1500 mg sodium per day.
   • Cooking at home is better than eating outside foods since you can control your salt intake if you cook by yourself. When you are cooking at home, try to avoid deep frying, you may stir frying, steaming, stewing, grilling, or even roasting as your cooking methods. The less the oil you use, the healthier the meal you prepare. 
   • Table salt is approximately 40% sodium, so you should avoid adding too much salt into your dishes. You may replace salt with spices and herbs. 
   • You may read the food label to know the sodium content of the food. Look at the nutrition facts, sodium content will show the amount of sodium per serving and there is percent daily value (%DV) on it. Always choose the lower %DV of sodium, less than 5 % DV is considered low sodium while more than 20% DV is high sodium. 
   • Adopt DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension). DASH diet suggest people to eat healthy carbs such as whole grains, brown rice, cereals, and oatmeals; eat more vegetables and fruits as they are the best source of fibers, magnesium, potassium, minerals and vitamins. Also, for protein source, it is recommended to eat lean meat, low-fat or skimmed milk or dairy products, fish, and tofu. 
2. Exercises regularly and increase physical activity level. You may increase your physical activity level by walking, jogging, cycling, running, or other simple activity. Just spend 30-60 minutes per day for these activities and do for at least 3 times per week. Besides, you may include other sports, dance, yoga, Tai-chi, and so on.
3. Maintain healthy weight. Overweight and obesity has been found to increase risk of high blood pressure. So, keep your body weight in healthy weight range. You can know your weight range by calculating your BMI (body mass index). BMI is an indicator of weight range, which is calculated using weight (kg) divided by square of height (m2). For Asian, BMI value range from 18.5 to 22.9 is considered normal weight range; BMI value range from 23 to 27.4 is considered overweight; BMI value more than 27.5 is considered obesity; while BMI value less than 18.5 is underweight. Eating healthy meal and exercises regularly can help you to control your body weight and prevent weight gain.
4. Quit smoking. As mentioned before, smoking can increase blood pressure and also affect your body health. So, quit smoking may help you to reduce risk or prevent high blood pressure.
5. Limit your alcohol intake. Drinking too much alcohol will raise your blood pressure. You may limit your alcohol intake to avoid high blood pressure. Men should not consume alcohol more than 2 drinks per day; women should not consume more than 1 drink per day. The portion size of a drink is 12 oz (355ml) of beer, or 4 oz (118ml) of wine, or 1.5 oz (44ml) 80-proof spirits.
6. Limit your caffeine intake. Coffee contains high amount of caffeine which will raise the blood pressure. Limit the coffee drinking to 1-2 cups of coffee per day may reduce your caffeine intake. Also, reduce or avoid energy drinks, energy bars and chocolate since these foods may contain caffeine.
7. Consume dietary supplement. Supplement such as omega 3 fatty acids, coenzyme Q10, anthocyanin, magnesium, and vitamin D may be useful to promote healthy blood pressure.
8. Regular blood pressure checkup. High blood pressure has no signs and symptoms. You only know your numbers after you measured your blood pressure.

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