Feb 21, 2025
It’s important to work with your health care professional to manage your blood pressure and cholesterol. Joining us tonight to help explain how you can do just that is a medical professional from United Hospital Center.
1). What are some symptoms you might experience if your blood pressure is high?
Unfortunately, hypertension is referred to as “the silent killer” because it oftentimes does not come with symptoms until it’s too late, which is why it is so important to know your numbers so you can take appropriate action to help avoid an emergency situation. If your readings are unusually high, contact your health care professional immediately. Call 911 if your blood pressure is higher than 180/120 which is considered a hypertensive crisis or if your pressure is elevated and you’re experiencing symptoms such as: chest pain, shortness of breath, back pain, numbness, confusion, weakness, vision changes, or difficulty speaking.
2). Is there anything you can do to lower your blood pressure and cholesterol?
Making healthy lifestyle changes can improve your quality of life and control your blood pressure, as well as cholesterol. Try reducing your blood pressure and cholesterol through maintaining a healthy body weight, eating a heart healthy diet, exercising regularly, reducing stress, and refraining from tobacco products.
If you’re already diagnosed with high blood pressure or high cholesterol you should follow a heart heathy lifestyle and take medications as prescribed. It is important you monitor your pressures at home and have lipid levels checks regularly as recommended by your healthcare professional. Knowing your numbers can alert you to changes and patterns in your risk factors. Tracking your results over time will show if the lifestyle changes you’ve made are helping improve these values as well as give your health care professional a better idea how treatments are working.
3) What can these lifestyle changes do to improve your overall health?
By adopting a heart-healthy lifestyle, you help reduce your cardiac risk factors by preventing or lowering high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Managing these two factors can lower your risk of heart attack, stroke, heart failure, kidney damage, vision loss and many other health conditions. A healthy lifestyle can also help assist medications to optimize outcomes and give you a better overall sense of wellbeing to enjoy more time with the ones you love.
This content was originally posted on the WDTV News website here.
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