World Hypertension Day is observed every year on 17th May. Adopting a healthy lifestyle is key to prevention of hypertension including heart diseases and stroke.
Adopting unhealthy routines like eating poorly, exercising less, deprived sleep or leaning more heavily on substances such as alcohol, smoking and drug abuse including taking stress — could increase the potential risks of high blood pressure.
Maintaining a healthy weight, eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, taking less salt in diet, getting adequate sleep, avoiding smoking and alcohol consumption; and monitoring your cholesterol and triglyceride levels and keeping them under control are crucial hallmarks in prevention of hypertension in general and heart diseases in particular.
The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) eating plan is a healthy diet plan and adopting the same in one’s life could help people lower their blood pressure.
People should also avoid unnecessary stress in their lives by following a good health routine as research has shown that the depression including stress could increase a person’s risk for developing hypertension.
(Author is a medical doctor, columnist and public speaker. Email: [email protected])