Although there’s a common understanding among people that 120 over 80 is a normal blood pressure the ESC Association doesn’t agree to this.
According to a new research, the normal blood pressure is 140 over 90, 140 being the high measurement and 90 the lower one.
These numbers don’t include elderly people and people who deal with diabetes. In their case, the maximum limit is 130 over 80.
In recent time, 139 over 89 was considered to be the blood pressure for hypertension and in addition to this people were advised to take medicine to prevent strokes or heart attacks.
90 over 60 is considered to be low blood pressure. If your blood pressure drops down to 80 over 50 then you might be in a dangerous place.
Lifestyle changes which will help you control your blood pressure
If you are brave enough to change your lifestyle you might want to follow the recommendations by the ESC Association:
Weight advice: try to keep a healthy BMI between 20-25 kg/m2 and control your weight.
Sodium intake: make sure you limit your salt intake to less than 5 grams a day
Diet: try to eat a minimum of 5 servings of fruit and vegetables per day
Alcohol: make sure you reduce your alcohol intake to 2 glasses per day for men and 1 glass per day for women.
Additional blood pressure advice:
- Power walks
According to some research patients with hypertension, who did power walks, were able to reduce their pressure by almost 8 mmHg over 6 mmHg. By exercising you are giving your heart the ability to use oxygen more efficiently and this way it doesn’t have to waste too much energy to pump blood.
- Eat dark chocolate
Flavanols are a substance contained in dark chocolate which improve the elasticity of the blood vessels and thus, they help us reduce the chances of high blood pressure. According to one study, 18 % of patients who ate dark chocolate every day had their blood pressure reduced.
- Start drinking decaf coffee
Your blood pressure can be increased as a result of drinking too much coffee, which tightens your blood vessels and this is why you should switch to drinking decaf coffee.