High Blood Pressure — The Biggest Risk Factor for Heart Disease That You Can Control

For more than 100 years in the United States, heart disease has been the leading cause of death for both men and women. The roads to heart disease may be somewhat varied, but high blood pressure is one of the most well-traveled, which is worrisome given that nearly half of adults in the United States have high blood pressure.

Since February is American Heart Month, board-certified cardiologist Dr. Satjit Bhusri and the team here at Upper East Side Cardiology thought it would be a good idea to get back to basics on one of the biggest threats to optimal cardiovascular health — high blood pressure. 

And this is one threat you can do something about, which we address below.

What is high blood pressure?

We hear a lot about blood pressure. Think about the first thing that happens when you enter a doctor’s office — they take a blood pressure reading.

What we measure is simple — the pressure that the blood puts on your blood vessels during a heartbeat and in between heartbeats (that’s why a blood pressure reading involves two numbers). To give you an idea about the numbers involved, any reading of 130/80 or higher is considered to be hypertensive.

The reason why we’re concerned by high blood pressure is that, over time, this increased pressure on the walls of your blood vessels can damage them. First, high blood pressure can shred the smooth linings of your blood vessels, causing them to trap more cholesterol and fats. This leads to stiff and narrow arteries, or atherosclerosis, which places you at greater risk for heart attack and stroke.

As your arteries stiffen, it can also make your heart work harder than it already does, which can lead to problems like heart failure.

Hypertension — a risk factor you can change

Often with health conditions, the causes are out of your control, such as aging or gender. When it comes to high blood pressure, however, the ball is in your court because this is a risk factor over which you have a good deal of control.

The reason why many people aren’t controlling their blood pressure well is because the road to better blood pressure involves changing the way you eat and exercise, which can be tough.

Although new GLP-1 weight loss drugs are doing great things addressing obesity and high glucose levels, they aren’t a magic bullet when it comes to your cardiovascular health. Yes, weight loss is great and can lower your blood pressure, but it’s also important to shift how you eat and exercise.

Eat your way to lower blood pressure

If you have high blood pressure, it’s important to steer your diet toward:

• Fruits and vegetables
• Whole grains
• Low-fat dairy
• Nuts
• Lean Proteins

While you do this, you should also ditch any foods that are full of sugar, trans fat, and saturated fat, which includes most processed and junk foods.

Exercise your way to lower blood pressure

The second piece to the blood pressure puzzle is exercise. If you have high blood pressure, you should make it a priority to move for at least 30-60 minutes per day. We’re lucky here in New York City as walking is easy and a great way to get around town.

In addition to diet and exercise efforts, we can also prescribe medications that lower blood pressure.

The bottom line is that if you really want to take charge of your cardiovascular health, getting your blood pressure within healthy ranges is the first step. 

For a more personalized blood-pressure-lowering plan of attack, we invite you to call our New York City office on the Upper East Side of Manhattan at 212-752-3464. You can also request information online by clicking here.