If you don’t have high blood pressure
now, odds are you will. About 31%
of adult Americans have hypertension,
but more than 66% of people
over age 60 do, because blood pressure
tends to increase with age.
You
might not know you have it, however—
there aren’t any symptoms. “Your first
clue may be a heart attack,” says David
Katz, MD, director of Yale University’s
Prevention Research Center and the
author of Disease-Proof: The Remarkable
Truth about What Makes Us Well. “That’s why
hypertension is called the silent killer.”
A few simple things can bring those
important numbers in line. The usual
advice still holds—cut down on salt,
quit smoking, eat lots of fuits and
vegetables, and do cardio exercise—
but some of the new recommendations
are even easier to follow.
Eat low-fat, low-sugar yogurt.
People who ate one or more 6-ounce
servings of yogurt twice a week over
14 years were about 31% less likely
to develop high blood pressure than
people who didn’t eat yogurt, found
a recent study.
Liftt weights.
In a study, women who
pumped iron cut systolic blood pressure
(SBP; the first number) by
5 points and diastolic (DBP; the
second) by 9 points—and the effects
lasted longer afer the workout than for
women who did cardio. Get the best
of both worlds by doing both kinds of
exercise, alternating days.
Drink faux red wine.
A recent study
found that nonalcoholic red wine lowers
blood pressure (SBP by 5.8 points
and DBP by 2.3 points) afer 4 weeks.
But any antioxidant-rich food or
beverage will do, says Nieca Goldberg,
MD, medical director of the Joan H.
Tisch Center for Women’s Health at
NYU Langone Medical Center.
Enjoy a little sun.
Keeping up your
levels of vitamin D by exposing your
face, arms, and legs to the sun about
15 minutes 3 days a week might lower
your blood pressure if you’re defi-
cient. “Vitamin D helps arteries relax
and improves their functioning,” says
Arshed Quyyumi, MD, a professor
of cardiology at Emory University
School of Medicine. His study found
that D-deficient people who’d reached
normal levels 6 months later saw their
blood pressures go down an average of
4.6 points. No sun for you? Ask your
doc to recommend a supplement.
Hang with pals.
Loneliness boosts
SBP an average of 3 points a year over
5 years, found a 2010 study. “Take
your social relationships seriously,”
says Louise Hawkley, PhD, the study
author and a senior research scientist
at the University of Chicago.
Blood pressure
by the numbers
New blood pressure guidelines
may be released soon. critics
say current categories are
based on the average, not what’s
healthiest: studies have found
that stroke and heart disease
risk can rise at blood pressures
as low as 115/70.
but until then, what’s called
normal blood pressure is under
120/80, prehypertension is
120/80 to 139/89, and hypertension
is 140/90 or higher.
The latest expert advice on
how to keep hypertension at bay
by Caroline Hwang
