Blood Pressure and Health Matters

Lower Blood Pressure – Stay Healthy Wealthy and Wise

Fascinating read – the Wall Street Journal chose to feature this summary of medical progress, much of it just over the last few decades. Those of us living now really do have much to be thankful for! It would be a shame to destroy the system which has made this progress possible.

Healthy Progress

In the middle of all the negative press around obesity, hypertension (high blood pressure), an aging population, etc., we need to remember that we have those problems because we have solved so many others. As a society, we have made unprecedented progress around health in the last century. Life, it turns out, is long! We do not  take the time to celebrate that enough and think about the broader implications.  Our challenge now is to inject life and productivity into the extra years we have been gifted and think more creatively about the entire human lifespan. We are living in a time of remarkable possibilities!

Blood Pressure – Help Yourself to Good Health

Experts agree that there are many things you can do to benefit your own health which are both simple and free.

Lifestyle changes that will lower blood pressure and improve your health:-

• Getting adequate sleep can help you lose weight, fight infections, recall memories and think more clearly.
• Taking half an hour exercise daily stimulates the cardiovascular system and helps control blood pressure
• Spending just a half hour each day in the sunlight absorbing vitamin D can reduce your risk for a variety of cancers, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and many other diseases.
• Eating less salt in food has been shown to dramatically improve blood pressure levels – evidence

Death rates dropped significantly for eight of the 15 leading causes of death in the U.S., including cancer, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, accidents, diabetes, homicides and pneumonia, from 2006 to 2007 – source

The death rate from coronary heart disease dropped 34% from 1995 to 2005, though it is still the biggest single killer in the U.S. Deaths from cardiovascular disease dropped 26% over the same period. Deaths from stroke dropped 29% since 1999.  Source

By analising some of those improvements more carefully it is illuminating to see that a big contributor in the decrease in cancer, high blood pressure and heart disease is from the Government’s efforts to reduce smoking.

It’s helpful to put everything in perspective. We should appreciate the advancements and innovation in our society that alleviate human suffering. We live like kings compared to our great grandparents.