Lifestyle changes that can lower your blood pressure – Newstrends
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Lifestyle changes that can lower your blood pressure

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Hypertension is a medical condition that is associated with ageing, and which affects both men and women, once they reach 50 years or about that age. It has been established that a person could develop hypertension at a younger age. Nonetheless, when discovered early and properly managed medically, a person with hypertension can still live a fully functional prolonged life, without developing other health complications or even delaying their onset. Below are tips for lowering blood pressure.

Make small changes

If you have high blood pressure, there’s plenty you can do every day to control it. Eating healthier, exercising more, and tweaking other day-to-day habits can help keep your readings in check. That might keep you from needing medication to keep your numbers where they should be.

Eat a healthy diet

You can lower your blood pressure by eating lots of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy. Look for foods that don’t have much fat or cholesterol. This approach has a name: the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. It includes lean meats, poultry, fish, and nuts. It’s also high in protein and fibre and avoids sugary drinks, red meats, and sweets.

Lose extra weight

Shedding even a few extra kilograms can lower your blood pressure. It’s also important to watch your waist. Too much bulk around your midsection can affect your BP. For women, a waist of more than 35 inches is high. For men, it’s more than 40 inches.

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Be Active

Exercise can help you lower your blood pressure and lose weight. Aim to get at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week. Look for aerobic workouts that make your lungs and heart work a little harder. Try things like brisk walking, biking, swimming, or dancing. Even chores like raking leaves or washing windows count.

Watch your salt

Too much sodium can raise your blood pressure. You should aim for no more than 1,500 milligrams a day. You don’t get sodium just from the salt you sprinkle in foods. It can also hide in packaged foods. Read labels before you buy. Salt can lurk in things like soups, sandwiches, and pizza.

Get more potassium

Your blood pressure is likely to be higher if you don’t get enough of this nutrient. Shoot for between 3,000 and 3,500 milligrams each day. How much is that? A medium banana has about 420 milligrams. A baked potato with the skin gives you more than 900 milligrams. Spinach, beans, tomatoes, oranges, yoghurt, and sweet potatoes are also high in potassium. Some people with medical issues like kidney disease or who take certain medicines may have to be careful with potassium. So check with your doctor before changing what you eat.

Ease stress

It might have an impact on your blood pressure, especially if you deal with it by eating a lot of unhealthy foods, or by smoking or drinking. Find ways to cope with stress, like meditation, yoga, or deep breathing. Take time to relax and do things you enjoy, whether it’s listening to music, gardening, or spending time with friends.

Limit alcohol

 Drinking too much of it can raise your blood pressure. If you›re on medicine for your blood pressure, alcohol may affect how well it works. Women should try to have no more than one drink a day. For men, it›s two. One drink equals 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof liquor.

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Quit smoking

It raises your blood pressure and makes a heart attack or stroke more likely. When you smoke, you hurt the linings of your blood vessels. That makes it harder for them to relax. What’s more, smoking can make some medicines you take for your blood pressure less effective. Your doctor can give you tips on how to quit.

 Pay attention to caffeine 

If you regularly drink coffee, soda, and other drinks with caffeine, it may not affect your BP much. But if you rarely drink it, caffeine can cause a short spike in your blood pressure when you drink it. Talk to your doctor about what your limit should be.

  Get enough sleep

 Your blood pressure goes down when you get some ZZZs. Getting enough is an important way to keep your heart and blood vessels healthy. How much is enough? Most folks need at least seven hours of high-quality sleep each night. That means you fall asleep within 30 minutes, don›t wake up more than once, and fall back to sleep quickly when you do.

Keep tabs on your blood pressure

 Check yours regularly to make sure it doesn’t get too high. High blood pressure often doesn’t have symptoms. So measuring your BP is the best way to tell if diet, exercise, and other lifestyle changes are working. You can check it with a home monitor, or you can visit your doctor.

Control other conditions

Work with your doctor to make sure any other health issues you have are under control. Many people with diabetes also have high blood pressure. Other conditions like high cholesterol, sleep apnea, and thyroid disorders are also often linked with it. When you manage your overall health, you’ll help keep your blood pressure in check.

• Adapted from webmd.com/sun

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OSSAP-SDGs inaugurates 20-bed health centre in Oyo community

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From left: House of Reps member, Prince Akeem Adeyemi; Nura Ali Rano, Representing OSSAP-SDGs; Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu; Senator Yunus Akintunde, and Oyo APC Chairman, Alhaji Moshood Abass, during the cutting of the tape to inaugurate the health centre

OSSAP-SDGs inaugurates 20-bed health centre in Oyo community 

The Office of Senior Special Assistant on Sustainable Development Goals has inaugurated a 20-bed primary health centre and renovated the existing primary health facility at Isokun in the Oyo West area of Oyo State.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (OSSAP-SDGs), Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, at a brief handover ceremony, thanked President Bola Tinubu for his leadership and dedication to collaborating with sub-national governments to deliver crucial interventions and accelerate the achievement of the SDGs in Nigeria.

Represented by Nura Ali Rano at the event, Orelope-Adefulire stressed the importance of the SDGs as a global call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure peace and prosperity for all by 2030.

She also spoke on the need to prioritize interventions with significant impact on multidimensional poverty, such as basic healthcare, vocational skills development and education, in alignment with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

She said strategic projects such as the Mother and Child Centre had become essential given the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Oyo Central Senator, Dr Yunus Akintunde, who facilitated the project, expressed his gratitude to President Tinubu and OSSAP-SDGs for selecting his constituency for the significant project.

He described the primary health centre as the biggest in Oyo State while emphasising the state’s commitment to fully utilising the facility, as part of a broader plan to of mitigation that will reduce the need for residents to seek medical treatment outside the constituency.

Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu commended OSSAP-SDGs for the good job and bringing such a world-class facility to the Oyo central constituency.

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Physiotherapist: Cellphone, laptop use can increase dementia risk

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Physiotherapist: Cellphone, laptop use can increase dementia risk

Using mobiles and laptops may increase the risk of dementia, a physiotherapist has warned.

Dr Solomon Abrahams, a lecturer at the Imperial College of Medicine and University College London, says everyone is guilty of the habit.

His analysis suggests that the posture people adopt while using their devices can reduce blood flow to the brain, which leads to cognitive decline.

Research has previously shown that more time spent on cognitively passive behaviours — like watching TV — leads to an increased risk of dementia, regardless of physical activity levels. However, cognitively active passive activities — like using the computer — were associated with a lower dementia risk.

Abrahams who has reviewed research on the subject says ’emerging evidence and clinical trials have indicated the potential consequences for cognitive and neurological health’.

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“The persistent pressure on the arteries by holding your head in a forward position, as many people do when looking at their phones, can lead to a chronic reduction in the diameter of those arteries, potentially reducing the amount of blood which can reach the brain.

“Any restriction in these blood vessels may cause a decrease in blood flow to the brain, resulting in various brain-related diseases.”

According to Abrahams, Alzheimer’s disease is going to become more prevalent as the population ages, but his research points to daily habits of poor posture from staring down at our phones as a potential cause of an increase in cases.”

In his advice, he said “Hold your phone somewhere where you don’t need to bend forward. Take a positive step in your spine and brain health by using your phone when you can keep your neck in its natural alignment, and when you use a laptop, adjust your working environment to support a healthy posture.”

Physiotherapist: Cellphone, laptop use can increase dementia risk

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Sickle Cell Foundation, LUTH celebrate bone marrow transplant breakthrough

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Sickle Cell Foundation, LUTH celebrate bone marrow transplant breakthrough

The first two Sickle Cell Disease patients admitted to the Sickle Cell Foundation of Nigeria/Lagos University Teaching Hospital, SCFN/LUTH, Bone Marrow Transplant Centre in Lagos, have been discharged and are under observation.

The patients, one paediatric and one adult, successfully underwent the first-of-its-kind Bone Marrow Transplant, BMT,  in Nigeria and West Africa, heralding a groundbreaking achievement for Nigerian healthcare.

The feat was achieved at the state-of-the-art Centre following weeks of meticulous care and preparation, including chemotherapy, blood transfusions, and bone marrow stem cells harvested from family donors, then infused into the patients.

With this achievement, the SCFN in partnership with LUTH is the first non-profit organisation in Africa to lead a comprehensive bone marrow transplant initiative for sickle cell disorder.

The milestone marks a significant step forward in the treatment of sickle cell disease and other blood disorders and positions Nigeria as a hub in West Africa for advanced medical care particularly in hematology-oncology.

The Centre, equipped with advanced technology and staffed by highly skilled medical professionals, provides a comprehensive range of services for patients undergoing bone marrow transplants, even as no less than 127 potentially qualified patients are lined up to undergo the procedure.

The achievement is particularly significant for Nigeria, which has one of the highest burdens of SCD globally. Before the establishment of the center, Nigerian patients seeking bone marrow transplants had no option but to seek treatment abroad, often incurring significant costs and facing challenges related to access and affordability.

One of the mothers of the discharged patients said, “Our Bone Marrow Transplant experience has been remarkable, filled with hope and certainty. I felt confident in the exceptional care we received at the Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria/LUTH BMT Centre. From the moment of admission to discharge, the medical staff provided round-the-clock attention,” said the mother of one of the discharged patients.

In the views of the Chairman, Board of Directors. Sickle Cell Foundation of Nigeria, Chief Tunde Afolabi, SCFN’s journey is far from over.

Sickle Cell Foundation, LUTH celebrate bone marrow transplant breakthrough

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