High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a common health challenge that can lead to serious issues like heart disease, stroke, and kidney problems.
Managing it often means changing your lifestyle, taking medicine, and other treatments.
A recent study in the journal Cardiovascular Innovations and Applications sheds light on the best systolic blood pressure (SBP) goal for older people with hypertension.
Researchers used a method called Bayesian network meta-analysis to find the best SBP target. This method combines data from several studies to make more accurate conclusions.
They looked at data from six trials, focusing on major heart-related problems, heart disease deaths, all types of death, heart attacks, heart failure, and strokes.
The study showed that treating high blood pressure to achieve an SBP of less than 130 mmHg greatly reduced serious heart events compared to aiming for 140 mmHg or more.
Intensive treatment was better at preventing deaths from heart disease, all causes, heart attacks, heart failure, and strokes. However, there wasn’t a big difference between the different groups in these outcomes.
The findings suggest that for people over 60, keeping systolic blood pressure below 130 mmHg might be the best way to handle high blood pressure. But we need more research to be sure.
If you have high blood pressure, you should talk to your doctor to find the best plan for you.
Lifestyle Tips for Managing High Blood Pressure
Along with medicine and other treatments, changing your lifestyle can really help control high blood pressure:
- Eat Healthily: Choose a diet with less salt and more potassium, fruits, veggies, and whole grains.
- Exercise Regularly: Activities like walking, biking, or swimming can help lower blood pressure.
- Manage Stress: Try deep breathing, meditation, or yoga to handle stress, which can raise blood pressure.
- Quit Smoking: Smoking can harm your blood vessels and increase blood pressure.
- Watch Your Alcohol: Drinking too much alcohol can raise your blood pressure, so it’s important to limit it.
- Get Enough Sleep: Not sleeping enough can lead to higher blood pressure, so make sure you get plenty of rest.
Takeaways
The study points to an SBP target of under 130 mmHg as a potentially effective strategy for older people with high blood pressure. But remember, hypertension is serious and can have major consequences. Always talk to your healthcare provider to figure out the best approach for your specific situation.
If you care about high blood pressure, please read studies about unhealthy habits that may increase high blood pressure risk, and drinking green tea could help lower blood pressure.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about a new way to repair human heart, and results showing drinking coffee may help reduce heart failure risk.
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