High blood pressure is often called the "silent killer," because it causes your heart to work harder to accomplish the vital task of keeping you alive, but there are many ways to lower your blood pressure and keep you safe, experts are discovering.
"Over a million people in the world have it," Chauncey Crandall, M.D., a New York Times bestselling author and director of preventive medicine at the Palm Beach Cardiovascular Clinic in Florida, tells Newsmax's "Newsline." "We see it in the office every day."
Untreated high blood pressure can increase the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke, as well as cause other serious health issues.
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Crandall noted that the "No. 1" reason for high blood pressure is being overweight, and "by simply losing weight, you can lower blood pressure."
And that can be as simple as losing just 10 pounds, said Crandall, author of "The Simple Heart Cure: The 90-Day Program to Stop and Reverse Heart Disease" and editor of the popular "Dr. Crandall's Heart Health Report."
"Ten pounds of weight loss is as powerful as one blood pressure pill, so losing 10 pounds of weight will lower your blood pressure," Crandall added.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, occurs when the force of blood pushing against a person's artery walls is too high, making the heart work harder to pump blood, according to the American Heart Association, which has divided blood pressure into four categories:
- Normal: Blood pressure lower than 120/80 mm Hg.
- Elevated: The top number ranges from 120 to 129 Hg, with the bottom number below but not above 80 mm Hg.
- Stage 1: The top number ranges from 130 to 139 Hg, with a bottom number between 80 and 89 mm Hg.
- Stage 2: The top number is 140 mm Hg or higher or the bottom number is 90 mm Hg or higher.
Anyone with a blood pressure reading of higher than 180/120 mm Hg is considered to be experiencing a medical emergency and should seek help.
Meanwhile, there are several things that can also elevate a person's blood pressure, including a diet that is too rich in oil and salt, inactivity, and even poor sleep, the doctor said.
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"People that have sleep apnea are now being diagnosed with hypertension and historically, these people were very difficult to control because they weren't getting correct sleep," Crandall said. "But now that we've improved their sleep patterns with CPAP machines and things like that, their blood pressure is now under control."
Another way to keep high blood pressure under control is to "walk, walk, walk; 10,000 steps a day is the goal," said Crandall. "That's about an hour's worth of walking continuously from the front door to ... your return back to the front door. Walk every day. I'm in Florida. It's the best thing that anybody can do, and it's something you can do the rest of your life."
Editor’s Note: Check out Dr Crandall’s Line of Heart Health Supplements