3. Addressing concerns

You can imagine that my results came as quite a shock! Importantly, I know that if I focus on losing some weight and eating more healthily, I should be able to reduce my BP. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) have published guidelines which would place be in the high risk category for further management. They also state that lifestyle change is an important management strategy in managing BP and so I will be monitoring my BP regularly in addition to making some changes.

Is a high blood pressure important?

There is a huge amount of research looking at hypertension (high blood pressure) but it’s worth saying (simply) that an estimated 50% of heart attacks and strokes are associated with a high blood pressure (British Heart Foundation). I’d like to try and avoid those please!

As I wrote at the beginning of this blog, I want to look at lifestyle choices in helping prevent and treat disease.

Lifestyle Medicine is the use of evidence-based lifestyle therapeutic intervention—including a whole-food, plant-predominant eating pattern, regular physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substances and positive social connection—as a primary modality, delivered by clinicians trained and certified in this specialty, to prevent, treat and often reverse chronic disease. (American College of Lifestyle Medicine 2015)

Here we have what are also known as the 6 pillars of Lifestyle Medicine:

1. Nutrition

2. Physical Activity

3. Sleep

4. Stress

5. Avoidance of Risky Substances

6. Social Connection

So I’ll look at each one of these pillars as time goes by alongside giving you my weekly stats.