Lifestyle Interventions for Hypertension

Hypertension is a multifactorial illness.

Hypertension is the most common primary care diagnosis in the United States and a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke or renal failure when not detected early and treated appropriately.

The American Heart Association estimates that approximately 45% of Americans have hypertension. Over 90% of cases have no identifiable cause, while 10% have a secondary or organic cause. Hypertension is a symptom of an underlying cause.

Lifestyle interventions are the cornerstone of prevention and treatment. Prescribed medications are also very important as a treatment adjunct therapy, although the focus of this blog will be lifestyle interventions. Hypertension is a multifactorial illness that is affected by many factors. 

The contributing factors:

• Poor diet
• Sedentary lifestyle or lack of physical activity
• Increased weight/BMI
• Inflammation/Insulin resistance
• Increased stress
• Genetics (approx. 20% contribution)
• Acute illness 
• Drugs
• Undiagnosed or untreated sleep apnea 

Prevention and treatments are focused on preserving and maintaining the elasticity of the arteries:

• No smoking
• 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week
• Eating a whole foods diet
• Stress management
• Maintaining a healthy body fat percentage

Only 3% of the population achieve the above listed treatments that are modifiable lifestyle interventions. At Empowered Health, we individualize each patient’s plan and include these key treatment items and strive to get to the root cause of the problem through comprehensive lab analysis, past medical history and family history.