Measuring Blood Pressure
Blood pressure will often go up with age, blood pressure is measured by two numbers, systolic and diastolic. all experts agree it is better to have low numbers for your blood pressure.
Systolic blood pressure measures the heart contracting and squeezing out the blood. Diastolic blood pressure measures the pressure when the heart reflexes and fills back up with blood.
The guidelines from the America Heart Association recommend that the blood pressure for adults who are older than 65 should be lower than 130/80 mm Hg.
For seniors low blood pressure is 90/60, normal blood pressure is 120/80, high blood pressure is 140/90, and extremely high blood pressure is 180/120.
Controlling Blood Pressure With Seniors
Controlling seniors with blood pressure that is 130/80 and higher, the best things to do is to change their diet immediately and start eating for their heart, with low sodium, and the Mediterranean diet, to feed their bodies and their brain would be ideal and increase their physical activity.
Seniors with high blood pressure need to regulate their alcohol consumption, this can be difficult when they are living alone, that is when a senior living facility can be best for them, their diet and lifestyle can be regulated more easily.
Medications are also recommended with elevated blood pressure, but the lifestyle changes to their diet and exercise will probably have the most effective results, without the side effects of the medications, and change their moods too.
Seniors with low blood pressure can also be a problem, as this can cause dizziness, and can cause them to fall, having a balanced diet, and healthy lifestyle can fix low blood pressure too, please consult with your doctor, and follow their recommendations.
Increasing Blood Pressure With Age
It is not known why our blood pressure increase with age, but as you age your arteries narrow and become stiffer, and this will lead to increased blood pressure, it is believed that eating healthy does prevent this from happening.
Having high blood pressure can damage the arteries and the heart, this can be attributed to lifestyle, diet, environment, medications, other conditions that can also hurt your heart too, such as sleep apnea or thyroid issues, but these issues can also be improved with a better diet and regular exercise.
Fluctuating Blood Pressure With Seniors
Blood pressure will fluctuate throughout the day, blood pressure will be low when you are resting, and be more elevated with you are stressed.
Your loved ones’ blood pressure will probably be lower at home than at the doctor’s office, as going to the doctor may elevate the blood pressure.
Checking your loved ones’ blood pressure throughout the day when they are resting at home will get you the most accurate reading, it can be a good idea to keep a journal of the hour and the blood pressure reading throughout the day.
Maintain Healthy Blood Pressure
Maintaining your loved ones’ blood pressure is not complicated, with a better diet and exercise it can be achieved quite easily. eating cleaner foods and being active will improve their life too.
Being active will help to maintain or lose weight, if mobility is a problem, there are seated exercises that they can do, as well as seated stretching exercises. Being active is vital for all seniors, exercise the heart, you exercise the brain.
Doing exercises or being active will help to maintain or lose the weight that they need to, and for every 2 pounds, it will help to reduce their blood pressure by 1 mm Hg.
A good diet will help to lower blood pressure, a diet that is low in sodium, but high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, and poultry will be best, also it needs to be low in dairy.
It would be the best thing to eliminate alcohol completely from the diet, as alcohol will raise the blood pressure, but if your loved one is unable to eliminate it, it is best to control the amount that they consume, or water their drinks down.
Smoking is one of the worst things that you can do to your heart and its arteries, again it would be best to eliminate it, but if that can not be done, then it’s important to limit the number of cigarettes they smoke.
Conclusion For Blood Pressure and Seniors
Changing your loved one’s lifestyle and eating habits will defiantly improve their blood pressure, and helping them to eliminate stress can also help to lower blood pressure, and improve their mood.
Medication may still be needed to help to improve your loved one’s blood pressure, sometime it can be difficult to change the lifestyle of your loved one.
Talk with your family doctor to decide what would be the best medication to treat high blood pressure. It might be recommended that a combination of medication and a change in lifestyle, is what your loved one needs to do.
We hope that this article has been helpful to you, here at Loving Assisted Living, we are always trying to give you helpful information for your loved ones, if you are interested in finding an assisted living home, we are here for you, and we will take all of the guesswork out for finding the right home.
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