Lowering your blood pressure helps prevent strokes and other complications of blood pressure, but how do you do that? Arutz Sheva asked Dr. Yoav Luria, head of the liver unit at the Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem.
“Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is rarely symptomatic. That is the patient rarely complains of headaches or dizziness. Most of those who suffer from hypertension are asymptomatic, they have no complaints, and the hypertension is something that happens incidentally,” explained Dr. Luria, who warned that for this reason, high blood pressure can be considered a “silent killer”.
The main step that people can take in order to avoid or prevent hypertension is to lower salt consumption in their diet, he said.
“There is a lot of salt in our food when we buy bread or meat, in canned foods etc. and on top of that we add lots of salt to our diet,” continued Dr. Luria. “We sit at the table and without even tasting the food we spray it with salt. This is something I would avoid.”
There is no need to take salt entirely out of one’s diet, he pointed out, but “there is too much salt in Western diets as it is, and we should avoid excess salt. This is the most important and very basic thing we can do from the dietary point of view.”
In addition, said Dr. Luria, people should avoid smoking, being overweight, and a sedentary lifestyle. “In this respect, my advice is no different from general advice for healthy living.”