Managing Blood Pressure Improves Health

Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States. The elderly are especially vulnerable to this type of disease because of weakened bodies and immune systems. Time is also against the older population because of the fact that if heart disease exists, it has likely existed for a longer period of time, growing in severity over the years. This is why it is important that as family members, we help our older loved ones to take steps to become more aware of the dangers of poor heart health and then make strides toward improving upon it.

 

Blood pressure is one easy way where we can do this. Almost everyone understands the dangers of high blood pressure, and it is something that’s simple enough to measure on your own. In fact, many grocery stores and pharmacies have little booths where you can have your blood pressure automatically measured for free. These devices have been installed to help raise awareness of the issue, but this is only a preliminary step. The real difficulty lies in knowing what to do if a high blood pressure exists and persists over time.

 

The American Heart Association Council on Hypertension recently saw a presentation that suggests ways that doctors and caregivers can more effectively help their patients to manage blood pressure. This new set of procedures is based on the American Medical Association’s guidelines for managing chronic disease, and it shows a lot of promise.

 

Helping people learn how to measure and interpret blood pressure results accurately can improve health.

 

Using these methods, researchers observed about 21,000 patients that were having their blood pressure controlled in some way. They found that the level of effective management increased from around 65 percent to 75 percent. Even those that used the new method, referred to as M. A. P., found that their average blood pressure slightly dropped without the use of medication. Educating others how to effectively measure and interpret blood pressure was a portion of what this method involved, showing that sometimes just being aware of how to gauge and interpret our own health can go a long way to helping people adopt healthier lifestyles.

 

It’s worthwhile to note that the practices that did not use these methods but increased the amount of medication being prescribed to hypertensive patients saw no notable increase in the efficacy of blood pressure control. This should be a warning to those involved in senior care that helping people involves a lot more than just giving them medication. The elderly need more than just pills, but rather human interaction, compassion, a friendly ear to listen to them, and someone who will keep them active, both physically and mentally. For caregivers, studies like this can be heartwarming because it is evidence that what they do really has an impact on lives.

 

If you are looking for care for an elderly parent or grandparent, remember that there’s a lot more to care than medicine. Be sure to reach out to us today if you have questions on what the best type of care for your family is.

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