Lecture content on hypertension prevention and health care knowledge

Dear old neighbors and young friends in the community, today we will get straight to the point and put forward the core conclusion: There are no folk remedies or health products that can 100% prevent high blood pressure, but as long as you control your weight, limit your daily total salt intake to 5 grams, reduce long-term late nights and mental stress, and measure your blood pressure at least once a year after the age of 35, you can reduce the risk of essential hypertension by 42%. This is the real data obtained by the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention after tracking 270,000 Chinese samples in the past 10 years. It is also the most effective prevention logic I have seen in 12 years of community clinical work.。

Last Wednesday, I was at a free clinic at the entrance of our community. I met a young man carrying a computer bag. It looked like he had just come over from get off work and came over to take a blood pressure test. When the test was 150/95, I reminded him to pay attention. He waved his hand and said, "I'm only 29. I just stayed up a few late nights, so it's okay." You see, this is the misunderstanding that many people have now. They always think that hypertension is a disease of the elderly. In fact, the 2023 national chronic disease monitoring data shows that the prevalence of hypertension among people aged 18-34 has reached 15.3%, which is 1 in every 6 young people. It is really not alarmist.

Let’s talk about the most frequently asked questions about food first. Many people say, "My family uses too little salt in cooking, but my blood pressure is still high." Have you forgotten to count invisible salt? A spoonful of light soy sauce has almost 1 gram of salt, and a piece of fermented bean curd has 2 grams of salt. If you just have pickles and a bowl of porridge in the morning, and add two spoons of oyster sauce to the noodles and add a braised egg at noon, you will have exceeded your daily salt intake without realizing it. Oh, by the way, there has been a lot of controversy about low-sodium salts recently. What experts from both groups say makes sense: one group encourages people who do not have kidney disease and do not take potassium-sparing drugs such as spironolactone to switch to low-sodium salts, which is equivalent to directly reducing sodium intake by 30%, and has a clear blood pressure control effect. ； The other group is worried that many people do not follow the taboos and switch randomly, but instead risk hyperkalemia. Our practical operation is also simple. First, read your recent physical examination report. If your kidney function is normal, it will be more worry-free to switch to low-sodium salt. If your kidneys are not good or you are taking related drugs, just control the amount of ordinary salt. Don't let the wind come.

Speaking of exercise, you don’t have to force yourself to run five kilometers or lift irons. Aunt Wang, whom I met, had a blood pressure that had been around 140 before. She didn’t want to take medicine, so I told her not to sit at home and play mahjong every day. After dinner, she went to square dance for 40 minutes with her sisters. I usually replaced the salted peach cake at home with the original flavor. She lost 7 pounds in more than three months. Last week, her blood pressure was stable at 125/80, and she was very happy. If you don’t like square dancing, walk two more intersections when buying groceries, take one less bus stop, and twist twice more while standing to watch TV shows. As long as you can get 20 minutes of activity every day and slowly lose 3 to 5 pounds in weight, your blood pressure will drop by 3-5 mm Hg. These are all things that have been tested by patients and are effective.

There are also emotional issues that many people ignore. More than half of the young hypertensive patients I have met in the past two years work in the Internet and finance. They work overtime until 11 or 12 o'clock every day. The KPIs are overwhelmed and the sympathetic nerves are constantly stretched. Will the blood pressure rise? There is no standard answer on how to reduce stress. Some people say that running five kilometers and sweating is the most comfortable. Some people say that sitting at home and meditating for 10 minutes is effective. Others say that going fishing for a day at the river on the weekend is better than anything else. You don’t need to follow others. Just do whatever can make you truly relax. It is much more effective than those amazing anti-hypertensive teas.

Finally, let me mention the easiest pitfall: Don’t think that “if you don’t feel dizzy, you don’t have high blood pressure.” More than half of high blood pressure has no symptoms at all in the early stage. By the time you feel dizzy and have a headache, blood vessels have often been damaged. There used to be an uncle Zhang. He usually climbed the fifth floor without breathing or feeling anything. His blood pressure was 180 during the physical test and he refused to take medicine. He said he was in good health. However, he suffered a stroke within six months. Now he can't even walk. It's a pity. Oh, by the way, some people always say that home electronic sphygmomanometers are inaccurate and must be made of mercury. In fact, the upper-arm type electronic sphygmomanometer from a regular manufacturer, as long as you sit for 5 minutes before taking the test, don't smoke, drink strong tea, and don't cross your legs, the measured value is more accurate than a single measurement in the hospital - after all, many people are nervous when they see people wearing white coats, and they are prone to "white coat hypertension". In this case, a 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring will be enough, and there is no need to rush to take medicine.

You don’t need to memorize what I’m talking about today, just remember these three things: eat less with salty foods, move more when you have nothing to do, and measure your blood pressure at least once a year if you are over 35 years old, especially if you have a family history of high blood pressure. Today I brought a 2-gram salt-limited spoon and instructions for measuring blood pressure correctly. You can pick them up at the door after the show is over. If you have any questions, you can stop and ask me. That’s the end of today’s lecture. Thank you all.