What should people with high blood pressure pay attention to in cold weather?

Keep your body warm

When the weather turns cold, patients need to wear warm clothes, especially keep their head, neck, and feet warm, and limit going out when the weather is too cold. Wear enough warm clothes even when staying at home. Use a mask to cover your nose and mouth if you have to go out in cold wind to avoid breathing cold air. Create a warm environment when working, exercising, and resting.

The room must be well-ventilated but warm and avoid drafts. You can use air conditioning and red light bulbs for warmth. Do not use honeycomb coal stoves or charcoal to heat a closed room as this can easily cause CO poisoning.₂, very dangerous.

Patients need to ensure a nutritional regimen according to doctor's advice and exercise properly to improve cold resistance and stabilize blood pressure.

Avoid sudden changes in temperature, the body cannot adapt in time leading to stroke, myocardial infarction... If not necessary, avoid going out in the cold, especially at night. If there is no toilet in the house, you should get up early, wear enough warm clothes, open the door slowly to get used to the low temperature outside before going out.

Patients should not wake up too early. Because after a night of lying still in bed, the body often responds less to external changes, blood vessels are less elastic and blood circulation is worse. If you wake up too early and step out into the cold wind in the early morning, it can also cause high blood pressure. And many strokes or heart attacks in the morning have occurred in the elderly, people who have the habit of exercising early in the morning.

Diet

Diet needs to be controlled, especially low salt diet. Adults should maintain a low salt diet of 5-6g/day, people with high blood pressure should eat as low as possible. Eat nutritious foods such as lean meat, chicken, fish, milk and soy products. Eat lots of green vegetables, fresh fruits, whole grains, oranges, tangerines, grapefruits and watermelons which are potassium-rich foods that help with urination.

Limit foods high in fat and cholesterol (offal: heart, liver, brain, kidney). Foods high in salt such as pickles and processed foods are not suitable for people with high blood pressure. Do not eat too much sugar, fat... because these substances will increase the body's ability to absorb and retain water, causing the blood volume in the body to increase.

Do not drink alcohol, beer, coffee, and absolutely do not smoke. Although alcohol and beer are not the cause of high blood pressure, they are the leading risk factors in the onset of high blood pressure as well as complications due to high blood pressure.

Practice

Regular and appropriate exercise is very important for people with high blood pressure, helping to improve the ability to resist cold and stabilize blood pressure. Patients should choose gentle, moderate exercise such as walking, yoga, tai chi and qigong... When exercising, you should also choose a warm, wind-proof place. Warm up thoroughly before exercising. It is still important to note that you should not exercise outside in the early morning. Instead, when the weather is too cold or windy, you can do light exercise indoors.

Keep your mind at ease

Hypertensive patients need to pay close attention to emotional states that occur daily in life such as anxiety, stress, anger... which can easily lead to uncontrolled blood pressure. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain psychological balance by living comfortably, relaxing, and avoiding stress and anxiety.

Comply with treatment instructions

Patients need to comply with examination, treatment and regular medication as prescribed by the doctor to maintain stable blood pressure. Do not arbitrarily change medication, increase the dose of medication or take other medications as advised. Absolutely do not stop taking medication when blood pressure has returned to normal without consulting the treating physician.

In fact, many patients often stop taking medication when their blood pressure is normal, and then take it again when their blood pressure increases. This is really dangerous because blood pressure has returned to normal due to the effects of the medication. If they stop, the concentration of the medication will no longer be present, so blood pressure will definitely increase again. Moreover, when blood pressure increases, there are often no special symptoms, so it is difficult for patients to recognize it, and this is the cause of complications such as cerebral hemorrhage, which often leaves serious sequelae.