Hopedale primary care physicians see and treat many patients with hypertension. High blood pressure is a major cause of heart attacks, strokes, and kidney disease. It can dramatically shorten lives.

These physicians tell their patients with this condition many things to help them. If they're overweight, they'll inform them that their blood pressure can be lowered if they lose some weight. This is due to the fact that the heart has to pump harder to circulate the blood through the entire body when a person is obese.

Staying off salt or sodium is another treatment suggestion. A high salt diet has been proven to raise blood pressure in both men and women. Blood pressure lowering drugs are another way to go for the primary care physician in treating hypertensive patients.

Most of these drugs dilate the arteries to allow the blood to flow with less pressure on the inside of the arterial walls. Other drugs are diuretics or water pills. This type of medication forces water out of the body via urine output, which in turn lowers bodily fluid volume.

Providers of this type of health care also often recommend lifestyle changes to decrease high blood pressure. These include changing to a more healthy diet, exercising more, and cutting down or quitting smoking.

The dietary improvements would focus on eating low fat diary products, lean meats, fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grain fiber, beans, seeds, and nuts. Cooking in olive oil also helps the arteries with blood flow as does taking omega 3 fish oil or flaxseed pills.

The doctor's exercise recommendations would include starting a plan of working out at least three times per week for up to thirty minutes at a time. Then progress should be made up to daily workouts of around an hour each day. These workouts can include cardiovascular training, weight training, stretching for flexibility improvement, and yoga to relax the muscles, including the heart muscle.

Hopedale primary care physicians are expertly trained in treating the very common condition of hypertension. They have decades of combined experience helping a wide range of patients of all ages. When high blood pressure is successfully treated, it can invariably lengthen both the span of an individual's life as well as improve the quality of a person's life for the long run.

It's essential that the condition is diagnosed and treated as early as possible, using all of the aforementioned helpful methods. Patients can rest assured that Hopedale primary care physicians will use their vast knowledge to benefit them in this area for many years to come.