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Health – Have You Had Your Blood Pressure Checked?

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Taking control of your health is something that definitely doesn’t happen overnight. The first thing that you have to think about is whether or not you’re even ready to take the steps necessary to achieve a higher standard of health. This is something that a lot of people actually don’t really think about enough, and it’s absolutely critical. You don’t want to come to the point in your life where you really just go along with what conventional wisdom says you should do. You should branch out a bit more and find out what really works for your body and what doesn’t work for your body. You might have to make some lifestyle changes. You might need to dig down inside yourself and really figure out what’s going to be important to you. Is this something that can take some work? Sure it is — you will need to just make sure that you focus as much as possible on the road ahead, not the road that you left. It’s easy to beat yourself up and wish that you had achieved a higher standard of health beforehand, but now is not the time to walk down that road.

You have to start somewhere, so let’s ask the question — have you had your blood pressure checked? Believe it or not, blood pressure plays a vital role in measuring our overall health. If you have high blood pressure, then your body might be in a bad state and you just don’t know it. We’re not saying that you have to check your blood pressure around the clock, but your blood pressure is a good indicator of how healthy you really are.

A good blood pressure is composed of two components — the systolic reading and the diastolic reading. The systolic number is on top and is always read first, followed by the diastolic number on the bottom. The systolic number measures the pressure in the arteries when the heart muscle actually contracts, whereas the diastolic measurement is the pressure in the arteries between heartbeats.

You want to aim for a reading of no more than 120 over 80 — that’s going to be the gold standard. If you’re under this measurement then you should congratulate yourself. However, if you’re over this measurement, then you will want to start thinking about what you can do to ward off heart disease.

Protecting your heart with healthy fats like olive oil and coconut oil is a great idea. If you have a family history of heart disease, your doctor might recommend that you actually monitor your blood pressure at home. Having your blood pressure checked at least once a year by a doctor is recommended if you already know that it’s well within the range. If you have a history of heart problems or a family background of them, you might want to actually start taking action as soon as possible — you really don’t want to take chances with your health if you can help it, right?

Overall, now is definitely the time to step up and at least get screened regularly for high blood pressure — it truly could save your life!

The 3 Things to Monitor For Maximum Health

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Health screenings are absolutely critical — why wouldn’t they be? After all, if you had a chance to see ahead of time that you were headed towards harming yourself, you would naturally want to take steps to avoid that type of pain in your life. It’s just common sense.

Unfortunately, the world of health care can be a tricky world to navigate through, as there’s a lot of things that you will need to figure out. One thing that you can do to boost your health is to start thinking about the type of screenings that you can do on your own in order to make sure that your health is headed in the right direction.

The first thing that you really want to be aware of is what you’re eating. A lot of people think that they know exactly what they’re taking in everyday, but after you keep a detailed food diary for a week you might be surprised! The other benefit of having the food dairy is that you can actually have your doctor look over it with you in order to make changes.

However, that’s not the only thing that you need to focus on. Your blood pressure matters as well. In order to really make sure that you will be able to get things under control, you need to have a blood pressure cuff. The digital versions aren’t expensive, and it’s a good way to make sure that you aren’t super stressing your body. The harder your heart has to work, the higher risks you’re taking of having problems as time passes.

What’s “normal” for your blood pressure? Well, the number that your doctor will be looking for is going to be about 120 / 80. Anything higher than that is going to make your doctor concerned and want to do more tests. Start taking your blood pressure from day to day and tracking it. If you see it getting higher, it’s time to set up another appointment with your doctor.

The last thing that you will want to make sure that you check periodically is your blood sugar. Unfortunately, diabetes is on the rise and you really have to make sure that you are watching out for excessive sugar in your life. The truth is that we really don’t need sugar — we just feel that we do. If you decide to make sugar part of your life, then you have to monitor your blood sugar to make sure that your body is still processing the sugar appropriately.

Believe it or not, blood sugar meters (glucometers) are not as expensive as they used to be. In fact, they’re very cheap — some of them even come with mail in rebates and discounts on the testing strips. The slight prick of pain that you experience from poking your finger will be well worth it when you can view your readings from day to day.

Like with all of these options — if you start noticing the results you’re getting aren’t where you would like them to be, it’s time to get a doctor involved.