More than 50 million Americans have high blood pressure, including more than half of those over the age of 65. High blood pressure contributes to many dangerous conditions, such as kidney failure and congestive heart failure in addition to heart attack and stroke. The challenge for patients is to sustain medication and lifestyle regimens over time, and the support and commitment of the full healthcare provider team is essential for long-term success. Take your blood pressure medicine every day as directed by your doctor. To help you remember, try keeping it on the nightstand next to your bed, or with your toothbrush as a daily reminder.
Regular exercise helps control weight and lower blood pressure.
Besides helping to reduce your risk of heart attack, it can also help you lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. In addition, weight loss helps lower blood pressure. Inspiring action on the part of patients to apply themselves to get their blood pressure to goal requires a team effort involving the patient, physician and nurse. From Awareness to Action will encourage all healthcare professionals to become stakeholders in a patient's successful management of his or her high blood pressure. The overall mission of From Awareness to Action is to reduce death and disability caused by complications from high blood pressure.