Approximately 70 percent of adults throughout the United States suffer from high blood pressure. Though hypertension is one of the most common health conditions that impacts older adults, it is not one that should be taken lightly. Seniors with high blood pressure are at far greater risk of experience serious health complications including stroke and heart attack. Fortunately there are ways that you can modify your senior care to address your parent’s hypertension and help keep it under control to protect them throughout their aging years.

Use these tips to help you modify your senior care efforts to handle hypertension:

• Introduce a wide variety of healthy foods. Encourage your parent to eat a balanced, healthy diet rich in nutrient-packed foods. This should include foods such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and lean protein. Look for foods that are low in saturated fat and trans fat.
• Control sodium. One of the first recommendations that your elderly parent will likely receive after getting a diagnosis of hypertension is to cut down on the amount of salt that they eat. This help to reduce the amount of fluid retention in the body, lowering the pressure of the blood as it moves through the veins. It does not have to be a daunting task to reduce the salt in the food that your parent eats. Rather than adding salt, enhance flavor with other ingredients such as vinegar, oil, herbs, or spices. Of course, controlling sodium is not just about not adding sodium to the food that you are cooking or cutting down on the salt that your parent adds to food when they are eating. Be sure that you check the ingredients and nutritional facts on all foods and ingredients that you use. Processed foods tend to be very high in salt both as a flavoring and a preservative, so avoid these convenience and packaged foods as much as possible.
• Get more active. Both inactivity and being overweight are risk factors for developing high blood pressure. Getting more active can help you to address both of these issues. Encourage your parent to find forms of exercise that they enjoy and that they can participate in on their own, with you, or with their senior health care services provider. Trying out several different types of exercise can make it easier for your parent to stay on track by preventing boredom and supporting social interaction.
• Cut down on alcohol. Alcohol can impact blood pressure even in people who do not have hypertension. This means it is important for everyone, but especially those who are at increased risk of high blood pressure, to drink only in moderation. Moderation for alcohol consumption means no more than one drink per day for women of any age and for men who are older than 65 years, and no more than two drinks per day for men younger than 65 years. Be sure that your parent is aware of what constitutes “one drink”, such as a one 12-ounce beer or 5 ounces of wine.

Sources:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/basics/lifestyle-home-remedies/con-20019580

http://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/facts.htm