How to manage high blood pressure during the festive season?

The festive season is the most likely time to fall sick and probably the exact time to let it happen. But is it avoidable? Well, surely it is, as there are few things within your control that you can do to make it significantly less damaging. By taking a few precautions and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, you can take care of yours and your family’s well-being and stay fit during festivities.

High blood pressure is when your blood pressure I.e. the force of blood flowing through your blood vessels is consistently too high. Most of the times there are no obvious symptoms of abnormalities in blood pressure and that is the reason for it being termed as a ‘silent killer’. Certain physical traits and lifestyle choices can put you at a greater risk for high blood pressure. If left untreated, the damage that high blood pressure does can lead to heart attack, stroke and other serious health threats. 

Haven’t we all heard of the saying ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’. To remain healthy, it is important to follow a healthy lifestyle and more importantly during the festive season when we all are prone to eating unhealthy and not exercising. 

Let us look at a few causes that could spike up your blood pressure –

1. Too many sweets throughout the day - Festivals are the perfect time to gorge on those sinful ladoos and barfis without realizing the high levels of fructose(sugar content) we are consuming that can lead to hypertension. High blood pressure and insulin resistance are highly compatible, therefore if the insulin levels elevate, blood pressure will rise to. Another reason is that high fructose intake can lead to high uric acid levels in the body that in turn can be responsible for raising blood pressure. 
2. Too much intake of processed foods - If you are someone who loves gorging on a meal rich in carbohydrates or if you’re a fan of processed foods, then you surely are at a higher risk for high blood pressure issues. Carbohydrate rich and processed foods have an excess of phosphate that is used to basically act as a preservative, flavour enhancer and colour stabiliser. This phosphate is known to over activate nerves that leads to high blood pressure. Therefore, it is advisable to avoid processed foods or a diet rich in carbohydrates during the festive season. 

1. Too much of junk food is a bad idea - Festive season is all about eating out but too much junk food, margarine and fried food is an extremely bad idea. These are all loaded with transfats that increase cholesterol and triglycerides in the body, leading to fat deposit and hardening of arteries and further causing hypertension or high blood pressure. 
2. Heavy festive food can mess up your gut health - We all know and understand the importance of taking care of our gut health. But festivals are the time when you let yourself lose and devour meal after meal of ‘bad for your gut foods’. Please note that eating food that is harmful for your gut is another way of inviting hypertension. Therefore, it is necessary to switch over to more fermented and lighter food that will not play havoc with your gut health and blood pressure. 
3. Gorging on too many calories - Are you prone to gaining unnecessary weight during the festival? If your answer is in the affirmative, then it is absolutely important to keep a check on your weight as people with a high BMI are more likely to get affected by blood pressure abnormalities early on in their life then those who maintain an optimum weight. 
4. Irregular exercise routine - Apart from diet, physical activity also plays a major role in helping you maintain optimum blood pressure during the festive season. When you’re busy with festivities, it is natural to lose track of your daily workout sessions. While a few days or break from your exercise regime may not do too much harm but with all the feasting going on, your blood pressure could create problems. 
   

Celebrating a festival is all about no limitations but while you enjoy to your heart’s content, it is also necessary to take care of your heart health, therefore it is imperative to not gorge on food items that could spike up your blood pressure and alongside maintain a regular exercise regime to help you stay fit.