James made the commitment to track his blood pressure everyday. He keeps it basic and has dropped by over 10 pts.
29% of U.S. adults have high blood pressure, but the rate varies widely from state to state. Missouri has the 23rd highest adult hypertension rate in the nation at over 32% percent.James age 51, lives in southeast Missouri. Like many men his age, he has hypertension and has lived with it uncontrolled for over 10 years. But unlike many men, James got serious about managing it. He used Hello Heart to help him track and reduce his blood pressure by more than 10 pts!
Why did you start track your blood pressure?
Well... My blood pressure got out of control. I was having all sort of problems and feeling sick. I realized that I needed to start watching out for my blood pressure. I wanted to get a visual of how I was doing and found Hello Heart.
What was your biggest challenge?
The biggest challenge was staying focused on the basics and building a routine. I needed something that reminded me everyday to track my blood pressure and gave me immediate feedback on how I was doing that day and over time. Now I have built a routine on it and I track consistently regardless of changes to my daily schedule. This has helped me a lot.
What changes have you made that lowered your BP by over 10pts?
Exercise, nutrition and constantly checking my blood pressure. I now measure my blood pressure 3 to 4 times per day. I am also being more organized about my health. I track my blood pressure every day, I take my medicine on time. I even eat my meals on time. I also move around more. I don't let myself just sit around. This has been some of the changes that Hello Heart has helped me to make.
Do you have any simple tips that can help others track and lower their BP?
Make the commitment to track everyday until you build a routine. Keep it basic. That’s the best thing that you can do. Habits take time to develop. So be patient with yourself. But tracking will let you understand how you can start to make simple changes to your life.Get the salt out of your meals. Move around more. I think that when you start tracking, identifying your unhealthy habits and then seeing your improvements you get more motivated and keep changing things to improve it. Small changes every day can lead to big results in the long run.
