Heart Health Month Suggestions to Lower Blood Pressure and More

February is Heart Health Month, and doctors are encouraging folks to get regular heart screenings. Recently, guidelines for blood pressure targets have been revised, eliminating the category of prehypertension and suggesting that patients be treated when their blood pressure is above 120 over 80. Dr. David McCulloch, a diabetes specialist at Kaiser Permanente Washington, says what is really important here may not be the new set of guidelines but the awareness raised about heart health from these revisions.

"The biggest problem we still have is that a third of the population or more are walking around with blood pressure over 140/90, and so the practical issue is what do health-care systems do to try to ensure that we screen people and at least get to that target?"

McCulloch says once a person's blood pressure is below 140 over 90, then it might be time to consider a lower target. He adds that for some patients, such as those with diabetes or who have experienced a heart attack, the target should always be lower than 140 over 90. McCulloch says blood pressure should be measured at every opportunity.

There are some simple solutions to better heart health. McCulloch says 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day is important, as well as keeping to only two alcohol drinks per day. He also says there is evidence the so-called "Mediterranean diet" is best for the heart.

"That's a diet that's high in vegetables, fiber, nuts, grains, is very low in dairy and unsaturated fat, such as meat, and slightly higher in things like olive oil and fish."

McCulloch says if a person has a healthy lifestyle and their blood pressure still is high, medication is the next best route and, fortunately, most medications are generic drugs and relatively cheap.