How to prevent high blood pressure during Tet

Eating healthy, reducing stress, and limiting alcohol help stabilize blood pressure and avoid high blood pressure during the Tet holidays.

During the long Tet holiday, everyone spends time with family, friends, having fun, eating and drinking. Traditional Tet dishes often contain a lot of sugar and salt. Drinks such as alcohol, beer, and carbonated soft drinks have a negative impact on blood pressure. In addition, disrupted lifestyle, irregular rest, lack of exercise, and stress during this time can cause high blood pressure.

Dr. Tran Vu Minh Thu, Head of Cardiology Department 2, Cardiovascular Center, Tam Anh General Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, guides how to control high blood pressure during Tet holidays.

Maintain a healthy diet

Banh chung, banh tet, gio cha, jam, pickled onions, sweets... are typical dishes during Vietnamese Tet, but can cause high blood pressure.

People with high blood pressure should limit foods rich in saturated fat and cholesterol, processed with a lot of salt. The total recommended amount of salt for people with high blood pressure is less than 1,500 mg per day (about 3/4 teaspoon of salt). Priority should be given to green vegetables, whole grains, fatty fish, fruits, and low-fat milk. Supplementing potassium from bananas, avocados, watermelon, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin helps reduce the impact of sodium on blood pressure and lower blood pressure index.

Eating lots of fruits and vegetables helps control blood pressure during Tet. Photo: Freepik — Eating lots of fruits and vegetables helps control blood pressure during Tet. Photo: *Freepik*

Limit alcohol

Drinking a lot of alcohol makes blood pressure higher. People with high blood pressure should not drink alcohol, if they drink, they should only drink moderate amounts, equivalent to 360 ml of beer or 150 ml of wine, 30 ml of spirits. Drinking filtered water, green tea, low-sugar juice, low-fat milk is better for health. People at risk of high blood pressure should limit their use of coffee and carbonated soft drinks.

Stress control

When stressed, the body releases hormones that increase blood pressure. Keeping your mind happy and relaxed can also help prevent high blood pressure. When stressed, you should sit down, rest, and breathe deeply to calm down.

Blood pressure monitoring

People with risk factors for high blood pressure or a history of the disease should have a blood pressure monitor at home to conveniently monitor their health.

Take medication regularly

Patients should not forget to take blood pressure medication as prescribed by their doctor during the Tet holiday. Doctor Thu noted that cold and flu medications containing decongestants, such as oxymetazoline, phenylephrine and pseudoephedrine, can increase blood pressure.

Increase physical activity

Staying physically active is good for your health and helps connect people during the first days of the new year. The American Heart Association recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week, or 30 minutes a day.

My Dung

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