The silent condition — and what you can do about it
High pressure stresses your arteries, heart and kidneys for years before anything goes wrong. Treatment now prevents trouble later.
Treating high blood pressure is one of the single most effective things we can do to prevent strokes.
Kidneys filter every drop of blood. Sustained high pressure slowly damages them — usually without you knowing.
It travels with diabetes, high cholesterol and weight gain. Treating one often helps the others.
Less salt, more vegetables, regular activity and a modest weight loss can lower the numbers meaningfully.
Today's tablets are well-tolerated, taken once daily, and the benefit vastly outweighs any side effects.
Aim for under 5g salt a day (about a teaspoon). Most comes from packaged and takeaway foods, not the salt shaker.
Brisk walking, cycling, swimming — anything that raises a sweat. Even two short walks count just as well.
Lots of veg, fruit, whole grains and legumes. Mediterranean or DASH-style eating drops blood pressure several points.
Losing 5kg can drop systolic pressure by around 5mmHg — that's meaningful, and you don't need to be perfect.
More than two standard drinks a day pushes your pressure up. Cutting back works fast — often within a week or two.
Skipping doses lets pressure rebound. Modern tablets are gentle and worth taking on time, every day.
Print-ready A4 PDF to take home or hand to a patient.
↓ Download PDF 🖨 Download printable version