According to the survey, in our country, about half of the elderly over 60 years old have hypertension.
Many people think that high blood pressure in the elderly is a normal phenomenon and does not need to be treated. In fact, no matter how old you are, hypertension can be diagnosed as long as your blood pressure is higher than 140/90 mmHg three times (not on the same day).
Among the elderly, hypertension is an important factor endangering health. If it is not well controlled, myocardial infarction, heart failure, cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral infarction and other conditions will seriously affect the quality of life of the elderly.
Compared with young and middle-aged people, hypertension in the elderly still has some characteristics. Family members need to take targeted measures according to these characteristics to better help the elderly.
High pulse pressure
Pulse pressure is the difference between two values when measuring blood pressure.
Simple systolic hypertension is more common in the elderly, diastolic blood pressure is more normal, only systolic blood pressure is higher than 140 mmHg, and the difference between the two pressures also increases.
This is related to the vascular characteristics of the elderly. Arteriosclerosis leads to the weakening of vascular elasticity and the weakening of the regulation of blood pressure, resulting in an increase in systolic blood pressure, a decrease in diastolic blood pressure and an increase in pulse pressure.
Why does vascular elasticity have such a great influence on blood pressure?
Human’s large blood vessels are not as simple as water pipes. The large arteries are elastic and have the function of regulation in addition to being blood flow channels.
When the heart contracts, the large blood vessels will expand under the impact of blood flow, and part of the blood pumped out by the heart will be stored. The blood flow of the outer blood vessels will not increase at once, and the peripheral blood pressure (systolic blood pressure) will not rise too high.
When the heart does not pump blood outward during diastole, the large blood vessels will retract under the action of elasticity, flowing out the blood just stored, so that the peripheral blood vessels will not [stop flowing] and the blood pressure (diastolic pressure) will not drop too fast at once.
When the elasticity of blood vessels is not good, the regulation effect on blood pressure naturally decreases, so there will be two values of blood pressure [high, high, low, large difference].
Blood pressure fluctuates greatly.
Blood pressure fluctuations are mainly reflected in the following aspects:
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The blood pressure of the elderly in the morning is often higher than that at night.
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When suddenly standing up, it is more likely to have obvious blood pressure drop, and some elderly people also have obvious dizziness, vertigo, etc.
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After meals, the elderly are also more prone to lower blood pressure than the young, with some series of symptoms and some mild cardiovascular and cerebrovascular ischemia symptoms.
Therefore, it is suggested that the elderly should not get up immediately after waking up in the morning and should not move immediately after getting up. After meals, pay attention to monitoring blood pressure. If the blood pressure drops obviously after meals, you can adjust your diet appropriately and reduce some starchy foods.
Conditional can carry out 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, understand the specific situation of blood pressure fluctuation, more targeted treatment.
Eat with more salt
As one gets older, one’s taste sensitivity also decreases, and one always feels tasteless when eating, so it is easy to cook with more salt, and the taste of eating vegetables is getting heavier and heavier.
This habit greatly affects the effect of antihypertensive drugs. Family members should find ways to use fresh ingredients when cooking and various seasonings with lower salt content, such as vinegar and lemon juice, to make the elderly eat more fragrant with less salt.
There is no need to deliberately emphasize that the taste is light. Sometimes adjusting the pattern of eating can also achieve the effect of eating less salt.
For example, I know an old man who especially likes pickles when drinking porridge. He feels that porridge has no taste and cannot drink it. Later, his family bought a grinder for the old man to make various nuts such as walnuts and cashew nuts into powder. When drinking porridge, he added a spoonful of nut powder to the bowl. The old man especially likes it, saying it is fragrant and tasty, which is much better than pickles.
Stable and safe pressure reduction is the most important factor.
Hypertension in the elderly is also slightly different in treatment.
Compared with young and middle-aged patients and hypertensive patients over 65 years old, the target of lowering blood pressure can be relaxed a little and controlled below 150/90 mmHg. After reaching this standard, if the elderly have no obvious adverse reactions, it will gradually drop below 140/90 mmHg.
In terms of medication, the five commonly used antihypertensive drugs can be selected, with the emphasis on starting from a small dose, gradually adjusting the appropriate dosage according to the antihypertensive effect, gradually controlling the blood pressure within the normal range, and not pursuing the antihypertensive speed.
Some elderly people have diastolic blood pressure less than 60 mmHg, but systolic blood pressure is higher than normal level (more than 140 mmHg), so they are very confused about whether to lower blood pressure.
For this kind of situation, the relatively unified view is that when systolic blood pressure is less than 150 mmHg, it can be observed without drugs. When systolic blood pressure is higher than 150 mmHg, antihypertensive drugs can be applied in small doses according to the doctor’s guidance, and blood pressure changes should be closely monitored.
It is very important to take medicine on time.
It should also be noted that the elderly often have more than one disease, hypertension, and take more than one medicine. It is really too easy to miss one meal or eat the wrong one before, after, before and after meals.
As a family member, we should set up an alarm clock for the elderly, or install a clove doctor App on the elderly’s mobile phone, set up the [medication reminder] inside, and remind the elderly to take what medicine and how much to eat. Medication rules are the basis for controlling various chronic diseases.