If your blood pressure remains high despite your medication, your doctor may now give you a prescription for food and sports rehabilitation in a specialized center. It is surprising but very serious. Decryption with Géraldine Zamansky, journalist for the Health Magazine on France 5.
franceinfo: Are you telling us today about a study that shows the effectiveness of a medically-supported change in lifestyle to cope with hypertension?
Geraldine Zamansky: Exactly, the authors of this study followed 140 patients with blood pressure that remained too high despite full treatments well taken. This hypertension, to put it very simply, is too much pressure inside the arteries. It increases the risk of heart attack or stroke, stroke.
50 patients just received one hour of advice and a booklet. The other group had one hour of personalized information on food hygiene each week. And three physical activity sessions of 30 to 45 minutes. They all kept their medication. And after four months, the drop in blood pressure of the supervised group was twice as great. To the point of becoming normal for more than half of the volunteers.
These patients kept all their treatments, but still, they controlled this hypertension by eating better and moving more for only four months?
That’s it. One of the first explanations comes from the reduction of salt in the diet. Because salt increases the blood volume and therefore the pressure in the vessels. Other studies had already shown improvement in four weeks. And then physical activity also has a cascade of positive effects. In particular by reducing stress.
And yes, the lining of our arteries is sensitive to stress and more precisely to the substances that we manufacture when we are stressed such as cortisol. At this point, our arteries constrict, and once again the pressure increases! In addition, physical exercise restimulates the whole circuit. In the very supported group, the function of the heart improved! They also lost weight. A whole series of progress which also reduces the risk of other pathologies such as diabetes.
Does this type of program exist in France for patients who have difficulty controlling their hypertension?
This is developing in some health insurance centers. But for now, it is especially after a heart attack that we offer this type of comprehensive care. To limit the risk of relapse.
This study shows that it should be done BEFORE, especially when the drugs fail. Unfortunately, with the current situation in hospitals, this may not be developed right away. In the meantime, we can draw from it a new source of motivation to, for example, walk every day and eat less salt!