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THE HERALD FRIDAY FEBRUARY 10 2017
• men should not regularly drink more than three to four units a day
• women should not regularly drink more than two to three units a day
Find out how many units are in your HAVING high blood pressure
can be prevented by eating healthily, maintaining a healthy weight, taking regular exercise, drinking alcohol in moderation and not smoking.
DIET Cut down on the amount of salt in
your food and eat plenty of fruit and vegetables. Salt raises your blood pressure.
The more salt you eat, the higher your blood pressure. Aim to eat less than 6g (0.2oz) of salt a day, which is about a teaspoonful. Find out more about how to cut down on salt. Eating a low-fat diet that includes
lots of fibre (for example, wholegrain rice, bread and pasta) and plenty of fruit and vegetables helps lower blood pressure. Fruit and vegetables are full of vitamins, minerals and fibre that keep your body in good condition. Aim to eat five 80g portions of fruit and vegetables every day. Find out more about getting your 5 A DAY.
ALCOHOL Regularly drinking alcohol above
the NHS recommended levels will raise your blood pressure over time. Staying within the recommended levels is the best way to reduce your risk of developing high blood pressure. The NHS recommends:
favourite tipple, track your drinking over time and get tips on cutting down. Alcohol is also high in calories,
which will make you gain weight. This will also increase your blood pressure. Find out how many calories are in popular drinks.
WEIGHT Being overweight forces your heart
to work harder to pump blood around your body, which can raise your blood pressure. Find out if you need to lose weight with the BMI healthy weight calculator. If you do need to shed some weight,
it is worth remembering that just losing a few pounds will make a big difference to your blood pressure and overall health. Get tips on losing weight safely.
EXERCISE Being active and taking regular
exercise lowers blood pressure by keeping your heart and blood vessels in good condition. Regular exercise can also help you lose weight, which will also help lower your blood pressure. Adults should do at least 150
minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (such as cycling or fast walking) every week. For it to count, the activity should make you feel warm and slightly out of breath. Someone who is overweight may only have to walk up a slope to get this feeling.
CAFFEINE Drinking more than four cups of
coffee a day may increase your blood pressure. If you are a big fan of coffee, tea or other caffeine-rich drinks (such as cola and some energy drinks), consider cutting down. It is fine to drink tea and coffee as
part of a balanced diet but it is important that these drinks are not your only source of fluid. Find out if you are drinking enough fluid. You don’t have to add salt to your food to eat too much of it – around 75% of the salt we eat is already in everyday foods such as bread, breakfast cereal and ready meals. Remember, whether you’re eating at
home, cooking or eating out, don’t add salt to your food automatically – taste it first. Many people add salt out of habit, but it’s often unnecessary, and your food will taste good without it.
SHOP FOR LOW-SALT FOODS
When shopping for food, you can take steps to cut your salt intake: Compare nutrition labels on food
packaging when buying everyday items. You can really cut your salt intake by checking the label and choosing the pizza, ketchup or breakfast cereal that’s lower in salt. Try choosing one food a week to check and swap when you’re food shopping. Go for reduced-salt, unsmoked back
bacon. Cured meats and fish can be high in salt, so try to eat these less often. Buy tinned vegetables without
added salt. Do the same with tinned pulses. Watch out for the salt content in
ready-made pasta sauces. Tomato-based sauces are often lower in salt than cheesy sauces or those containing olives, bacon or ham. For healthier snacks, choose fruit
or vegetables such as carrot or celery sticks. If you are going to have crisps or crackers, check the label and choose the ones lower in salt. Go easy on soy sauce, mustard,
pickles, mayonnaise and other table sauces, as these can all be high in salts.
THIS was a small Dutch coaster
that on the night of May 9th 1943 was on the point of foundering off St Ann’s Head at the entrance to Milford Haven. The accompanying picture is not the Jutland by the way!! When a rescue tug came to assist, the Jutland was listing heavily and in the process of being driven onto a rocky shore. Sea conditions were very rough from the North West and the crew were seen holding on to her upper accommodation work. The subsequent action by the
rescue tug is considered by me to be an outstanding feat of seamanship. The rescue tug approached the
casualty from leeward with the tug’s Master using all available engine power to make a complete circle of the stricken vessel spreading oil to stop seas breaking over the Jutland. The tug was then manoeuvred in such a fashion as to give the cold weary crew of the Jutland a chance to board the tug. This manoeuvre had to be executed twice to recover all personnel aboard the Jutland. The Jutland’s’ crew hardly had time to board the rescue tug before their ship finally foundered. Indeed there was some impact on this rescue tug in trying to regain sea room further offshore. This highlights to me that in
view of the desperate situation the Jutland was in, this called for extreme measures such as the use of oil in wave suppression. Obviously in this day and age, the spread of oil like this is not recommended as we aim to protect our coastal environment. However the Master of the tug found it a necessary
action in which to approach the Jutland and to endeavour to save the coasters crew. This was a gallant action by a small team of men of which some had not seen the likes of this before. Their experience became invaluable as they could build up a certain confidence in uncertain times as they were living in at the time. However, for us in peace time
we are in a position of safety by considering how we would act given an emergency situation and do all our crew under us know what is required of them. Can we safely manoeuvre our craft alongside and do we practice such actions. We don’t have to be out in the Celtic Sea to practice them; we have to demonstrate to others to promote safe practices as second nature. On the other hand, we don’t put ourselves and others under any unnecessary risk – this is just plain incompetence. I was Third Mate once taking
charge of a lifeboat during a drill. l was rather pleased that I broke away from the ship’s side in good fashion. However, my over confidence on coming back alongside nearly injured the bowman with the forward fall block almost knocking the Seaman senseless. After recovering the boat in the davit, I was summoned to the Chief Officers cabin. Behind closed doors, I was told in no uncertain terms how useless I was at boat handling and moreover, could have caused a serious accident. I’m not from the ‘snow flake’ generation: some things I learnt the hard way. Practice was what I needed – practice has kept me safe since!
Smoking doesn’t directly cause high
blood pressure but it puts you at much higher risk of a heart attack and stroke. Smoking, like high blood pressure, will cause your arteries to narrow. If you smoke and have high blood pressure, your arteries will narrow much more quickly and your risk of heart or lung disease in the future is dramatically increased. Get help to stop smoking.
Physical activity can include
anything from sport to walking and gardening. Get more ideas on being active.
SMOKING
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