Revised guidelines from the American Heart Association advocate for reduced sodium consumption and abstention from alcohol.

Stricter hypertension guidelines proposed by AHA emphasize reduced salt intake and abstinence from alcohol.

The American Heart Association (AHA) has recently revised its guidelines on hypertension, aiming to help medical practitioners detect and treat high blood pressure more effectively and provide valuable advice for individuals to control and manage their own blood pressure.

According to the updated guidelines, the ideal blood pressure reading is 120/80 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) or below. The AHA now aims for a systolic blood pressure of 130 mmHg or below, and ideally 120 mmHg, for adults with high blood pressure.

Approximately one in three adults, or 1.3 billion people, worldwide have hypertension, making it the leading risk factor for several health conditions, including heart attack, stroke, heart failure, kidney damage, coronary artery disease, and atrial fibrillation (AFib).

The guidelines emphasize the importance of lifestyle changes, such as limiting sodium and alcohol intake, eating a heart-healthy diet, maintaining physical activity, and managing weight and stress, to help control blood pressure. The advice is to stop consuming alcohol or at least reduce intake to less than 1 drink/day for women and less than 2 drinks/day for men to prevent or treat elevated blood pressure and hypertension. Losing at least 5% of your body weight if you have overweight or obesity can also help lower or prevent hypertension.

The AHA guidelines recommend moving toward an ideal limit of 1500 mg/day for sodium consumption. The updated hypertension prevention and treatment guidelines were authored by a volunteer committee and a past-president of the AHA, and not by Dr. Chen, who provided comments on the guidelines to Medical News Today.

The guidelines also emphasize earlier assessment and intervention of elevated blood pressure. In adults with an average blood pressure of 130/80 mm Hg and a low 10-year cardiovascular disease risk, initiation of medication therapy to lower blood pressure is recommended if it remains 130/80 mmHg or more after an initial trial of lifestyle modification only.

Intensive lowering of blood pressure reduces the risk of cognitive decline and dementia, according to more clear and robust evidence. The AHA advises that anyone can develop high blood pressure, so it is important to have it checked regularly.

According to Dr. Daniel W. Jones, MD, FAHA, annual screening, prevention, and early treatment for high blood pressure are the keys to a longer, healthier life. The guidelines state that lifestyle and dietary changes can be effective in reducing blood pressure, but many people will also need medications to get their blood pressure down to healthy levels.

The AHA's updated guidelines are a comprehensive review of clinical studies, reviews, and other evidence about hypertension published since February 2015. The guidelines emphasize that the AHA's publication provides valuable information for people to learn more about how to improve their heart and brain health.