What blood pressure should I take antihypertensive drugs?

High blood pressure requires special attention because some people often suffer from high blood pressure. So as long as your blood pressure is high, your diet needs to be improved, and you should eat more vegetables, fruits and other foods in your daily life. It is not recommended for people with high blood pressure to often eat meat or foods with high fat content. But what blood pressure is needed to take antihypertensive drugs?

Hypertension refers to a clinical syndrome characterized by increased systemic arterial blood pressure (systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure) (systolic blood pressure ≥140 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mmHg), which may be accompanied by functional or organic damage to organs such as the heart, brain, and kidneys.

Dietary methods to prevent high blood pressure

Some people who suffer from high blood pressure do not pay attention to the time of taking antihypertensive drugs, nor do they ask clearly whether to take them before or after meals. This will not only affect the efficacy of the drugs and the blood pressure lowering effect, but may also have adverse consequences for themselves.

What is the best time of day to take the medicine?

"When is the best time to take antihypertensive drugs?" This seemingly simple question is actually not simple. If you want to know when is the best time to take medicine, you must first understand the biological rhythm of human blood pressure changes.

Under normal circumstances, when people wake up in the morning, their blood pressure continues to rise, reaching a peak between 6 and 10 am. Then it gradually decreases and rises again between 4 and 6 pm. As night falls, blood pressure drops again and continues to decline after falling asleep, reaching its lowest point between 2 and 4 in the morning.

(1) Long-acting antihypertensive drugs: It is best to take them on an empty stomach in the morning, once a day.

(2) Medium-acting or short-acting drugs: 2 to 3 times a day. It is best to choose the time of taking the medicine according to the changes in blood pressure.

For example, for short-acting antihypertensive drugs taken three times a day, the time of taking the medicine during the day should be arranged 1 to 2 hours before the peak of blood pressure, that is, it should be taken in the morning after getting up and brushing teeth, rather than waiting until after breakfast or later; it should be taken before 7 o'clock in the evening and should not be taken before going to bed. Because blood pressure naturally drops at night, coupled with the effects of medications, it can cause blood pressure to drop significantly.

However, for some patients, their blood pressure does not drop at night but rises instead. Such people can take medicine before going to bed.

Before or after meals?

Whether antihypertensive drugs should be taken before or after meals depends on the type of antihypertensive drugs.

(1) Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and beta-blockers

The suffixes of these two types of drugs are "pril" and "lol" respectively. There is generally no need to specify whether to take these two types of medicine before or after meals. But there is one exception. The absorption of the short-acting drug captopril will be affected by food. It is poorly absorbed when taken after meals, so it is recommended to be taken one hour before meals.

In addition, in order to avoid hypotension caused by taking these two types of drugs on an empty stomach, some elderly people, patients with heart failure, and diabetes can take these two types of drugs with food to delay absorption, so that the overall blood pressure lowering effect will not be significantly affected.