A pre-employment medical assessment involves a full head-to-toe examination to make sure you're in good health before starting work. The tests include your weight, vision, hearing and blood pressure.
If you have particularly high blood pressure, you should already be on a treatment plan with your doctor, possibly involving the use of medication to bring things back to normal. But if you're just concerned that your blood pressure might be a bit on the high side and want to reduce it, there are a few things you can do to help in advance of your medical assessment.
Increase your exercise
Being active is an excellent way to bring down your blood pressure levels, with exercise helping to regulate your heart and improve your overall health.
This doesn't mean you have to suddenly start going on a 10K run every day, though. Just a bit of an increase in activity levels can be enough to have quite a significant effect. Go for a brisk ten-minute walk every day until you can build up to more strenuous exercise.
Reduce your salt intake
Some people find this quite a challenge, but the less salt you use, the less you want to use – and this effect happens pretty quickly. If you buy pre-made, processed foods, you might be shocked at how much salt they contain, so check the labels and go for the least salty options, and don't put more salt on at the table.
When you're cooking, use alternative ways to increase flavour, like spices, black pepper, lemon juice and even seaweed granules.
Leave out the caffeine
That buzzing alertness that coffee gives you comes at a price. Caffeine can seriously raise your blood pressure, especially if you consume it throughout the day. Because you build up a tolerance, you might need to drink large amounts to feel awake, but it still impacts your blood pressure.
Try switching to decaffeinated tea and coffee or try herbal alternatives, and skip the energy drinks. You'll adjust quickly and might even find you can concentrate more easily after a few days.
Don't get stressed
This is often easier said that done, particularly if you have a stressful job, but there are things you can do to minimise the impact.
Try meditation for an excellent way to keep calm and bring stress levels down. There are lots of free apps that can guide you through the process. Avoid stressful situations whenever possible, and make sure you take the time to do relaxing activities that you enjoy.
For more tips on lowering blood pressure and passing your pre-employment medical exam, talk to companies like Travellers Medical Services.
Share18 April 2017
Hello, my name is Catherine and this is my blog all about health and medical topics. I was inspired to start this blog by my husband who works in a hospital. He isn't a doctor, he works in a lab testing blood samples. However, he is extremely interested in medicine. When his grandma got sick, he quickly established what might be wrong and got her all the help she needed. Sometimes is the evening, we sit and read textbooks and talk about medicine. It sounds insane but we both really like it. I decided to start this blog to show off some of what I have learnt.