1. High Blood Pressure (Hypertension) Slideshow
2. Take the Salt Quiz!
3. Lowering Blood Pressure Exercise Tips Pictures

In this Article

• Introduction to high blood pressure (hypertension) and kidney disease
• What is high blood pressure?
• How does high blood pressure hurt the kidneys?
• What are the signs and symptoms of high blood pressure?
• What are the signs and symptoms of chronic kidney disease? (CKD)?
• How can kidney damage from high blood pressure be prevented?
• How can high blood pressure be controlled?
• Can medicines help control blood pressure?
• Who is at risk for kidney failure related to high blood pressure?
• High Blood Pressure and Kidney Disease At A Glance
• Hope Through Research
• Kidney Disease FAQs
• Patient Comments: Kidney Disease (HBP Related) - Symptoms
• Find a local Nephrologist in your town
• Kidney Disease (Hypertension-Related) Index

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), recommends that people with CKD use whatever therapy is necessary, including lifestyle changes and medicines, to keep their blood pressure below 130/80.

The NHLBI recommends five lifestyle changes that help control blood pressure. People with prehypertension or high blood pressure should

• maintain their weight at a level close to normal.
  
  
• eat fresh fruits and vegetables, grains, and low-fat dairy foods.
  
  
• limit their daily salt, or sodium, intake to 2,000 milligrams. They should limit frozen foods and trips to fast food restaurants. They should read nutrition labels on packaged foods to learn how much sodium is in one serving. Keeping a sodium diary can help monitor sodium intake.
  
  
• get plenty of exercise—at least 30 minutes of moderate activity, such as walking, cycling, or swimming, most days of the week.
  
  
• avoid consuming too much alcohol. Men should have no more than two drinks—two 12-ounce servings of beer or two 5-ounce servings of wine or two 1.5-ounce servings of hard liquor—a day. Women should have no more than a single serving a day because differences in the way foods are broken down in the body make women more sensitive to the effects of alcohol.