Turn Back Your Biological Age By Controlling Your High Blood Pressure

Menopause met Desiree Valdes with weight gain, high blood pressure, and fatigue. “I was just feeling lethargic, and I was not liking what I saw in the mirror,” says Desiree.

Maria Delgado-Lelievre, M.D., Founder and Director of the Comprehensive Hypertension Center at UHealth, says half of U.S. adults have high blood pressure.

“The sad story about our public health problem is that only 25% of patients diagnosed hypertensive are controlled. How do you eat? How do you sleep? How you address the stress? You can turn around your own health by being in charge of your life,” Dr. Delgado says.

At the Comprehensive Hypertension Center at UHealth, Dr. Delgado focuses not only on treating a patient’s high blood pressure, but also by helping to literally turn back their biological clock by incorporating doable lifestyle changes.

“Eat better, less salt. Protect your nocturnal fasting. If you finish eating at 8:00 PM… you’re not supposed to put anything in your mouth other than water after 12 hours, which is when you sleep. So you can give time to your body to recuperate,” says Dr. Delgado.

UHealth’s Comprehensive Hypertension Center changed her life

“I started with a regular exercise routine where I would walk three days a week and then lift weights. I started to lose about a pound a week. After about three or four months, I started to feel really good,” Desiree says.

“It’s like a new lease on life because you become cognitively better, physically with more capacity, and naturally in you, you become in love with yourself. Oh my God, look at me. Now I can move, I can do, I can dance. It’s a new lease on life, right? It’s in your hands,” says Dr. Delgado.

Desiree is controlling her high blood pressure with medication, nocturnal fasting and exercise. Now 50 pounds lighter, she says Dr. Delgado helped her reach her health goals!

“She takes the time and then empowers you to empower yourself,” Desiree says.

Video transcript compiled by Janna Ross for ‘Focusing on You: Innovations in Modern Medicine,’ a series of healthcare-related stories airing regularly on WPLG Local 10.  For more stories like this one, visit UHealth’s YouTube channel.

Tags: biological age, Dr. Maria Delgado, focusing on you, high blood pressure, hypertension, nocturnal fasting