ᅟ SMS campaign

English SMSs: Hypertension Deaf-campaign

 Welcome to SMSs about high blood pressure.

 Greetings: You can know the SMSs are from us, they will start with ‘health tips’ and ‘did you know’. We will use BP as short for ‘blood pressure’.

 We know that you may not have high BP. But it is still good to learn about the condition and about healthy living.

 Health tip: Let’s get started. A good way to lower BP is to exercise. Walking, exercising at home or going to a sports club helps.

 Did you know? Blood pressure is the force/pressure of blood flowing through the arteries in your body.

 Health tip: BP can become lower. Quitting smoking is one of the changes that can help.

 Did you know? Blood pressure more than 130/80, puts a person at risk of developing hypertension (high BP). Higher than 130/80 is high BP.

 Health tip: Knowing your BP is important. Ask your nurse and doctor at your next visit to the clinic.

 Health tip: High BP can be lowered by eating less salt and red meat, including sausages.

 Did you know? Healthy eating helps control high blood pressure.

 Health tip: A person with high BP should maintain a healthy weight and lose weight if he/she is overweight.

 Did you know? High BP cannot be cured. But a healthy way of life can help manage it.

 Did you know? By changing lifestyle, a person with high BP can manage his/her condition.

 Health tip: Healthy lifestyle changes for people with high BP: Eat more fish, skinless chicken & vegetables. Eat very little red meat & very little salt.

 Did you know: High BP is a chronic disease. It means a person will have it always. But he/she does not have to feel ill.

 Health tip: Stress can cause high BP. A person with high BP should try to find ways to de-stress.

 Health tip: Good ways to lower stress are exercising or talking about problems. By managing stress, a person can lower his/her BP.

 Did you know? Smoking, drinking, unhealthy eating habits, being overweight, too little exercise and stress put you at risk of high BP.

 Did you know? Changing your way of life helps to lower blood pressure. If you need more information, speak to doctor or nurse.

 Health tip: Eating less fat from animals helps to lower BP. One way to do this is to cut fat off meat before cooking it.

 Did you know? A person with high BP, should contact a doctor/clinic if they have symptoms, such as pain in chest, stomach cramps or persistent headaches.

 Health tip: A person with high BP should try to cut down on red meat and salt.

 Did you know? A person may have no symptoms and still have high blood pressure. BP should be checked regularly.

 Did you know? No symptoms, does not mean that you do not have high blood pressure. A person with high BP should visit the clinic regularly.

 Health tip: Remember that exercising can help control high BP.

 Health tip: A person with high BP should NEVER change his/her medication or stop taking it unless a doctor tells them to.

 Health tip: A person with high BP should go to the clinic to get medication for the time they will be away when they leave Cape Town.

 Health tip: A person with high BP should never share medication with friends and family.

 Health tip: High BP can be lowered by eating very little salt. One way of doing this is NOT to add salt to the food before tasting.

 Did you know? A person with high BP should not stop taking medication because they feel better. You can have high BP without having symptoms.

 Did you know? A person with high BP should see his/her doctor regularly to manage their blood pressure.

 Did you know? If you do not want to continue receiving SMSs, please send a “please call me” to 076280 8585.

 Health tip: Good ways to manage high BP: manage your stress, lose weight if you are overweight, change eating habits.

 Did you know? If you have high BP, you need to see a doctor regularly to manage your condition. A person with high BP should not miss medical check-ups.

 Health tip: Tips on how to lower BP, if you have high BP: manage your stress, lose weight if you are overweight, change eating habits.

 Did you know? Keeping a healthy weight is important if you have high blood pressure.

 Health tip: There are many things a person with high BP can do to lower it. One way is to lose weight if overweight.

 Health tip: Managing BP can prevent complications such as a stroke, heart attack or kidney damage.

 Health tip: High BP can be managed by taking medicine, seeing a health care provider regularly, and changing way of life.

 Health tip: Other tips on lowering BP: Stop smoking and drinking alcohol, eat healthily, exercise, maintain healthy weight, and do not stress too much.

 Health tip: A person with high BP must contact a doctor if they have chest pain, stomach cramps, lots of headaches, shortness of breath, swollen legs.

 Did you know? A person with high BP can lower risk of illness by taking medicine, attending clinic appointments, changing way of life.

 Health tip: Exercise and changing eating ways can help a person with high BP lose weight and lower BP.

 Health tip: Remember high BP can be controlled by: Exercise, stop smoking, manage stress, lose weight or change what you eat.

 Health tip: Changing the way you live can help control high blood pressure. Many small changes help.

 Health tip: Exercise helps control BP & keep a healthy weight. A person with high BP can try fast walking, climbing stairs, dancing, & exercise at home

 Health tip: Aim at exercising 30 min at least three times a week - this is good for people with high BP.

 Health tip: Alcohol can increase blood pressure. Stop drinking or reduce your drinking to lower your BP if you have high BP.

 Health tip: If you are a woman, you should not drink more than one alcoholic drink per day. If you are a man, two alcoholic drinks is the limit.

 Health tip: Remember one drink means one beer OR one tot of spirit OR one glass of wine OR one small glass of sherry.

 Health tip: Remember you can only have one alcoholic drink a day if you are a woman, two drinks if you are a man.

 Health tip: Want better health and lower high BP? Try this: Exercise, stop smoking, reduce or stop drinking alcohol.

 Did you know? Smoking is bad if you have high blood pressure. Stop smoking to reduce BP if it is high.

 Health tip: Eat less salt if you have high BP. One way of doing this is not to add salt to the food before tasting. Try it today.

 Health tip: Stress can cause high blood pressure. Stress can be managed by exercising. The more the better!

 Health tip: People with high BP can manage stress by exercising and talking about their problems.

 Health tip: Healthy eating habits can lower high blood pressure for people with high BP. They also help people to lose weight & keep a healthy weight.

 Health tip: People with high BP should eat more vegetables, fruit, beans and lentils. All these help to keep blood pressure low.

 Health tip: Tips for people with high BP: Cook vegetables in little water with no salt or fat (butter, margarine or oil).

 Health tip: Tips for people with high BP: Cut down on fat. Too much fat is bad for a person with high BP. Especially fat from animals (meat, milk, eggs).

 Health tip: Remember for people with high BP, better to cook with oil or Flora/Rama margarine NO butter. Only little animal fat.

 Did you know? If you do not want to continue receiving SMSs, please send a “please call me” to 076280 8585

 Health tip: People with high BP need to cut down on fatty food and deep fried foods such as pies, sausages and chips.

 Health tip: Fruit and vegetables are good if you have high BP. Try and eat 5 fruit and vegetables per day.

 Health tip: Want to eat more vegetables? Try adding vegetables to rice, pasta, stews, curries. Vegetables are good for people with high BP.

 Health tip: Feel like a snack? Try a raw carrot, or tomatoes or cucumbers or fruit. Much healthier than chips and cakes - for people with BP & others.

 Health tip: Take-away food (like KFC) is often high in fat and salt. Better for people with BP & others to cook their own healthy meals.

 Health tip: Tip for people with high BP: Use soft tub margarine instead of hard brick margarine.

 Health tip: Boil, grill and steam rather than fry. It is a good way to cut down on fat for people with high BP.

 Did you know? Reducing salt intake can reduce your BP. Remember, salt will raise your blood pressure.

 Health tip: Cook with little salt and don’t add salt to your food if you have high BP. This can help lower high BP.

 Health tip: Tip for people with high BP: Cut down on polony, salami, ham, bacon, sausages, dried and smoked fish. These have too much salt.

 Health tip: People with high BP can lower their BP. They can have less salt intake by cutting down on salty snacks such as chips, peanuts and biscuits.

 Health tip: Want to eat less fat? Eat more chicken without the skin and fish instead of red meat. Eating less fat is good for people with high BP

 Health tip: Tip for people with high BP: Buy red meat without fat. Also cut all fat from meat to reduce the fat you eat.

 Health tip: Tip for people with high BP: An easy way to reduce fat in the diet is to remove chicken skin before cooking. Most of the fat is in the skin.

 Health tip: Choose low fat or skim milk and dairy products if you have high BP. This can help reduce high BP for people suffering from the condition.

 Health tip: Small changes that help lower BP: Powder milk are high in fat. Better use low fat or skim milk.

 Health tip: People with high BP can make small changes to lower their. BP. One way is to eat brown bread not white bread.

 Health tips for lower BP are ending. You will not receive SMSs anymore. We hope you learned a lot about high blood pressure.