Hypertension
People with high blood pressure, diabetes – those are conditions brought about by lifestyle. If you change the lifestyle, those conditions will leave.
– Dick Gregory
What it is?
Every fluid exerts pressure. Our blood too exerts pressure on the artery walls (the blood tubes running in our body). 120/80 mm Hg is the international normalized rate of blood pressure, any alteration either higher or lower is a medical condition. When the blood pressure (BP) in the arteries exerts more than 120/80 mm Hg, it is called high blood pressure or hypertension – one of the common conditions which if ignored can lead to serious complications. Stroke, heart failure, heart attack, and kidney damage are some of the complications.
The hypertension history
The history of hypertension goes back a long way since ancient times. “The pulse is the window into the condition of the cardiovascular system”, the Chinese and Indian Ayurvedic medicine says, “hard pulse or hard palpitation” would possibly qualify for the modern term of hypertension.
Stress and hypertension
A report from 2010 depicted cardiovascular diseases accounted for 11.8% of the total disability-adjusted life years lost worldwide. In simpler terms, it is regarded as the number of years lost due to ill-health, disability or early death. Almost all of the cardiovascular disorders have hypertension as the root cause. The global prevalence of hypertension is on a rise and is projected to affect over 500 million people by 2025. Research showed that the amount of stress level experienced by an individual to directly reflects on his BP which tells a lot about the growing levels of BP in the general population. The stress that we experience every day is essentially caused by several factors such as increased workload intensity, constant strive for perfection, etc. Research by Babu GR et al showed higher rates of stress and hypertension in higher job titles. Work stress also is seen in where there is an imbalance in effort and reward.
Types of hypertension
Usually, high blood pressure is of 2 types
Primary hypertension: (also is called essential hypertension)
- When there is no known cause for the high BP it is called primary hypertension.
- This is the most common type of hypertension and takes years to develop
- The primary culprit is the individual’s lifestyle, environment, and the body changing with aging.
Secondary hypertension
- This increased BP is due to any underlying health problem or medicine which directly increases blood pressure. Eg:
- Kidney problems
- Thyroid/adrenal gland problems
- Sleep apnoea
- Some kinds of medicines
There are also other types of hypertension such as resistant hypertension, white coat hypertension, masked hypertension, gestational hypertension, etc.
Symptoms
The nickname of hypertension is silent killer. Hypertension as such is devoid of any symptoms but some people experience headaches, nosebleeds, dizziness, a flushed face, and fatigue. Severe high blood pressure increases the workload of the heart and may cause chest pain and/or shortness of breath. Sometimes very high blood pressure causes the large artery that carries blood from the heart (the aorta) to tear, causing chest or abdominal pain. People who have such symptoms have hypertensive emergencies and, as such, require emergency treatment.
Know your numbers
When blood pressure is checked, two values are recorded. The higher value reflects the highest pressure in the arteries – the heart contraction (during systole) and the lower value reflects the lowest pressure in the arteries, which is reached just before the heart begins to contract again (during diastole). Blood pressure is written as systolic pressure/diastolic pressure—for example, 120/80 mm Hg (millimeters of mercury). This reading is referred to as “120 over 80.” 7
How to reduce high blood pressure risk?
- Lower salt intake in the daily diet
- Lose weight if you are overweight
- Stop smoking
- Have a healthy diet
- Reduce alcohol consumption
- Try for relaxation methods
- Exercise regularly
Prevention of hypertension
By living a healthy lifestyle, you can help keep your BP in a healthy range lowering risk for heart disease and stroke. A healthy lifestyle includes:
- Having a healthy diet
- Choosing healthful meal can help avoid high blood pressure and its complications.
- Fresh fruits and vegetables can help in this
- Eating foods low in salt (sodium) and high in potassium can lower blood pressure.
- Maintaining a healthy weight
- Overweight and obesity increase the risk of high blood pressure.
- Maintain the required body mass index (BMI).
- Doctors sometimes also use waist and hip measurements to measure excess body fat.
- Getting enough physical activity
- Physical activity can help in maintaining a healthy weight and lower blood pressure.
- Not smoking
- Smoking not only narrows blood vessels but also hardens them. This substantially decreases lumen volume thereby increasing blood pressure.
- Limiting alcohol use
- Alcohol too constricts blood vessels thereby increasing blood pressure.