Systemic hypertension, which is more commonly called high blood pressure or BP in general, is one of the most common lifestyle-related illnesses. According to a research published, an alarming rate of 29.8% of the total Indian population has hypertension. This means that one in three Indians has this disease.

It is called the “silent killer” because there are no signs of hypertension and many people don’t even know they have it. Over time, they are at a much higher risk of getting heart disease, a stroke, eye-related concerns or kidney failure. 

What is referred to as blood pressure?

When your heart pumps blood, the oxygenated blood pushes against the walls of your arteries, which are thick and muscular tubes. Blood runs through these tubes with this force to different parts of the body. Blood pressure is how hard the blood is pumping. When it gets too high, it can cause a disease called high blood pressure. With the help of the BP machine, your doctor is able to measure two things about your blood pressure:

Systolic pressure:

When the heart beats and pumps, blood pressure goes up and down.

Diastolic pressure:

Blood pressure when the heart is resting between the beats. 

Normal blood pressure for an adult is less than  120/80 mmHg. The first number, 120 shows arterial blood pressure, the second number, 80, shows diastolic pressure. If the systolic blood pressure is between 120 and 139 and your diastolic blood pressure is between 80 to 89, you are considered prehypertensive. If your blood pressure is higher than 140/90 this means you have hypertension. Reach out to a general medicine specialist in Coimbatore to get expert care for high blood pressure.

What are the two types of hypertension?

Essential hypertension:

About 85-90% of recorded cases of this illness have no known causes. This type of hypertension is called “essential hypertension”, and it has been linked to risk factors like being more sensitive to salt, having a family history of hypertension, and old age.  

Secondary hypertension:

10-15% of people with hypertension have known causes for their high blood pressure. These include kidney diseases, a few endocrine diseases linked to the thyroid or adrenal glands, and coarctation, which is a narrowing of the main vessel in the arterial network. “Secondary Hypertension” is the name for this kind of high blood pressure.

What are the different risk factors for developing hypertension?

To be aware of the problems that come with high blood pressure, but it is very important to know and understand the things that put you at risk for it. There can be various reasons for hypertension like:

Age:

The chance that you have high blood pressure goes up as you get older. Reports on how common hypertension is in people over 50 show that between 30 and 50 percent of adults over 50 have had it for a long time.

Obesity:

People who are overweight need more oxygen and nutrients to get to their tissues through the blood. This causes more blood to flow through the artery, which puts pressure on the wall of the vessel and leads to high blood pressure.

People with inactive lifestyle:

People who don’t exercise regularly have weaker heart function and are more likely to gain weight.

Excessive tobacco usage:

Your blood pressure goes up for a while when you do this. Chemicals in these tobacco products can hurt the lining of the arteries and make them narrower, making it harder for blood to flow through them. This makes your chances of getting high blood pressure worse.

How does a doctor identify high blood pressure?

A sphygmomanometer is used for this test. It is a pressure cuff that is put around the upper arm. Then, either by hand or with a computer, the air is pumped into the balloon. This pumped-up air will squeeze the brachial artery, stopping the flow of blood for a while. The air is then slowly let out so that the lower and upper readings can be taken. If these numbers are higher than what is considered average, you have high blood pressure. You can’t tell if someone has high blood pressure based on just one number.

Why should you manage high blood pressure?

If you don’t take care of your blood pressure, it can cause both short-term and long-term problems. When the levels are too high, heart failure is the most common sudden problem. Long-term high blood pressure makes it more likely that someone will have a heart attack, heart failure, a stroke, or lose their kidneys. As there is no complete cure of hypertension it is important to manage it for a lifetime. 

The good news is that these life-threatening problems are less likely to happen if your blood pressure is well-controlled.

What are the tips that help to manage high blood pressure?

Hypertension needs to be treated because it hurts your body’s most important parts, like the brain (which can lead to a stroke), heart (which can lead to heart failure and raise the risk of a heart attack), kidneys (which can lead to chronic kidney disease and circulation problems), etc. You might get chest pain and find it hard to breathe out of the blue. People who have had a stroke may have trouble speaking, lose their balance, have trouble seeing, and have trouble walking.

To keep these problems from happening, you need to get your blood pressure checked often. This will help you find and avoid problems that could happen if you have high blood pressure. Some of the most popular techniques involved in the management of hypertension are:

• Eating more fruits and veggies and less salt can help.
• Do daily exercise.
• Don’t drink too much alcohol.
• Don’t smoke or use other tobacco goods.
• Avoid being overweight.

In addition to making changes to how you live, your heart expert will often give you medicine to treat your high blood pressure. These medicines help bring your blood pressure down to a normal level and lower your risk of problems like heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease.

High blood pressure can usually be managed.  Before it’s too late, you have to do what needs to be done. With a few small changes to your lifestyle and the right medicines, you can live a very healthy and problem-free life. Control your high blood pressure early on to help your health.

Important Takeaway:

Controlling your blood pressure should be a part of a healthy lifestyle plan and a job you do for the rest of your life. When your internal organs are hurt by high blood pressure, you don’t feel anything until a lot of damage has been done.

You can help stop the quiet killer by taking care of your health. Get hypertension care in Coimbatore from the best specialists who give right guidance.