One out of 3 adults in the US has it. It has no symptoms, so you can have it for years without knowing it. During this time, it can damage the vital internal organs: kidneys, heart, blood vessels and much more.
One out of three adults in the United States has it. It has no symptoms, so you can have it for years without knowing it. During the time when you were clueless that you have it, it can damage the vital organs inside you: your kidneys, your heart, blood vessels and a lot more. What is it? It's high blood pressure or HBP.
As we all know, the force of blood that pushes against the walls of the arteries as your heart pumps blood is called "blood pressure". If it rises and remains high over a period of time, it becomes a high blood pressure case which can damage your body in more ways than one.
There is what we call blood pressure numbers: "systolic", or the pressure as the heart beats, and the "diastolic" which is the pressure in between beats, while the heart is at rest. These numbers are written with the systolic above the diastolic, together with the symbol mmHg, which the millimeters of mercury, the one used to measure a person's blood pressure. Normal blood pressure is 120/80. Anything slightly higher than that and we have ourselves a case of pre-hypertension, which means if you don't take preventive measures you will most likely end up with high blood pressure.
What's even worse with high blood pressure, or hypertension, is that it can cause a series of life-long damages that can lead to another series of diseases in the body.
These include:
• Heart failure. High blood pressure can enlarge or weaken one of the most important organs in our body, the heart. Heart failure is a medical condition in which your heart can no longer pump enough blood throughout the body.
• Aneurysms. It's an abnormal bulging in your arteries' wall. (It can be formed in the blood vessels.) The main arteries that carry blood from the heart to the body, the arteries in the brain, legs and intestines, and the artery leading to your spleen are the most common spots for aneurysms.
• Kidney failure. Hypertension can make the blood vessels in the kidney narrow and often cause kidney failure.
• Heart attack/Stroke/Amputation of the leg. HBP can also narrow some arteries and therefore limits the blood flow in the heart, brain, kidney and legs.
• Vision changes/Blindness. Hypertension can also cause the blood vessels in the eyes to bleed or burst, which results to changes in vision or even blindness.
The good news is, you can still prevent high blood pressure! If you have a normal blood pressure, here are some steps that you can take to prevent it:
• Follow a healthy diet. Limit the intake of salt and alcohol in your system.
• If you are overweight, lose it!
• Exercise at least half an hour every day.
• Stop smoking!
• Learn to manage your stress.
If you already have high blood pressure, there are still ways in which you can prevent the lifelong problems that goes with it by simply following a diet plan and a healthy lifestyle (like the one listed above). Also, do not forget to strictly follow the treatment prescribed by your doctor to control your blood pressure. It can help you prevent or delay the tons of baggage that goes with it.
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