Do you know what hypertension is? Probably not! Many people don’t really understand or may not have even heard of the problem of hypertension, but it is a serious condition that can make a big difference to your wellbeing. So that certainly makes it something that’s worth understanding. While not a very serious issue within itself, the problem with hypertension is that it can lead to some of the most worrying health concerns for us as we get older. It is known, for example, that hypertension is one of the major causes of coronary artery disease, stroke and kidney disease.
It is true that the condition is able to throw up some rather worrying statistics. Let’s take America as our key example. More than 50 million Americans (that’s one in three of the adult population) suffer from hypertension. Even more frightening that than, however, is that the vast majority do not even know that they have it at all. Hypertension could be considered to be something of a silent killer – you don’t know anything about it until it’s too late to remedy the problems that it causes.
Hypertension is well known by doctors to be one of the major causes of shortened life spans, and this is especially true for those people living in urban areas. Indeed, over 200,000 people in the US die every year from an illness that is related to them suffering from high blood pressure. Patients with hypertension are at a very high risk factor to have a stroke, or suffer a heart attack or develop congestive heart failure. This is very worrying then, that so many people are in danger from this condition but don’t really know the details of what to do about it.
Hypertension is a chronic condition in which the arterial blood pressure, which is the level of blood flowing from the heart of all of the vital organs, get increased due to a number of reasons. This can often be because of your diet – if you eat a lot of foods that are high in saturated fats it can increase the difficult in pumping blood around the body. It then happens that over a period of time, the resulting stress of having to deal with the problems in the blood begins to weaken the heart muscle and causes the artery walls to harden with build-up of plaque inside. The consequences of chronic hypertension can be gradual and can even involve the damage of vital organs such as the kidneys as well as sudden and often fatal in the form of heart failure and brain haemorrhage.
So, how do you deal with hypertension? It’s important to remember that early diagnosis is extremely valuable in the fight against the condition. As with most issues, if you fear that you may be suffering from the condition then it’s well worth going to your doctor and talking through the possibility of having hypertension. There are some certain symptoms that you can watch out for that might make it more likely that you might have hypertension. These include obesity, lack of exercise, lots of salt in your diet, heavy consumption of alcohol or smoking. If this sounds like a reality of your life it could well be worth seeking medical advice on the issue.
Overall, it’s a good idea to be mindful of always maintain a healthy diet and getting plenty of regular exercise. Not only will this reduce the likelihood of you suffering from hypertension, but it also can help you avoid other issues too.
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