High Blood Pressure: The Cause, Symptoms and Treatments

Dear Reader,

Did you know? In our current world, most deaths are caused by Heart Disease, and a person with High blood pressure is more likely to die of heart disease prematurely

Globally, heart disease is one of the major causes of death, and people who have abnormally high pressure in their arteries are far more likely than others to die prematurely of heart disease.

Blood travels from your heart through your arteries all round your body. There is a particular amount of pressure required to transmit blood all round your body. Your blood pressure is measured by knowing how hard your blood is plugging through your arteries. If the pressure is too excessive, you have high blood pressure or what is commonly called hypertension.

High blood pressure hardly has any obvious symptoms. However, if you pay no attention to it, the chances of you having a serious health issue like Stroke and heart attacks.

There are a lot of adults living with high blood pressure in Nigeria; some don’t even know they have HBP.

To know if your blood pressure is high, the only thing to do is to check your blood pressure. If your blood pressure gets to or passes 140/90mmHg, you have High Blood pressure or hypertension. 

Causes

The cause of HBP is divided into two groups; Primary hypertension and Secondary hypertension.

In Primary hypertension, the cause of high blood pressure is usually unknown. 

While Secondary hypertension is when there is an initial health problem that can cause high blood pressure. E.g. Hormonal disorders and kidney disease. If the initial health problem can be corrected, high blood pressure might improve or become normal.

High blood pressure can likewise be triggered by: Stress, Age (as you grow older your chances increases), Alcoholism, Obesity, Diet, Sleep apnea and Lack of exercise

What Are The Risks of High Blood Pressure?

When a person’s blood pressure is higher than the normal pressure rate, extra strain is put on their heart, blood vessels and other body organs like the brain, eyes and kidneys.

When high blood pressure is persistent, you become more at risk of having health issues that can be life-threatening 

These life-threatening conditions include: Stroke, heart disease, heart attacks, peripheral arterial disease, heart failure, vascular dementia, aortic aneurysms, kidney disease

You can reduce your high blood pressure even by a little can help decrease your risk of these potentially life-threatening health problems.

Symptoms

High Blood Pressure can sometimes cause dizziness, headache, shortness of breath, or vision problems. However, most people with high blood pressure show no symptoms, making high blood pressure commonly known to be the Silent Killer.

Hypertension can be noticed by your doctor after doing a blood pressure reading if you go for a regular check-up

How can I Treat and Prevent High Blood Pressure?

Using medications and lifestyle changes can help you manage your blood pressure.

If high blood pressure is treated properly, one can live longer. Taking note of your blood pressure and controlling it with medications can lower your risk of having heart disease and stroke.

If you have suffered from heart disease or are diabetic, you are placed on medications even if your blood pressure is normal.

Your doctor determines the best medication for you.

Medicines for High Blood Pressure

Supposing your blood pressure is high, your doctor might put you on one or more medications to control your blood pressure. 

These medications come as pills and will need to be used daily.

Some common medicines for controlling blood pressure are:

Sometimes, changing your lifestyle and living healthy can help lower the possibility of having high blood pressure. 

Whether you already have High Blood Pressure or not, making lifestyle changes will help you control your blood pressure or even get it back to normal.

NOTE: What is low or high for you might be someone’s normal blood pressure. There is always a slight difference between everybody’s blood pressure.