Every disease is a duty that the patient performs on a daily basis. Whether he wants to do that duty or not, he has to do it. The fast-paced life of today has made living more stressful for us. We take more stress struggling for money, families, money kids. We eat food that only makes our stomachs groan due to excessive acidity. The junk food has built layers of cholesterol on our heart, inside our vessels, and around our bodies. The result is the increase in stress levels, blood pressure, cardiovascular issues and eventually death if the situation goes untreated. Here’s what you need to know about hypertension and how to avoid it.
What is hypertension?
Hypertension is the persistent rise in blood pressure above the normal values. The normal values of systolic and diastolic blood pressure are 120/80 mmHg while in the case of hypertension the values might rise as high as 120/180 mmHg. The person could become prone to many deadly diseases including haemorrhage, myocardial infarction, stroke, and kidney failure and vision loss.
Pathophysiology
The narrowing of the vessels leads to an increase in the blood pressure. The rise in blood pressure puts extra strain on your heart. The heart’s muscles start to weaken day by day, and eventually, cardiac failure happens. Narrowed blood vessels could lead to thromboembolism resulting in haemorrhage and strokes. According to theories, the kidney failure is due to the imbalance of water and ions in the blood. The Renin-angiotensin mechanism does not work accordingly leading to kidney failure. Immune system mediators are also released in high quantities that elevate the chances of hypertension including the TMF 1, Interleukin 1, 6 and 8.
Symptoms of hypertension
The signs of hypertension may vary from person to person and gender to gender, but the typical sign is present in every individual. Let’s have a look at them:
The main symptoms include vertigo, fainting episodes, lightheadedness, mood swings, headaches, tinnitus, and palpitations.
Secondary hypertension may be due to glucose intolerance, hyperthyroidism, Cushing’s syndrome. The signs include puffiness of hands and feet, swelling of the face, palpitation, excessive sweating, tremors, and retinopathy.
The percentage of hypertension in pregnant women is quite high ranging from 8% – 10%. It is named as gestational hypertension. The women may feel mood swings, high blood pressure, vomiting, and headaches as well. Postnatal hypertension is also common among women nowadays and has more or less the same symptoms.
Causes of hypertension
Lifestyle factors play a crucial role in hypertension. If you are an individual who smokes, consumes alcohol, takes excess salt in his food, then you are likely to develop hypertension.
Primary hypertension is mostly due to genetic disturbances. While in adults, it occurs due to the metabolic syndrome, lack of breastfeeding in the early life as well as maternal smoking.
While secondary hypertension is due to the Cushing’s syndrome, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, Cohn’s disease, acromegaly, obesity, and pheochromocytoma. Eating habits and alcohol consumption are also among the significant factors. The use of drugs and illegal substances are also the causes of hypertension.
Diagnosis
Various tests are performed for the diagnosis of hypertension. It included the checking of blood pressure for a specified period. The more comprehensive tests include the HDL and LDL test for determining the lipid contents of the blood. The test for checking the serum electrolyte balance is also prescribed. ECG, Chest radiography and fasting glucose levels are also checked to diagnose the disease.
How to treat hypertension
Lifestyle changes can help a lot in dealing with hypertension. The main modifications that you can do include:
Eating a low-salt diet
Take food that has low salt content. It will help to balance the electrolyte in the body and will control blood pressure as well.
Say no to alcohol
Say a complete no to alcohol consumption for your health and safety. There are many effects of alcohol on the body. It is considered one of the three common habits that severely and gradually affect one’s health.
Eating fruits and veggies
Taking more fruits and vegetables and low-fat foods will help to reduce the cholesterol of the body leading to low blood pressure.
Exercise regularly
Exercise will help a lot in dealing with hypertension. Exercise has a lot of health benefits in our body; it is second to what we eat. How and when to exercise is another important that we need to explore so that we would not harm ourselves with excessive physical activity.
Antihypertensive
Use of antihypertensive will help to reduce the stress levels and make you more peaceful, patient and positive towards life. Antihypertensive are a group of drugs that are used to treat hypertension in different ways.
Hypertension can be a devastating disease, but the good news is, it is preventive. We can always control the risk of hypertension by watching over our food intake, stress level and regularly checking our blood pressure level as well as consulting a physician.
