Angiology: Open Access
Open Access

Hypertension and its Preventive Measures

Alper Even^{* *}Correspondence: Alper Even, Department of Cardiology, Suleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkey, Email:

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Description

High blood pressure, which is also called as hypertension, is a blood pressure which is higher than normal. Blood pressure varies throughout the day based on the activities of the person. Blood pressure is a measurement of the pressure or force of blood pushing against the walls of arteries. Arteries carry blood from the heart to other parts of the body. If the person has high blood pressure (hypertension), it means that the pressure on the body's blood vessel walls is always too high. High blood pressure is often called as “silent killer” because even though something is wrong that may not be realized but the, damage is still happening inside the body. Blood pressure is measured in two numbers. The first number is called systolic blood pressure, which measures the pressure in the arteries when the heart is beating. The second number is called diastolic pressure, which measures the pressure in the arteries when the heart is resting between beats. If the reading reads 120 systolic and 80 diastolic, it is said “120 over 80” or written as “120/80 mmHg”. Normal blood pressure is below 120/80 mmHg. For example, a blood pressure of 110/70 is the normal range, but a blood pressure of 135/85 is the stage 1 mild hypertension, 140/90 mmHg or higher, is the stage 2 moderate hypertension, 180/120 mmHg or higher it is then called as the hypertensive crisis. The two types of hypertensions are:

Primary hypertension

This type is also called as essential hypertension as the causes of this most common type of hypertension occurs by aging and unhealthy habits, such as lack of exercise.

Secondary hypertension

This type of hypertension can be caused by various medical problems (such as kidney or hormone problems) or due to medications that are taken by the person.

High blood pressure can harm the health in many ways. It can seriously damage vital organs such as the heart, brain, kidneys, and eyes. It can also cause stroke, heart attack, peripheral vascular disease, kidney disease or kidney failure, pregnancy complications, eye damage, and vascular dementia. High blood pressure can damage arteries by making arteries less elastic, reducing the flow of blood and oxygen to the heart which then leads to heart disease. The reduced blood flow to the heart also causes chest pain, which is also known as angina. High blood pressure complicates about 10% of all pregnancies. There are different types of high blood pressure during pregnancy, ranging from mild to severe. Forms of hypertension during pregnancy include chronic hypertension, gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, and chronic hypertension combined with superimposed preeclampsia.

Conclusion

If a health care provider diagnoses a person with high blood pressure, they talk to the person about the recommended blood pressure goals. They may also suggest checking the blood pressure regularly with a home blood pressure monitor. The person should, maintain the correct body weight, limit the alcohol, be more physically active, stop smoking completely, manage the anger and stress, need to eat healthy foods that are low in salt, fat, sodium, and calories, such as skim or 1% milk, fresh vegetables and fruits, brown rice and pasta. Use flavoring, spices and herbs to make foods delicious without salt. The optimal dietary salt recommendation is less than 1,500 mg sodium per day. Be aware that most restaurant foods, especially fast food and many processed and frozen foods are high in salt. Avoid or reduce foods those high in fat and salt, such as butter and margarine, regular salad dressings, fatty meats fried foods, processed foods or fast foods and salty snacks. Discuss with the health care provider whether potassium is needed to be increased in the diet and discuss the Dietary Approaches to Stop High blood pressure (DASH). The DASH diet makes sure of adding fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to the diet, reducing the amount of sodium, as it is rich in fruits and vegetables that are naturally lower in sodium than many other foods, the DASH diet makes it easier to have less salt and sodium in the diet.