Yasmin Williams - HEALTH-WISE PRIMARY HYPERTENSION or essential hypertension is one of the chronic lifestyle-related diseases. It is so called because a person so diagnosed will have to manage the problem throughout their lifetime.
Lifestyle modification is essential to preventing or delaying the development of primary hypertension and is also important for control of hypertension. In a few instances, high blood pressure is not due to primary hypertension but is due to the presence of some disease process or other pathology in the body, for example, narrowing of the artery to the kidney. In this situation, we would refer to the patient as having secondary hypertension.
Persons with high blood pressure often have no signs or symptoms and left uncontrolled high blood pressure damages the heart, eyes, kidney and brain. Hypertension alone or in association with diabetes and high blood cholesterol is responsible for the frequently occurring heart attack and stroke. It is therefore important to have your blood pressure periodically checked to ascertain whether it is elevated.
The blood pressure measurement is made up of two parts, a systolic reading and a diastolic reading. The systolic blood pressure measures the pressure in the blood vessels when the heart contracts and pushes blood in the vessels.
The diastolic blood pressure is the pressure in the blood vessels when the heart relaxes. The diastolic blood pressure is often considered the more important reading. However, both readings must always be considered for assessment.
A reading of 140 (systolic) and 90 (diastolic) was used as the borderline value for many years. Research has indicated that such a blood pressure reading, written as 140/90, produces "hypertensive changes/damage" in organs in the body over time.
The seventh report of the Joint Committee on the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High blood pressure published in the Journal
of the American Medical Association in May 2003 classified blood pressure as follows:-
Normal < 120 systolic
< 80 diastolic
Prehypertension 120 - 139
systolic
80 - 89
diastolic
Hypertension Stage 1
140 - 159 systolic
90 - 99
diastolic
Hypertension Stage 2
>= 160
systolic
It must be remembered that as one grows older, the blood vessels called arteries develop thicker walls as part of the ageing process and one expects and accepts blood pressure readings which are a little higher. Remember that anxiety, anger, fear and other emotions may temporarily increase your blood pressure. Your blood pressure needs to be checked on a number of occasions before you can be diagnosed or labelled as being hypertensive.
To prevent delay, control, hypertension
1. Avoid being overweight
2. Increase physical activity (at least one-half hour of moderate to vigorous activity most days per week. Research indicates that if you divide the 30 minutes into manageable time periods you will still receive health benefits).
3. Keep intake of salt to a
minimum
4. Develop techniques to handle stress
5. Avoid heavy consumption of alcohol ( ¾ 2 drinks/day for men and ¾ 1 drink /day for women)
6. Have a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and low in fat
If you already have high blood pressure, in addition to the lifestyle measures discussed above:
1. Always take your high blood pressure tablets as prescribed. (If you are diligent and maintain healthy lifestyle behaviours, it is possible that you will need no medication or certainly less medication than you needed before, with reduced side effects and reduced costs).
2. Discuss your use of oral contraceptives with your doctor if relevant. (Oral contraceptives can cause elevation of blood pressure).
3. Be careful how you use over-the-counter medication (some can cause elevation of blood pressure).
4. Don't smoke.
Dr. Yasmin Williams is a Family Doctor and Public Health Specialist.
