High Blood Pressure or Hypertension: A Study on the Symptom, Causes, and Treatment
High blood pressure, also recognized as hypertension, is when the pressure of blood exerted on the artery wall is too high. It’s a prevalent disease but can even be deadly for the patient. According to a survey by the World Health Organization, every year, almost 70 lakhs of people die because of high blood pressure. The average reading for high blood pressure is 120/80 mm Hg, where the former number (top number shown in the device after measuring blood pressure) denotes systolic blood pressure, and the later one (bottom number shown in the device after measuring blood pressure) indicates diastolic blood pressure. Systolic blood pressure denotes the force of blood exerted on the artery’s wall during the heart’s contraction. At the same time, diastolic blood pressure denotes the blood pressure exerted on the artery’s wall when the heart relaxes.
According to health experts, the systolic numbers range from 130 to 139, and the diastolic numbers range from 80 to 89, which are stage 1 high blood pressure. When the range of systolic and diastolic blood pressure is 140 and 90, respectively, it is known as stage 2 high blood pressure. On the other hand, hypertensive crisis is a condition where the systolic and diastolic pressure are above 180 and 120, respectively. A hypertensive crisis is a severe case that may lead to different life-threatening conditions or damage to any vital organ of the body.
Symptoms:
Although high blood pressure is known as the silent killer (as it doesn’t usually show symptoms at the earlier stage), a number of symptoms can be seen at the final stage of high blood pressure. These are:
• Headache (Especially in the morning. The intensity of the pain is mild to severe)
• Chest pain
• Dizziness
• Trouble in breathing
• Fatigue
• Irregular heartbeat
• Nose bleeding
• Tiredness
• Bloody urine
Causes and Risk factors:
In 90% to 95% of cases, no cause behind high blood pressure is detected, which in medical science is known as primary or essential hypertension. In the rest, 5% of cases, some medical condition or malfunction of other organs is responsible for high blood pressure. When there is any underlying medical cause behind the increase in blood pressure level, it is known as secondary hypertension. Severe kidney disease, pregnancy, heart disease, hormonal disease, thyroid disorder, adrenal disorder, steroids, and certain drugs can be the cause of secondary hypertension.
There is another case known as elevated blood pressure. It’s a state when blood pressure falls slightly higher than the average blood pressure reading. According to the experts, people who have elevated blood pressure have two times the risk for high blood pressure.
The reasons behind high blood pressure are primarily unknown. However, there are some predisposing factors that are responsible for the occurrence of high blood pressure. These are:
• Obesity
• Smoking
• Older age
• Family History
• Too much consumption of Salt
• Stress
• Sleep apnea ( a state where breathing keeps starting and stopping in sleep)
• Too much consumption of alcohol
• Anxiety
• Sedentary Lifestyle
• High sugar and cholesterol level
Treatment :
Treatment for high blood pressure is not very difficult. The following things can help one to lower the range of high blood pressure:
• changing diet and lifestyle
• quitting smoking
• less consumption of Salt
• less consumption of alcohol
• taking fiber-enriched foods
• exercising
• less consumption of rich foods
• taking medicines if the doctor recommends ( Medicine is not necessary in every case. The doctor will provide medicine, if needed, based on the condition and type of patient blood pressure and the reason behind it)
If high blood pressure is not diagnosed and treated on time, it increases the risk of heart disease, brain stroke, kidney disease, damage of the wall of the arteries, damage of eye blood vessels, etc. As most of the time, no noticeable symptoms are found, people remain unaware of their high blood pressure, and it results in the development of severe complications associated with high blood pressure. That’s why checking blood pressure from time to time is a must. If regularly monitored, the complications caused by high blood pressure can be avoided easily.
