High Blood Pressure: How To Tame This 'Silent Killer'

What You Need To Know About This Killer Health Condition And How To Survive It.

High Blood Pressure (HBP) was not nicknamed 'the silent killer' for the sheer fun of it. It is for the serious reasons that:

  1. if HBP is untreated and elevated blood pressure is sustained, it is certain to do damage to health and may easily lead to death;


  2. dangerous as the condition is, it can subsist for an extended period without manifesting in identifiable symptoms. If no checks are carried out, a victim could live with elevated blood pressure (BP), at great risk to health, without realising that danger is at the door.

What It Means
The heart constantly carries out its function of pumping blood through the arteries to the organs and tissues of the body. By this process, it supplies oxygen and nutrients to the cells, and evacuates carbon dioxide and toxins generated by the metabolic process. The pumping exerts a pressure on the walls of the arteries. That's the blood pressure. High blood pressure (also called hypertension) is a condition where the individual's BP has risen above what is considered a safe, normal range. Two parameters are critical in measuring the BP: the systolic BP which is exerted when the heart contracts to pump out blood into the arteries; the diastolic BP is by the reverse process of relaxation of the heart after the contraction. That's why the BP reading is in a pair of figures, such as 120/80. The first figure is the systolic BP, the second, the diastolic.

BP levels are currently charted as follows:

BP Normal BP Pre-hypertension Stage 1 hypertension Stage 11 hypertension
Systolic 120 or less 120-139 140-159 160 or above
Diastolic 80 or less 80-89 90-99 100 or above

Your goal will be to keep your BP within the 'normal' range.

Dangers Of Elevated BP
If you blood pressure rises above the normal range and stays so over time, you run the risk of grave damage to your heart, brain, kidney, lungs, arteries and other organs and tissues of the body. The sustained excessive pressure exerted on these organs can lead to end-organ damage. The risk of heart disease, kidney failure, stroke, impaired vision, dementia, etc, will be high. Needless to say that 'sudden death' will be a strong possibility, if treatment and control do no follow.

A Fatal Blow Without A Warning Shot
The biggest danger with hypertension is in its ability to set in and wear down the individual's organs, unknown to him. While some people might be lucky to notice signs of discomfort when high blood pressure has set in, others are not that fortunate. The possible symptoms include headaches, shortness of breath, dizziness, chest pain, blurred vision and abdominal pain. That you haven't felt any of these signs is however no proof or guarantee that your blood pressure is in the normal range. That presumption could prove costly. The bottom line: you can only rule out high blood pressure by running a check on your BP, using a BP monitor. This is best done by a medical personnel, though the individual can keep a personal monitor and learn to use it. The wisdom is to do a check on a regular basis, since HBP is a condition that can set in at any time.

Special Risk Factors
Anybody can become a victim of elevated blood pressure. However, certain risk factors have been identified over time, showing individuals or groups that are more predisposed to hypertension.

Heavy salt consumption has now been accepted as a major risk factor. If your BP is already high, one of the major recovery steps will be to distance yourself from salt as much as possible. Age is also believed to predispose to HBP. While teenage HBP occurs, adult cases are more common, especially at age above 40 years. At such age, you need more caution. Male prevalence is also higher than with women, just a the black race has, historically, recorded more incidence of HBP. Body weight is also a major factor, with obesity obviously creating more work for the heart. Lifestyle dispositions like smoking and alcohol consumption are other factors that predispose the individual to elevated BP. The possible role of stress must not be overlooked since this has the capacity to push up your blood pressure. It is for you to evaluate your situation and lifestyle to determine which, if any, of these risk factors might be important to your sustained good health. If you desire a healthy BP level, you must deliberately avoid factors that may expose you to risk. Moreover, you must sustain a plan of regular checks to rule out, on an ongoing basis, any elevation of your BP level.

When The Harm Is Done
If a check reveals that your BP is already elevated, it is good to know that it is possible to control your BP and maintain a level that should be safe for your body organs. That is why non-detection is the major hazard. You must however realise that this is something to take seriously in terms of a determined effort to achieve a good result. Your doctor will work out the best approach to lowering your blood pressure, which may include some medication. Do yourself a favour and follow any treatment or lifestyle change programme your doctor recommends as this will only be aiming to prolong your life. Untreated high blood pressure is severely damaging to health and should not be treated with levity.

More Information
If you will like to get a lot more information on hypertension, we have put it together in our ebook, The Silent Killer: Staying Away From Its Cold Grip. You may want to download a copy.

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