Hypertension

Did you know that 1 in 5 adult South Africans has hypertension (also known as high blood pressure)? In fact, a new study by the World Health Organisation (WHO) revealed that South Africans have one of the highest hypertension rates worldwide among people older than 50. Its not a statistic to be proud of, especially when you consider that high blood pressure is a leading cause of heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure and premature death.

What hypertension is

We all need blood pressure in our blood vessels to help our blood to flow through our bodies. What you don't need is for the the walls of the larger arteries to lose their elasticity and become rigid and your smaller blood vessels to become narrower. This is what is known as high blood pressure or hypertension. When this happens, you put a lot of strain on our internal organs, especially your heart, which is why hypertension often leads to severe illness and even heart attacks.

What causes it?

Hypertension is known as the 'silent killer' as it often goes undetected until it is too late. If you have a close relative with hypertension, it is especially important to pay attention to your blood pressure reading. The disease is already quite advanced by the time you experience some of its symptoms, like:

• Headaches
• Visual disturbances
• Vomiting
• Nosebleeds

In most instances, the causes of hypertension are not clear. There are a few key contributing factors, like:

• Little or no exercise
• Poor diet
• Obesity
• Older age and genetics.

Know your blood pressure measurement

Your blood pressure measurement is made up of systolic pressure (reading when your heart contracts) and diastolic pressure (reading when your heart relax - period between your heart beats). That is why blood pressure is expressed as one figure over another (like 140/90 mm Hg).

The Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa classifies blood pressure as:

What harm hypertension can do

When left untreated, hypertension can cause symptoms like tiredness, shortness of breath and swollen ankles and more severe conditions like heart failure, heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure and even damage to eyesight (glaucoma and blindness).

Managing hypertension

Tablets used to treat hypertension, relax the muscles in your artery walls, which increases the diameter of your arteries. This helps your blood flow. You may also be given 'water tablets', which will probably make you urinate a little bit more than normal. This will help reduce the amount of blood in your arteries.

Medicine is only one part of the solution. You must follow a healthy diet and do regular exercise to lower your blood pressure and any associated risks. Here are some tips:

• Follow a healthy, low-salt diet by cutting back on junk and processed foods like fried foods, packet soups, stocks, breakfast cereals and breads.
• Include at least five helpings of fruits and vegetables in your diet every day.
• Replace unhealthy saturated and trans fats (like fatty and processed meats, full-cream dairy products and butter) with healthier unsaturated fats (like sunflower and olive oils, peanut butter, nuts and seeds, avocado and fish).
• Include fatty fish (like sardines, pilchards, salmon and mackerel) in your diet at least twice a week.
• Limit your alcohol intake to a maximum of one drink a day for women and two drinks for men.
• Quit smoking and avoid second-hand smoke.
• Engage in at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day.
• Keep a healthy weight for your height.

References
www.hypertension.org.za
www.heartfoundation.co.za
www.webmd.com/
This article contains opinions and facts and references to other information sources. You should always consult a registered healthcare professional for any personal advice.

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