The blood pressure (BP), is the pressure of your blood on the walls of your arteries as your heart pumps it around your body.
Quite often, you hear people say, though ignorantly, that “I don’t have a blood pressure.” This is far from the truth. Naturally and physiological, every human being or animal, whether the higher or lower animals, has a blood pressure.
The blood pressure is a vital part of how your heart and circulation of blood work. This pressure naturally goes up and down all the time, adjusting to your heart’s need and depending also on the activities you’re performing. The blood pressure is denoted as:
BP = Systolic Pressure
Diastolic blood pressure
Therefore the normal blood pressure in a human being is:
–Systolic = 90 – 120 (measured in millimetres of mercury, mmttg.
–Diastolic = 60 – 80 (measured in millimetres of mercury, mmttg.
Your pre-hypertensive status is as follows:
–Systolic = 130 – 140 mmtg
–Diastolic = 80 – 90 mmtg
A high blood pressure is said to have occurred when your blood pressure is persistently higher than the normal.
A medical doctor can confidently make a diagnosis of a high pressure (Hypertension) in an individual, when the measured blood pressure of the person is persistently higher than the normal values consecutively for three days.
Primary or essential hypertension constitute about 80 percent of all cases of hypertension. These are no known causes for this type of hypertension, except for predisposing factors or risk factors. These factors are mostly modifiable.
Modifiable factors are factors that we have control over as human beings. Chief amongst these factors are our life-style patterns, normally:
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- Diets – foods that are more likely to affect our blood pressure in a negative way include but not limited to packaged and processed foods. For example, breakfast sausages and hot dogs are loaded with sodium. The mineral sodium brings about an increase in the blood volume, hence hypertension. You can avoid this sodium by buying meat directly from the butcher, rather than from the grocer’s refrigerated section. Salt and sodium are culprits in the management of hypertension. Research shows that people living with high blood pressure should limit their daily sodium intake to 1500mg. Note that the saltiest packaged foods include deli meat, frozen pizza, vegetable juices, canned soup, canned or bottled tomato products.
- Alcohol – It’s widely believed that the ingestion of a little bit of red wine is good for the heart and can lead a reduction of heart disease. This called controlled or moderate consumption of alcohol can lead to an initial dehydration and on a long term, weight gain both consequently leading to a high blood pressure state.
- Sedentary Lifestyle – This is a lifestyle commonly typified by little or no physical activity. A person living a sedentary lifestyle is often sitting or lying down while engaging in an activity like reading, socializing, watching television, playing video games, or using a mobile phone/computer for much of the day.
The non-modifiable factors that predispose to hypertension include the following:
— Race – Hypertension is more common among blacks and other races;
— Age – The older one becomes, the chances are that if these modifiable factors are not checked, there will be a tendency to development of high blood pressure;
— Sex – Research has shown that before the age of 60 years, hypertension is more prevalent in males than females. But at age 60 years and above, the incidence is the same for both sexes;
— Genetic/Hereditary factors – Two commonly occurring factors will be mentioned briefly here. They are namely:
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- a) Neurofibromatosis – is essentially a condition that causes tumors to form in the brain, spinal cord and nerves. This genetic condition usually predisposes to high blood pressure;
- b) Autosomal dominant polycystic kidneys characterized by the growth of numerous cysts in the kidney. It’s the most common inherited disorder of the kidney. This condition can also predispose to high blood pressure.
■ Dr. C. Ugochukwu Ulasi is the West African Pilot Medical Correspondent and Analyst, and could be reached at +234 – 8077516282
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