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What is Hypertension?

High blood pressure or hypertension is a condition that occurs when the pressure in your arteries is consistently above the normal range. Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the wall of the arteries.

Hypertension is also called the silent killer because it has no symptoms and can cause serious disease if it's left untreated for a long time.

How do I know if I have hypertension?

You usually can't tell if you have hypertension. The only way to know your blood pressure is to have it measured by your doctor. Two numbers are used to describe blood pressure.

The top number is called the Systolic blood pressure. It is a measure of blood pressure when the heart beats. The bottom number is called the diastolic blood pressure and it is a measure of the pressure when the heart rests. If a person has a blood pressure of 130 / 80, it means that the patient has a reading of 130 systolic and 80 diastolic blood pressures.

The unit of measure of blood pressure is in millimeter mercury and it is usually written as mmHg. Hence a blood pressure of 130/80 is recorded as 130/80 mmHg.

When is my blood pressure high?

Blood pressure is not the same throughout the day. It varies with time of day or night, exercise, excitement or stress. Because of this normal variation it is important to measure the Blood Pressure a few times on different occasions.

If the Blood Pressure reading is consistently equal to or higher than 140 systolic and 90 diastolic or both, then the doctor will diagnose you as having high blood pressure or hypertension.

What is high blood pressure and a healthy lifestyle?

To help control your high blood pressure (hypertension), your doctor may ask you to make changes in your lifestyle. A healthy lifestyle refers to all the things you can do for yourself to make your quality of life better and stay as healthy as possible.

What activities are included?

There are many activities you can do to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Some examples are:

• Weight Reduction: Excess body weight raises blood pressure, leads to high cholesterol, makes exercise more difficult, and is a risk factor for diabetes mellitus (high blood sugar). Losing as little as 10 pounds can be remarkably effective in reducing blood pressure and lowering the risk for many diseases which affect the heart and blood vessels.

• Exercise: High blood pressure can be lowered with moderately intense exercise, such as 30 - 45 minutes of brisk walking most days of the week. Talk to your doctor before starting an exercise program.

• Limited Salt (Sodium) Intake: Don\'t add salt to your food, follow recipes from a low-salt cookbook, choose low-salt snacks and stay away from processed foods and most of the food in "fast-food" restaurants.

• Limited Alcohol Intake: Limiting intake of alcohol (one can of beer, glass of wine, or mixed drink per day) helps control your blood pressure.

• Follow the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet: Eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, dietary fiber, potassium, calcium and magnesium, low in saturated fat, total fat and cholesterol and moderately high in protein with low-fat dairy products. If you need help in planning healthy eating patterns, talk with your doctor about nutritional counseling.

• Take prescribed medications as directed: It is important to take all medications your doctor recommended and not take yourself off your medication even if you are feeling better.

• Quit Smoking/Tobacco Use: If you smoke or use tobacco, begin a program to quit smoking. Ask your doctor about HAP smoking/tobacco cessation programs that can help.

• Keep your stress to a minimum: Learning to manage stress can help you maintain a positive outlook, which can have a positive effect on your health.

How to start!

How can I start having a healthy lifestyle? You and your physician are a team that should work together to design an appropriate program for you.

• Set short and long-term goals with your physician.
• Start with one major goal at a time.
• Discuss your successes and opportunities to do better in accomplishing these goals during office visits with your doctor.
• Reward yourself. After you have achieved your goals, treat yourself to something fun!

*Sumber dari http://www.msh.org.my/index.php

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