‘Older people should check their blood pressure regularly’
Dr. Chris Achi is the Senior Special Assistant to Ebonyi State Governor, Engineer. David Umahi on primary health care. Achi who is also a specialist in public health and one time director public health, state ministry of health in this interview speaks on hypertension and how best to avoid it.
What is high blood pressure?
Blood pressure a pressure within the heart which supplies blood to other parts of the body. But when there is so much pressure on the heart , it is like an engine pumping water to a garden, and if there is a blockage in any part of the pipe , that is the blood vessel in the heart, the machine will be working under higher pressure, that is how it is with the human heart.
There are some vital areas in the human body that the heart must constantly pump blood to, and that is the brain. If for any reason there is shortage of blood to the brain within minutes or seconds, it can cause instant death.
In the case of stroke, if any particular side that is controlled by the brain is not adequately supplied, it can lead to shortage of supply to the arteries, and the person could have a partial stroke and in some cases, a total stroke which could lead to death.
High blood pressure is a silent killer. It occurs when the blood pressure of an average is adult rises above 150. The blood pressure of an adult is supposed to be 120-90 or 70. In older adults 130,120 and 80, 70 is seen as normal but above 130, 90 is not.
Systolic pressure is the one at the upper chamber while the diastolic pressure is the one at the lower chamber. That is why we say 120-80. So when the systolic blood pressure gets above 140 for an adult, it is a case of hypertension and when the diastolic pressure is 90 in normal adults, it is hypertension, but when it rises above 100 it is severe hypertension, also when the systolic rises above 150 it is severe hypertension.
What are the causes of hypertension?
There are a lot of things that can increase the work of the heart. For instance, as people get older, they eat a lot of things which lead to accumulation of fat along the walls of the blood vessels and, these things cause the blood vessels to get narrow so that the flow of blood is reduced.
If the heart continues to pump blood on a very high pressure, the heart can stop working and that is what we call cardiac arrest. You hear people say ‘that man was healthy and all of a sudden, he slumped and died’ it is because his heart failed.
Heart failure occurs when the heart can no longer work on its optimal capacity because there are blocks along the walls of the blood vessel.
What are hypertension? the signs of
Most times, hypertension does not show any sign and that is why it is regarded as a silent killer. However, constant headache is a sign of the disease, even then people may not know and continue to buy drugs for headache.
So when you have headache, it is a signal telling you something is wrong somewhere, don’t settle for self mediation.
Does it affect people of all ages?
As men get older, there is a condition called atherosclerosis, that is
the thickening of the wall of the blood vessel . The chances of expanding the pressure within the heart becomes small , and that is why hypertension is common among older people.
So when a man gets to 40 years, he is supposed to check his blood pressure at least once a month. In economies like ours today, people are under a lot of pressure, and no longer resting, this creates chance of developing hypertension.
Some disease condition can also lead to hypertension. If there is problem affecting the kidney, because the body organs work together, it might lead to high blood pressure.
People who smoke and drink much alcohol constantly are also at risk of hypertension because it reduces the interior walls of the blood vessel.
So there is need for people to always check their blood pressure because when sudden death caused by hypertension occurs, we attribute it to witchcraft.
What are the preventive measures?
There is what we call essential hypertension, essential hypertension is hereditary and those that find themselves under this class have a higher risk of developing hypertension than those who have no family history of hypertension.
This class of people need to do constant health check. Those who are obese equally have the tendency of developing hypertension. So the obese should reduce weight through the kind of things they eat, and this is very important.
Then as you get older , you avoid red meat and taking of too much salt because it increases hypertension. You should also see you doctor virtually every month, and check your blood pressure in any nearby health clinic.
Another important thing is exercise, people who engage in exercise have less likelihood of developing hypertension than those who don’t.
If you have the disease, to manage it, reduce the number of activities that you engage yourself in to prevent stress. Exercise constantly and most importantly every adult particularly older people should always go to the nearest health clinic to check their blood pressure.