How to Stay Fit and Stay Healthy

 Your Way of Life and Hypertension

Hypertension is a long-term medical disorder marked by a rise in blood pressure in our arteries. This is why it's also known as hypertension (HBP). We may have come across it being referred to as a quiet murderer in several kinds of literature! Yes. It certainly is. Nobody likes to reach the end of their lives, especially at a time when there is still a lot of work to be done, words to be said, and unique people to be cherished. This is where things start to get a little problematic. More than half of persons with hypertension are completely unaware that they have it! More like an insecure king dining with a traitor and, more often than not, many more traitors, as we will see in the future.

Here are some epidemiological facts to help us appreciate what is truly at stake in this situation.

There are two types of hypertension. There's a primary type and a secondary type, of course. Non-specific factors such as one's lifestyle or genetic susceptibility cause the major type. These factors include but are not limited to, smoking, obesity, high salt intake, sedentary lifestyle, and depression, and they account for more than 95% of all hypertensive people. The remaining 5% or so have secondary hypertension, which is caused by or exacerbated by known pre-existing conditions such as chronic kidney disease, hormonal abnormalities, birth control pill use, pregnancy, coarctation of the body's largest artery, the aorta, and stenosis of one or both renal arteries.

• Fortunately, hypertension is one of those medical disorders that may be easily avoided with the use of appropriate medications, prevention approaches, and management tactics. This implies there's just one method to find out if you're hypertensive. This is achieved, in essence, by having your blood pressure monitored regularly. If left untreated, hypertension can result in any of the following:

1. that supply nutrients and blood to the heart.
2.  Congestive heart failure
3.  The Stroke
4. 4 Deafness
5.  Kidney Disease (chronic)
6. Peripher1. Coronary artery disease is a disease of the blood vessels al Vascular Disease (PVD) is a type of peripheral vascular disease that affects
7. 7 Failure of Multiple Organs
8. Death is number eight.

Why do I feel compelled to analyze my way of life?

I'd start with those of us who are so addicted to salt that we season our soft drinks, drinking water, and bathing water with it. I'd want to take us back to the Ebola virus outbreak in Nigeria a few years ago, when many sacrilegious notions arose seemingly out of nowhere, instructing people to chew kola nut with saltwater and bathe in saltwater. I hope we know how many people were allegedly killed as a result of this conduct rather than the disease outbreak itself.

The most noticeable characteristic of salt in the biological system is its ability to pull as much water with it as possible. As a result, the blood arteries become engorged and overburdened with fluid. As a result, the heart begins to overwork itself to compensate for the needless increase in volume that it must pump per cycle. The heart begins to deteriorate before you realize what's going on, finally giving way to stress.

Then there's smoking. This one is particularly awful, and its medical implications extend beyond hypertension. It is the single most critical factor in coronary artery disease development. In the long run, smoking greatly raises the risk of developing hypertension. Alcohol, its close relative, is a key player in the field of lifestyle diseases. Hypertension caused by each of them is bad enough, but when you combine the two, it's far worse. I can envision Jericho's magnificent wall collapsing once more.

A very common one, of which almost everyone is guilty, is also worthy of attention. This is a form of exercise. The normal recommendation is that you exercise for at least 30 minutes every day for at least three days a week. You are only allowed to get as far as this. Exercise merely improves your heart's performance and allows it to cope with additional workload unless you've consumed too much salt or another chemical that causes your blood volume to be overloaded. In addition, your heart rate has increased and your blood is flowing more quickly. These are just a few of the many positive consequences of exercise on your body.

Obesity and hypertension have a significant link. Obese people have problems with glucose, protein, and lipid metabolism. As a result, they are more likely to develop Diabetes Mellitus, and an under-utilized high amount of glucose in the blood is just as dangerous as a high level of salt in the blood. Bad lipids are frequently deposited on the inner walls of their arteries, narrowing their widths and impeding blood flow. Increased peripheral resistance of the blood arteries is one of the reasons for hypertension in obese people.

Finally, suffice it to say that what we see is what we consume in this edition of your Health column. There isn't much else to say about this. Eat well, eat wisely, and eat correctly!