Hypertension is the second name of high blood pressure. Blood pressure is the force that blood exerts against the walls of their blood vessels. It can lead to severe health damage and can increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and sometimes death.

The pressure of blood depends on the resistance of the blood vessels. It more the pressure, the hard the heart must work.

It is pertinent to mention here the fact that half of all adults in the United States have high blood pressure. However, many are not aware of it. In the world, the number of high blood pressure patients is gargantuan as well.

High blood pressure or hypertension is a primary risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. These diseases include heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and aneurysm.

If hypertension is not under control, the risk of health complications remains alive. In this article, we will see how we can control and monitor it and the ways by which blood pressure can be maintained.

Management and Treatment

One major deterrent to high blood pressure is the balance of diet and lifestyle. If the lifestyle is adjusted and the standards are fine, hypertension remains under control.

Regular Physical Exercise

It is recommended for the prevention of any extremity to engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity, aerobic exercise every week or 75 minutes a week of high-intensity exercise. The exercise of 5 days is vital in maintaining hypertension. The suitable exercises for this are walking, jogging, cycling, and swimming.

Stress Reduction

Avoiding or learning to manage stress can help a person control blood pressure. The techniques that can relieve stress are meditation, warm baths, long walks, and yoga.

Alcohol, recreational drugs, junk food, and tobacco can fuel blood pressure and the complications of hypertension. Smoking can increase blood pressure as well. Thus, if you are a smoker then quit smoking as it will play a vital role in reducing the risk of hypertension, serious heart conditions and other health issues.

Medication

Specific hypertension is also used while treating hypertension. A low dose is always recommended at first, to check the side effects if it has any. As hypertension grows, people are advised to combine two or more drugs to manage their blood pressure.

Some of the medications for hypertension are angiotensin receptor blockers, vasodilators, central agonists, calcium-channel blockers, diuretics and indapamide to name a few.

However, the choice of medication relies on the individual and can vary on the medical conditions that one may experience.

Diet

High blood pressure or hypertension can be prevented by following a heart-healthy diet.

Reduce the Salt Intake

The average salt intake of a normal person is between 9 grams and 12 grams per day. The recommendation is 5 grams a day of help decrease the risk of hypertension and related health problems. Minimum salt intake is mandatory to prevent hypertension.

The other precautionary measures include moderating alcohol consumption to 12-ounce (oz) bottle per beer and eating more fruit and vegetables and less fat. It is important to avoid trans fats, hydrogenated vegetable oils, and animal fats. Some fats like in the fish and olive oil, have protective effects on the heart. Managing body weight can also play an important role in maintaining blood pressure or hypertension.

Causes of Hypertension

The causes of hypertension are unknown in many cases. But mostly, it is the result of the following conditions.

Doctors call high blood pressure that is not due to another condition or disease primary or essential hypertension. Primary hypertension can result from multiple factors, including: Hormone activity in people who manage blood volume and pressure using a medication, environmental factors such as stress and lack of exercise, and blood plasma volume.

Often, Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) causes the blood pressure when the kidneys no longer filler out the fluid. The conditions involved in this case are:

• Diabetes, due to kidney problems and nerve damage
• Pheochromocytoma and rare cancer of an adrenal gland
• Kidney disease
• Pregnancy
• Sleep Apnoea
• Overactive Thyroid Gland

Risk Factor of Hypertension

Several factors increase the risk of high blood pressure.

Age: The people who are more than 60 years of age are more prone to high blood pressure. Blood pressure increases steadily with age as the arteries stiffen and narrow due to plaque.

Ethnicity: It may come as a surprise for many that some ethnic groups are more prone to hypertension than others. For instance, African Americans have a higher risk than others.

Apart from these two, alcohol, sex and existing health conditions are also the major risk factors for high blood pressure.

The bottom line is if the reading indicates same or higher conditions, the person should seek immediate assistance at the nearest hospital.