Blood Pressure? Who, me?

I sure hope its not you! Even if it is, be armed with knowledge and attack it right back!

Blood Pressure is more of a 'trait' than disease. It risies with age and is closely related to Stroke and Cardiovascular disease among a host of other things (it can also affect the eye and the kidney).

Blood Pressure is measured as two readings and expressed in a form that looks like a fraction (but it is NOT a fraction!). For eg. 150/90mm of Hg. This simply means that when the heart is pumping out the maximum blood pressure reached in the blood vessels is 150mm of Hg - we call this the Systolic Blood Pressure; when the heart is relaxed and getting filled with venous blood, the blood pressure that continues to hold up the blood vessels is 90mm of Hg - we call this the Diastolic Blood Pressure.

There are many definitions for ideal blood pressure, but an average reading of 120/80mm of Hg is taken as normal. Between Systolic and Diastolic blood pressures, Systolic is more fluctuant (varies more easily with stress, emotions, position, time of day, etc). So a Diastolic blood pressure reading will give a better guide to control, though controlling the systolic blood pressure is no less important.
A Diastolic blood pressure of 90mm of Hg or lesser is known to increase health benefits.
The WHO classifies 130-139mm of Hg Systolic pressure and 85-89mm of Hg Diastolic pressure as 'high' normal blood pressure.

Blood Pressure tends to run in families but there are many external factors that influence it, which fall well within our control. Some of these factors are diet, smoking, blood cholesterol, alcohol intake and stress. Other factors like age, gender (men are more prone than women but no, it is not proved that women are a cause!), diabetes, ethnic origin are beyond our control.

Diet, smoking, alcohol intake are eminently under our powers to modify and control as is blood cholesterol though to a lesser extent.

A diet rich in salt makes you more prone to developing high blood pressure, especially if someone in your family (I mean a blood relative like parent, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, grand-parent or cousin) is already known to have blood pressure. So keep your hands off the yummy Indian pickle, the dry fish, dry-chillies and other things that come enticingly soaked and dried in curd! Some studies have shown a diet high in potassium can have a protective effect. So grab that banana, and any other fresh fruit you can lay your hands on!

Smoking is slow poison. Like all poisons, best avoided. This requires an entire discussion by itself, coz this is the commonest thing we pay for to buy disease!! All I can say now is stopping smoking can begin to clear out some of the bad effects (depending on how long and how much the smoking has been for. Most effects are reversible in a span of 10 years, though all are not) and going on drugs without stopping will give much less benefit.

Alcohol is a double-take. Too much and it does you in (liver, heart, brain all the way to heaven) but take it in small amounts (what is small amounts?) and it can actually help lower blood pressure! If you do wish to try it out, make sure you are able to stop with small amounts!

Blood Cholesterol is something you can modify though you may not be able to control. This also unfortunately runs in families. There are two types of blood cholesterol: The good HDL (this acts like a big scavenger that removes the smaller bad ones from the blood vessels) and the bad Triglycerides and LDL. The ratio between these types is more important than the actual Total Cholesterol.

Good cholesterol or HDL is abundant in olive oil, certain types of fish and nuts. Upto 4 or 5 helpings of fresh fruits and salads a day also contributes to keep the cholesterol ratio good.

Bad cholesterol starts getting deposited in blood vessels from the age of 2. So start early on a good diet. Ghee, butter are delicious but brim over with bad cholesterol. So keep off them.

Exercise also has many beneficial effects. If you have the time and motivation, go ahead!

How do you know if you have Blood Pressure?
The best way is to have regular health checks. Other than that, here are some symptoms you could watch out for:
Any nagging headache, chest pain (due to prolonged undiagnosed bloodpressure against which the heart struggles to pump out), breathlessnes (since heart finds it difficult to pump against so much resistance, some backlog might soak the lungs), palpitations, bleeding from the nose. Disturbance in vision, fits and transient loss in consciousness can indicate to an impending stroke!

Sometimes, blood pressure can also be secondary to other disease like disease of the kidney, some hormonal problems, disease in blood vessels, pregnancy and certain drugs.

Did you know there is a defined form of blood pressure called 'White-coat' hypertension? It is blood pressure increase in people only in clinical visits!!

If you do have blood pressure, do all the things we have discussed to avoid it and get treated! Whatever anyone might say, once you get blood pressure, it is sadly your friend for life. It is under control on medication, then it is under control because of the medication, so don't try to stop it on your own. Even if it does come under control on diet and exercise, check it out at regular intervals so that it will not quietly sneak up on you without your knowing it!