ARE YOU HYPERTENSIVE?

Hello people, its been a long while, forgive my laziness.

I do have a couple of things to discuss in the next few days, weeks, months and even years so i suggest you strap up your seat belts because we are going on this ride together.


Hypertension is a sensitive topic as it is one of the major killers of our time. Most people cringe at the topic and most just take it likely. In my humble opinion however, i suggest we take hypertension (AKA High blood pressure) very serious.




The plan is not to scare you, its just that we need to realize the importance of good health and appreciate it and try as much as possible to maintain it.

Hypertension is when blood pressure readings are consistently above 140/90. This is a very basic rule for determining whether the reading is high or not. There is more to it than this. But nevertheless, in its most basic sense, a reading is high when it exceeds these numbers. What about if the blood pressure exceeds just one of these numbers? This is where it gets a little dicey. So, let’s get a little deeper into the subject.

A blood pressure reading consists of 2 parts. The first part is the systolic reading. This is the top number. The bottom number is the diastolic reading. To an extent, the diastolic number is considered to be the more important one. Still, systolic numbers that run wild can also be very dangerous.

When a doctor takes your reading, the old-fashioned way, he pumps up the cuff on the patient’s arm to the point where the pressure exceeds what he guesses will be the systolic reading. He then slowly lets air out of the cup and waits until he picks up the sound of the patient’s pulse on his stethoscope. The point at which the pulse is heard is the systolic reading.

This is often very important piece of this specific theme. He then continues to let air out of the cuff until he can no longer hear the pulse. The point at which he can no longer hear the pulse is the diastolic reading. So, in essence the doctor is determining how much effort the heart is making to pump blood through the patient’s veins.

When your blood pressure is high, you give the heart a heavy workload and you know what happens when you over-work anything? you do the maths..

Furthermore, hypertension is usually a long-term concern. So, a lifestyle conducive to good health is one that puts little strain on the heart. But nevertheless, living many years with hypertension tends to wear out the heart.

Just like every other thing in life, high blood pressure has different ranged from mild to severe and even moderate.

Systolic: Under 100 = low

100 to 120 = good 

120 to 140 very good

140 to 160 = mildly high

160 to 180 = high Over

180 = very high

Diastolic: Under 60 = low

60 to 70 = good

70 to 84 = excellent

84 to 90 = good

90 to 100 = somewhat high

100 to 110 = high Over

110 = very high.

Blood pressure rises with age in most Nigerians. It is prevalent more in the urban areas than the rural areas. In women, this trend is marked after 50 years. 1 in 10 Nigerian adults have high blood pressure, 1 out of every 3 are aware and 1 out of 3 of those aware are on treatment.

Hypertension has risk factors such as stress, Obesity, Alcoholism (which can lead to Heart failure, stroke, subclinical left ventricular dysfunction, Arrhythmias e.t.c.) smoking (vasculotoxic), low potassium intake, low calcium intake, high cholesterol diet, high NaCl (salt) diet and increase in Uric acid.

How do you prevent high blood pressure you may ask, abstain from smoking, either first-hand or second-hand, moderate intensive physical activity AKA exercising the body for at least 30 minutes 5days a week, maintain or attain a healthy body weight, and if you must take alcohol, please take in moderation because you also don't want to get your liver mad at you.

Try as much as possible to limit your intake of saturated fat and consume fish regularly. You also need to consume sufficient amount of fruits and vegetables regularly and in-addition, fiber-rich grain products and legumes. Finally, reduce salt intake as much as possible.

Medical treatments are essential and in most cases we combine 2 or more drugs for effectiveness, these treatments further reduce the risk of stroke, cardiac events and death, it may also improve the quality of life.

Please check your blood pressure every chance you get at any hospital or nearby clinic, health is wealth, stay stress-free and eat healthy....

Ciao