Hypertension

Hypertension, often known as high blood pressure, is defined as blood pressure that is higher than usual. Typically, your blood pressure fluctuates throughout the day. However, having frequent high blood pressure readings usually indicates that you are a hypertensive patient.

A normal blood pressure level is less than 120/80 mmHg

Your blood pressure reading has two numbers:

• The first number is systolic blood pressure which reflects the amount of pressure and the force at which your heart pumps blood.
• The second number is diastolic blood pressure which indicates the resistance to blood flow in the blood vessels.

High blood pressure (Hypertension) is sometimes referred to as the “silent killer” because it has no symptoms. and the only way to find out if you are a hypertensive patient is to measure it.

This includes many factors, some of them are modifiable like:

• Being overweight
• Eating a lot of salt
• Not eating enough fruits and vegetables
• Lack of exercise
• Drinking a lot of alcoholic or caffeinated beverages.
• Smoking
• Taking some medication such as contraceptive pills and Some cough and cold medicines. Luckily, when you stop using the medicine, your blood pressure may return to normal.

While the non-modifiable factors include

• Kidney disease
• Diabetes
• Hormonal problems such as underactive or overactive thyroid gland