Many people in today’s world suffer from various health conditions. Some medical conditions display early symptoms, while others remain undiagnosed until detected.
Doctors gave “Silent Killer” as a name to many medical conditions that don’t show any obvious symptoms, like heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and ovarian cancer.
A lot of people globally are affected by this chronic medical condition. After Covid-19, the cases of high blood pressure increased because people weren’t going out. And so, there was a lack of physical activity. Working people sit for hours in front of the computer, which converts fat into cholesterol. Blood pressure increases and blocks blood flow in blood vessels, affecting heart health by increasing cholesterol.
Now, let us find the answer to the question that everyone is curious about why hypertension is called the silent killer.
Why Hypertension is Called the Silent Killer?
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This health condition is either called Hypertension or High blood pressure. Over 1 billion people in the world have been affected by hypertension, according to a survey done by the World Heart Federation.
When the heart pumps blood, the blood applies a force on the blood flow on the walls of blood veins. The force in the blood flow damages other organs. Hypertension or high blood pressure sometimes doesn’t show any symptoms, which is why it is frequently called a silent killer.
The normal blood pressure that everyone should have is 120/80 mmHG. Your blood pressure is measured with millimeters of mercury, which is also written as mmHg.
For instance, if your blood pressure is 140/81 mmHg, then it means that 140 mmHg is the systolic pressure and 81 mmHg is the diastolic pressure. So, here systolic pressure means when the heart pumps blood around the body, and diastolic pressure means when the blood flows around the heart and it eases between the beats.
A person has a high risk of developing high blood pressure if the blood pressure reading is between 121/80 mmHg and 139/89 mmHg. If hypertension is left untreated, there is a higher risk of having a stroke, heart failure, or a heart attack.
You can either go to the doctor or can check it with the help of automatic blood pressure-checking machines.
1. Causes of Hypertension
Doctors have mentioned some common risk factors that can be responsible for hypertension.
If you are overweight, it may cause an overload in your heart, due to which there will be an increase in blood flow. Losing weight will reduce obesity, which will help a healthy heart pump blood normally.
1.1. Increase Salt Consumption Provokes Hypertension
Consuming excessive salt encourages the body to retain water which increases fluid in the body. Blood pressure increases because of this and puts a load on the blood vessels. It is bad if sodium levels are high in your blood. Drinking a lot of water can help to remove the sodium from your body in the form of urine.
1.2. Physical Inactivity Encourages Hypertensive Crisis
Being physically active not only helps to control high blood pressure it also helps to control many other diseases. In the case of hypertension, exercise helps you to lose weight.
1.3. Stress Encourages Your Blood Pressure to Elevate
A lot of stress can also cause hypertension. Due to stress your heart rate raises and increases your blood pressure. Many people are likely to develop high blood pressure because of stress. You can relax yourself with some interesting activities to manage your stress.
1.4. Medical Conditions That Could be a Reason for the Evolve of Hypertension
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Some health conditions and medicines given for some medical conditions can be responsible for the increased risk factors for the occurrence of hypertension.
Thyroid, Hormonal problems, Pregnancy, Lupus, Long-term kidney disease, Diabetes, Heart disease, Sleep Apnoea, Contraction in the artery walls that is the aorta, Tumor in the adrenal gland, etc.
If you’re taking contraceptive capsules, steroids, aspirin, some medicines that you may be taking for colds and coughs, antidepressant pills, etc.
Other reasons for which you can develop high blood pressure could be a family history of someone who had hypertension, which comes genetically. People aged above 65, African Americans, etc.
2. Symptoms of Hypertension
A person with hypertension gets Constant headaches, poor eyesight, chest pain, and some other symptoms.
If your blood pressure reading is 180/80 or more, then the symptoms could be headaches, chest pain, feeling weak, nauseous, vomiting, being always tired, difficulty breathing, blurred vision, anxiety, ear buzzing, nose bleeding, or an odd heart rhythm.
3. Treatment for Hypertension
Your sedentary lifestyle will have an increased risk factor of blood pressure. So, now is your time to change yourself by adopting some lifestyle changes for a healthy lifestyle.
There are several treatments that you can take by yourself at home, with lifestyle changes like having a healthy and low-salt diet, doing yoga and exercise daily, reducing the limit of your alcohol intake, losing weight, stopping smoking, engaging yourself with your hobbies to reduce stress, getting sufficient sleep daily, etc.
Medicines like calcium blockers, which reduce sodium levels and water in your blood; blood thinners that are also given to some patients to remove blood clots; beta blockers help to lower blood pressure; medicines that widen the blood vessels and any other medicines depending on your blood pressure diagnosis.
4. Do’s and Don’ts to Prevent Hypertension or High Blood Pressure
Many people are wondering what precautionary measures have to be taken to prevent high blood pressure.
Do’s:
- Foods that a hypertension patient should eat are fruits, vegetables, low-fat foods, whole grains, and protein.
- Regular exercise helps reduce weight and decreases the force of blood flow.
- Weight depends on your height, so consult your doctor and get to know your healthy weight.
- Eating prescribed medicines
- Drinking alcohol.
- Quit smoking. Smoking widens the blood vessels and increases blood pressure.
- Checking your blood pressure regularly.
- Avoid taking on too much stress.
Don’ts:
- Per day, you just have to eat 2 milligrams of salt, or you can stop eating salt.
- You can either stop or reduce eating meat.
- Should stop eating processed and packed food as it contains high sodium.
- Avoid excessive caffeine consumption. Instead, you consume decaffeinated beverages.
- Women should reduce to 1 drink per day, and men should reduce to 2 drinks per day.
- Insufficient or poor sleep increases hypertension. Don’t neglect sleep; aim to have 7 to 8 hours of sleep.
- Don’t sit for too long. Exercise will reduce the force of blood flow.
- Don’t stop taking medicines. Take everything prescribed by the doctor. Go for a routine checkup. Monitor your blood pressure daily.
Conclusion
This article has all the possible reasons and causes why hypertension is called the silent killer.
In our body heart plays an important role to help other organs to function properly. And when you have a bad lifestyle your heart can’t bear it. It silently starts to develop symptoms like an uneven rhythm of heartbeats, a heart attack, heart failure, etc.
Hypertension can be a silent killer, but if you give medical attention and maintain a healthy diet your heart health will be good. This chronic medical condition isn’t curable, but changing your lifestyle and taking prescribed medicines regularly can control your high blood pressure.
Last Updated on by Himani Rawat
