It is believed that hypertension AKA high blood pressure puts you at risk for heart attack and stroke. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, whose statistics are from 2015, Heart disease was the number one cause of death in the United States. Stroke was the fifth cause of death. The site does say “The 10 leading causes of death in 2016 remained the same as in 2015”. Although I don’t see any statistics on the break down of the heart disease deaths. How many were from heart conditions that were present at birth? How many were from injury to the heart? What are they considering “heart disease”? I mean, I would think that someone would what the “heart disease” numbers broken down into specific categories. Where is that information? Anyway, for some reason I am thinking about blood pressure. Could be because I was going through my pictures and a came across a picture I took of some information regarding truth and myths about high blood pressure.
It basically said that it is myth to think high blood pressure is normal and not dangerous. Untreated high blood pressure is dangerous. In addition to it possibly leading to heart disease and stroke it could damage the heart and/or kidneys. And according to that it could lead to a loss of vision.
Also . . . and this one is a HUGE common belief that they are labeling a myth, the one where “it runs in my family”. I’ve heard so many people say that it runs in their family so they just accept having it. As if there is nothing they can do about it. There is an actual belief out there that people CAN do something about it whether it is a family thing or not.
Another myth that the picture brings up is that if the symptoms such as nervousness or sweating are not present then there is not high blood pressure. But high blood pressure is nicknamed the silent killer because people can have it and not know. And, again, untreated high blood pressure can be dangerous. It is like your body being under assault all the time.
I just looked at the American Heart Association’s website they adjusted the numbers since I posted Blood Pressure Monitors – It’s All In the Wrist in 2012. They changed the numbers and the categories or what they call the numbers. There is normal, elevated, High Blood Pressure/Hypertension Stage 1, High Blood Pressure/Hypertension Stage 2, and High Blood Pressure/Hypertension Stage 3.
There are a lot of things that are proven to lower blood pressure. For some people the things that can lower blood pressure are really difficult to do. I know people in high stress jobs or in very stressful situations, might have a difficult time alleviating that stress. It is not as if people can just quit their jobs or completely change their living/life situation. So if life stress is something in your life that you can’t change then perhaps there are things you can do to combat it. Like exercising, going for walks, being outside, having a pet, visiting with friends, doing yoga . . . .doing things that can counter act the stress. Then there are things like losing weight, not everyone with high blood pressure is overweight but many are and if we were able to lose just five pounds sometimes that can help. Also, a change in diet. If there is switch from over processed/fast foods to fresh fruits and vegetables and home cooked meals that can help. Sometimes it can be a domino affect . . . . if someone decides to take up walking and getting outside to help combat the stress they might just lose some fat because of that. And/or a change in the diet might just help the fat come off.
Since the belief is that high blood pressure could cause heart disease and/or a stroke, it seems like along with that the belief is that lower it if it is high can help prevent that. And who doesn’t want that?
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