As important as it is, many people do
not know their blood pressure level. One would be going too far to ask
if they even know their blood sugar or cholesterol levels.
For us to live long and healthy, doctors
recommend that every one, no matter on the person’s age or sex, should
know what his or her blood pressure level and number.
They warn that being ignorant of this
number increases one’s chance of dying suddenly of stroke, kidney
failure and heart diseases.
Consultant Cardiologist, Dr. Segun
Akinsanya, likens not knowing one’s blood pressure to “sitting on a bomb
comfortably” and warns that such negligent attitude to matters
concerning health can lead to sudden death.
According to Akinsanya, lifestyle
choices such as smoking, poor diet, heavy alcohol consumption and lack
of exercise are factors that can predispose people to high blood
pressure and knowing this will help such individuals to make informed
lifestyle choices.
He adds that Africans, who are more
prone to developing high blood pressure and hypertension, should be more
concerned on how to take appropriate steps to prevent and manage high
blood pressure.
Akinsanya warns that a major reason why
one should be vigilant and monitor one’s high blood pressure is because
it has a strong link to kidney and heart failure.
“High blood pressure is the number one
cause of heart diseases and cardiovascular deaths. Again, heart disease
is the number one cause of death globally, as more people die annually
from it than from any other disease. One in every three deaths is from
hypertensive heart disease.
“High blood pressure weakens the heart
and reduces its functions. When not managed well, it is a deadly
condition. It can lead to sudden death and kidney failure. In fact, it
is the first cause of organ failure.
“The good news, however, is that it can
be managed and controlled for many decades with drugs and lifestyle
changes, if only you realise that you have it. But we must know that our
wellbeing is in our hands, You don’t control what you don’t know. You
don’t prevent what you don’t see as a danger to your health and in this
case life,” the medic adds.
It is not just organ failure, a experts
also attribute the increasing population of Nigerians developing stroke
to the growing cases of undiagnosed, unmanaged hypertension (high blood
pressure) and diabetes.
Consultant Neurosurgeon and stroke care
specialist, Dr. Biodun Ogungbo, says about 40 per cent of Nigerians are
living with factors that can predispose them to developing stroke.
These factors, he says, are high blood pressure, high blood sugar level, smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity
He warns that more young people in their
30s, 40s and 50s are developing and dying of stroke due to the
increasing population of hypertensive and diabetic patients.
Ogungbo notes that stroke, a preventable
disease, occurs when there is either too much blood in the brain (wet
stroke) or when no blood is going into the brain (dry stroke) and it is
usually due to unmanaged and undetected hypertension.
“The incidence of hypertension is high
in Nigeria. Almost half of patients I see for the first time in clinic
for other problems such as back pain have high blood pressure.
“Hypertension is common in black people.
We do not know why. It is therefore common in Nigerians and some
statistics say over 40 per cent of adults in Nigeria have hypertension.
“Unfortunately, for some reasons,
younger people are becoming hypertensive and suffering the consequences,
which border on stroke and heart failure.”
Ogungbo says that good preventive
measures and management of high blood pressure can check the incidence
of stroke, which results in loss of speech, paralysis, urinary
incontinence, mental disability, physical disability, blindness, loss of
body movement and even death in most cases.
The neurologist says that there is a
need for urgent awareness especially among Africans on the fact that
stroke can be prevented if hypertension or high blood pressure is
detected early.
“Anyone with a pressure consistently
above normal has high blood pressure. The cut off for it is above 140/90
mmHg. It does not give any warning and usually no one knows if his or
her pressure is high or not until he or she does a test. By the time you
have definite symptoms such as headaches, organs like the heart, brain
and kidneys may have been damaged.”
To prevent high blood pressure, Ogungbo
advises that one must monitor one’s blood pressure and adopt a healthy
lifestyle that prevents obesity.
Ogungbo says, “We must take exercise
more seriously to shed calories. Fat forms layers in the blood vessels
and causes them to become narrow. This increases the work of the heart
in pumping blood through the vessels leading to high blood pressure.
“Eat plenty fruits and vegetables. Do
not smoke and avoid alcohol. Lose weight. That 20 minutes walk or
exercise daily may just save your life.
“If you need medication for blood
pressure control, please use it and do not stop because someone tells
you to. Hypertension is for life and does not go away. It cannot be
cured but can be managed and controlled.”
