Ubong-Abasi James Edemenang

Jean Widdison

HLTH 1020

6 April 2017

The effects of Hypertension

Hypertension is a disease that affects "70 million people in the United States and more

than 1 billion worldwide" (Chobanian). "Hypertension is the leading cause of

cardiovascular disease" along with other diseases like "myocardial infarction, heart failure,

and end-stage renal disease"(Stone, Martyn, and Weaver).

Hypertension is a condition that that affected my father and also affects my wife. My

dad dealt with high blood pressure for most of his life which lead to heart disease and

contributed to his passing but not before he tried to lower it. My wife has dealt with high

blood pressure due to weight but has had success in combating this by diet change, exercise

and medications.

Hypertension is "a common condition the long-term force of the blood against your

artery walls is high enough that it may eventually cause health problems. Blood pressure is

determined by both the amount of blood your heart pumps and the amount of resistance to

blood flow in your arteries." Meaning "the more blood your heart pumps and the narrower

your arteries, the higher your blood pressure" (Mayo Clinic). High blood is "defined by a

systolic blood pressure of at least 140 mm Hg and a diastolic blood pressure of at least 90

mm Hg" (Chobanian). The systolic measures the pressure in your blood vessels when the
heart is beating and the diastolic measures the pressure that is in your vessels when it is at

rest.

The chance of hypertension does increase by age especially over the age of 60 which

goes from 10% at the age of 30 to 50% after the age of 60. Some hypertension is attributed

to renal or adrenal disease but most people with hypertension have what is called essential

hypertension, Essential hypertension is basically any hypertension not associated with renal

or adrenal disease.(Sacks,Campos)

The most effective way that my wife found to help with her hypertension was to

change her diet by including more fresh foods like fruits and vegetables and cutting out

processed foods. My dad was also able to use this approach because the diet native to

Nigerians is to use tons of fresh vegetables in our cooking. One thing that this does, that

benefits those who suffer from hypertension, is to cut down the amount of sodium that is

incorporated in the diet. The DASH diet or the "Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension"

diet was introduced to us for the purpose of helping those people who suffer from or need to

prevent hypertension to get or stay in a healthy zone so that their blood pressure stays at a

level that will not negatively affect them. (Sacks,Hannia) Adding these fresh ingredients

helped both to be healthier and drop that blood pressure.

The guidelines for the DASH diet are to include nutrient rich foods and cut out foods

with large amounts of sodium. "High sodium intake is strongly correlated with the

development of hypertension. Sodium intake initiates an autoregulatory sequence that leads

to increased intravascular fluid volume and cardiac output, peripheral resistance, and blood

pressure."(Sack,Hannia) It is advised that we monitor just how much sodium we incorporate

into our diets daily because it is so easy with the processed foods in our American diets to go

way over the recommended daily value.

 "Two effective interventions for lowering blood pressure in patients with hypertension

are reducing sodium intake and reducing weight. Reductions in dietary salt lessen the amount

of sodium the kidney has to excrete to restore normal blood volume. Weight loss moderates

activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone axis and the sympathetic nervous system

and diminishes sodium retention. Decreases in abdominal visceral fat also improve the

functioning of both conduit and resistance vessels."(Sack,Hannia) So by decreasing the

sodium intake we are giving our kidneys a break from trying to get rid of it in our bodies of

these unwanted salts and by losing weight we are reducing the abdominal fat that attributes to

the high blood pressure.

Another way that my wife and my dad found to try to combat the hypertension was to

increase physical activity which in turn reduces weight causing the blood pressure to

decrease. Before my wife started her exercise routine her blood pressure was at 155/95 but

after only 1 month of consistent physical activity only it dropped down to 145/87. And then

she added her diet change which helped it drop even more to 133/83. She has been able to

maintain her blood pressure within a few points ever since by keeping up the aerobic activity

and by monitoring the sodium intake in her diet.

I think that the society that we live in makes it easy to get that extra sodium in our

diets. They make sodium rich foods readily available and the healthy low sodium foods are

food that we have to work for and prepare ourselves. The DASH diet recommends that we

include "poultry, fish, nuts, and legumes instead of red meat; low-fat and nonfat dairy

products instead of full-fat dairy products; vegetables and fruit instead of snacks and desserts

high in sugars; breads and pastas made from whole grain instead of white flour; fruit itself

rather than fruit juice; and polyunsaturated and monounsaturated cooking oils such as olive,
canola, soybean, peanut, corn, sunflower, or safflower rather than butter, coconut oil or palm-

kernel oil." (Sack,Hannia)

Another thing that is believed to help with hypertension is to increase the amount of

potassium in your diet. "The American Heart Association has estimated

that increasing potassium intake may decrease Hypertension incidence in Americans by 17%

and lengthen life span by 5.1 years. Attaining adequate potassium intake may be the most

influential dietary component in lowering blood pressure, with a diet containing more than

3500 mg per day recommended for primary prevention of

hypertension."(Stone,Martyn,Weaver) It is rather easy to get potassium in our diets if we are

following the DASH diet and educate ourselves on those fresh healthy foods that contain

potassium like leafy greens, potatoes, bananas and fish.

The effects of hypertension that is untreated can lead to death. "Hypertension is the

leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and second only to smoking as a

preventable cause of death in the United States."(Stone,Martyn,Weaver) "More

than 360,000 American deaths in 2013 included high blood pressure as a primary or

contributing cause.2 That is almost 1,000 deaths each day,"(CDC) Hypertension causes so

many deaths and so many people go everyday and don't know that they have or are at risk for

hypertension.

In my opinion it is a epidemic that will most likely be getting worse before it gets

better because of the readily available and relatively inexpensive processed foods that are at

our fingertips ready for us to consume. The lifestyles of most Americans is also a huge

contributing factor because most are sedentary and don't put in the needed amount of time

into their physical fitness routine. People need to be educated better and need to have quick

easy options for healthy DASH diet worthy foods in order to stop hypertension in its tracks.
 Taking the proper precautions of eating healthy and physical fitness have helped my

wife to decrease her hypertension and increase her chances of a long and fruitful life. I

believe that the changes that my father made to help with the hypertension helped to prolong

his life and made it more fulfilling. We can live a life without hypertension and

can encourage others to do the same. If we don't than I fear that the numbers of those living

with hypertension and those who are dying due to hypertension will continue to increase.

A lot of it, in addition to what has been said of its causes, could boil down to stress.

When we think too much, or worry about nothing, hypertension surely sets in, which in most

cases, causes an individual's blood pressure to spike up, which is very detrimental. And that is

why, a vacation is always encouraged, which serves people very well. Hypertension also

weakens the entire body system, especially the immune system, which prevents it from

fighting diseases.

Works Cited

Sacks MD, Frank M and Campos Ph D, Hannia. "Dietary Therapy in Hypertension.'

The New England Journal of Medicine, 3 June 2010

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMct0911013. Accessed 5 April 2017

Stone, Martyn, and Connie M. Weaver. "Potassium Intake, Bioavailability,

Hypertension, and Glucose Control." 22 July 2016

http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/8/7/444/htm. Accessed 5 April 2017

 Chobanian MD, Aram V. "Time to Reassess Blood-Pressure Goals." The New

England Journal of Medicine,26 November 2015

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1513290#t=article. Accessed 5 April

2017

Mayo Clinic Staff, High Blood Pressure (hypertension), Mayo clinic, 9 Sept. 2016

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/basics/lifestyle-

home-remedies/con-20019580. Accessed 5 April 2017

CDC, High Blood Pressure Facts, 30 November 2016

https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/facts.htm. Accessed 5 April 2017