World Health Day on 7th April 2013, celebrates the 65th anniversary of the World Health Organization. Each year focuses on a different theme, with the theme for 2013 being high blood pressure.
So what is high blood pressure? And how can it affect you?
Blood pressure is the force of blood that pushes against artery walls as your heart pumps blood. If you’re the pressure on your arteries is higher than it should be, you have high blood pressure, or hypertension. If your blood pressure stays high it can cause serious health risks.
Around a third of American adults suffer from high blood pressure. Because it usually has no symptoms, some people have it for years, or only find out that they suffer from high blood pressure at a routine medical exam. High blood pressure can damage parts of your body, including the heart, blood vessels and kidneys. This puts people with HBP at a greater risk of heart attack, stroke and kidney failure. Undiagnosed and uncontrolled, high blood pressure can even lead to blindness, irregular heartbeat and heart failure.
People all over the world suffer from hypertension, with the highest prevalence in low income African countries, where over 40% (nearly half) of all adults have high blood pressure.
Preventing High Blood Pressure
Although high blood pressure is a serious condition, it is preventable and treatable. In developed countries, people are at higher risk of developing high blood pressure and its associated complications if they are obese or have diabetes as these conditions pout additional stress on the heart. In America, prevention and treatment of hypertension have resulted in a reduction of deaths caused by heart disease.
You can reduce your chances of developing high blood pressure with relatively small lifestyle and diet changes such as: reducing salt consumption, avoiding excess alcohol consumption, exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy body weight or losing weight if you are obese, eating a healthy, balance diet and avoiding tobacco.
What Can You Do?
Even if you feel fine, it is important that you take measures to reduce your chances of developing high blood pressure and that you have regular medical examinations to check your blood pressure. Time spent with undiagnosed high blood pressure is time spent causing potentially irreparable, fatal damage to vital organs. A third of people with hypertension are unaware that they have the condition. Don’t be a statistic; get checked out.
About Angeles Health
Angeles Health is Mexico’s largest network of private hospitals. Providing cutting edge procedures to Mexicans and medical tourists alike, Angeles health specializes in cardiology, weight loss surgery, alternative cancer treatment and a range of revolutionary Functional Medicine Programs, providing first class medical tourism facilities to patients who are often considered to be untreatable.
At Angeles Health we believe that everyone has the right to world class, low cost medical treatment. This is why we offer such a broad range of procedures; so that we can find a treatment program to suit each patient and their individual needs.
To find out more about Angeles Health and the range of life saving procedures that we offer patients, Contact us today.
