Explainer | Hypertension risks explained, and doctors’ tips on how to prevent and manage it
- Only about half the people with hypertension know they have it, yet it can lead to heart disease, stroke and organ failure if it is not treated
- Lifestyle changes – losing weight, eating healthily, not smoking, doing moderate exercise, getting enough sleep, not stressing – can prevent or delay its onset
At least one in four people you know has high blood pressure. Perhaps you have it. While most of us have heard of this condition, which is also called hypertension, it is often under-diagnosed and under-treated.
Before looking at why that is, it is important to understand what high blood pressure is.
Hong Kong-based cardiologist Andy Chan Wai-kwong explains that blood pressure is measured using two figures – the systolic blood pressure that measures the pressure the heart exerts on the artery walls when it beats, and the diastolic blood pressure, the pressure the heart exerts on the artery walls when it relaxes between beats.
If a person’s systolic blood pressure is over 140 (systolic hypertension) or if one’s diastolic blood pressure is over 90 (diastolic hypertension), or if both are elevated (which is usually the case, and represented by the figure 140/90), then they are deemed to have high blood pressure, says Chan.
There is a misconception that if you feel OK, then your blood pressure must be in the normal range; in reality, hypertension usually has no symptoms.