Hello Med hive community
This week's theme has been noted to go along with the WHO monthly Hypertension awareness and I would like to dwell a bit more on that however before diving in, I'll share a bit about Non Communicable diseases and then focus on Hypertension, sharing a few healthy tips as all I can share within a post. I also want this post to be helpful enough and as practical as possible.
I know there are a lot of journals and articles out there outlining what to do and what not to do, the list could go on and one may feel having any of these NCDs could result in life imprisonment.
However as may be the case, We hope to share love and light with anyone having any of these diseases and to make it more fun reading through the post.
Non-communicable diseases are a class of diseases that are not transmissible from one human being to another. They may include common examples like cancer, diabetes, hypertension, stroke osteoarthritis, Alzheimer's, cataract and many more. There can not be transferred to another person unlike highly transmissible diseases like the COVID-19.
This disease has come to the number 1 leading cause of death, at about 70% as of 2012, 77% in 2021 and is common among the elderly and women.
Most of them are triggered by risk factors and some may be genetic.
A few of these risk factors include age, gender smoking, diet (poor), physical inactivity and even environmental pollution.
A few of these factors are known to be modifiable and play an important role in the prevention, control and treatment.
Fighting the rise of these diseases in our generation will involve a lot of holistic approaches and governmental and other stakeholders get involved. It is such that will includes reformations in most sectors education, transport, health promotion, finance and even agriculture.
It is sad that many of us have lost loved ones to this terrible set of diseases.
I hope to offer some healthy tips to prevent and control one of them, Hypertension.
Hypertension is a disease of the heart and blood vessels where the heart is practically working hard to overcome the resistance formed over time in the blood vessels. This resistance may be caused either by chemical stimulation of the Kidneys or vasomotor stimulant, they may also be caused by deposition of fat patches along the path of the vessels as well as thickening of the walls of the vessel, hence narrowing the path of flow of blood which then raises the blood pressure to overcome the resistance to supply blood to the other parts of the heart.
In the bid to send the blood out the heart may overdo itself also and get thicker like a muscle builder hence also reducing the capacity of blood that can get into it's chambers and resulting in failure of the heart to supply sufficient enough blood to the body, this raised pressure may also be felt at the end organs such as the eye, brain, kidneys and may result in dangerous outcomes beyond the scope of this post. The blood supply to the heart is also not left out of this harm, as the heart has vessels also supply it, they are also subject to all those vascular changes noted above and they could also be compressed by thick heart muscles, causing only intermittent blood flow to them when the muscle is relaxed.
All of this explains most of the various complications of hypertension and I do not want to dive in too much as the aim of our post is to create awareness, not bomb with scary things.
Well, it's nothing scary, our body works for the good of itself. This is how to see it.
Prevention they say is better than cure. It is easier to prevent all the NCDs than to cure them. This is why dwelling more on this may help us all.
Hypertension is not just the disease of the old, it affects young ones too, you may be young and think this doesn't concern you, but please it does.
Prevention of Hypertension starts from a younger age, it is as simple as earmarking the risk factors and doing things that improve health and wellbeing.
We'll start with diet
Having a healthy diet regimen is big deal in the prevention of Hypertension. Reducing your level of salt intake and having many fruits and vegetables. The ratio of the food should be fewer carbohydrates and more vegetables and fruits with low-fat meat.
Try to lose some weight if you can
Let me put it this way, being overweight increases the work your heart has to do in pushing blood throughout the body. Hence the cycle of hypertension continues. If you can lose some weight, do it. It will improve your BP drastically if you're currently overweight.
Less Alcohol
I m not here preaching no alcohol to you guys, I m saying reduce risk intake.
All I'm saying is that you will need to turn down the level of alcohol that you take.
Men and women have been advised to take less than 14 units per week and not be regular with it as they can spread it over 3 interval days if they must take up to 14.
Get Walking Get active
Most of the lifestyle changes that were the outcome of hypertensive are the sedentary lifestyle change. If you can get to work and be active around your compound Neverland estate move around the street. Good enough they are platforms and programs that have been created to encourage moving around such as @actifit and the stepN platform which encourages everyone to move around and exercise and get rewarded for it.
Cut down on smoking or just stop
Its a high risk for the cardiac diseases in people who smoke regularly. It is also known as worsen hypertension partly by predisposing to lung diseases which then backfires to the heart eventually.
A TIP ON MANAGEMENT
One very important aspect that I would also love to add to this post is the part of compliance with medication if you have been diagnosed to have hypertension and you have not yet been compliant with medications. I would like to encourage you to take your drugs as instructed by your doctor and I would also love to tell you that you taking your drugs is just as similar to you having your bath in the morning, it is you taking care of your body, your heart, your lungs, even your kidneys they're all part of you. Your heart and your blood vessels only you can't apply makeup to the heart if I can you could wear a necklace to it. You definitely can be compliant with your medication. It help prevent worse complications and controls the Blood pressure.
When last did you check your blood pressure?
Take it as a regular task you have to accomplish everyday if you diagnose hypertension and list every week if you are young and free.
It is not to say that you're going to have, it just you looking into the mirror and seeing how beautiful you are doing.
It is caring for your body which is your responsibility.
In conclusion
There are a lot of non-communicable diseases out there and hypertension happens to be one very common one that can actually be controlled and managed to prolong life. However it appears that many are just ignorant of their health and rather continue to practice some dangerous habits.
I believe this post brings much awareness about the disease and also keeps us all healthy.
Thanks so much for reading this post.
This is a submission to the @med-hive prompt for health awareness and promotion week 2. This post only contains health promotion and awareness tips and advice and has no intention of managing or treating any disease. You are advised to see your doctor in your locality who will carry out proper history taking physical examination and investigations if necessary before commencing any necessary medications for you. Thank you
Referrences
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/noncommunicable-diseases
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/non-communicable-disease
Graphics designed using Canva
All other pictures used are from WHO Here