To protect kidneys, know your blood pressure level

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.”

PUNCH.