Do you know what BP is? Blood pressure is the pressure of blood in the arteries. This is because blood has to go from our heart to various organs. From our heart, it has to go to the brain. Blood has to go to the lungs, it has to go to the liver. It has some vital functions. That is, how can the heart send oxygen and nutrients to the various organs in our body? It is through this pressure that blood goes through the arteries with a certain pressure. That is what we call blood pressure. And this blood pressure has two numbers. One is called the top [snort] and the other is called the bottom.
The top number is called the systolic blood pressure. That is, the pressure in the arteries when the heart contracts. It is called the systolic blood pressure. The pressure in these arteries when the heart relaxes is called diastolic pressure. Normally, diastole is lower than systole, so we would say that normal blood pressure is 120/80. How do we know that BP has come? It is a silent killer and does not show any symptoms in anyone. That is why we check BP first when patients come to our hospital. Because some people do not even realize that they have BP for a few years. It is only known if they are tested. But some people do have some symptoms. That too when the high BP increases significantly. The first of them is persistent morning headaches, which means that you may feel a very bad headache when you wake up in the morning and it will be consistent for many days.
Some people have dizziness, blurred vision, double vision, which means that one object may be seen as two. Tinnitus, which is a ringing sound in the ears. Some people have a red face, a racing heart, and some people have decreased vision. In addition to snoring, some people also experience small changes in the functioning of their organs. Because when BP is high for a long time, especially this blood goes into the organs with pressure. So, when there is a lot of stress, blood flow to our vital organs is not good, and oxygen is not getting there properly, which is why we also notice fatigue and easy tiredness. Some people may have decreased memory, may not be able to concentrate, may not be able to sleep. In some people, all these are symptoms of high BP. So how can we reduce BP? Lifestyle changes are very important to control BP. I am always asked a question . I told them to eat less salt, but they said they were using tablets, so they said they could eat salt normally. Please tell me what size your tablet is . No matter how many tablets you look at, they are all so small. The size of the tablet and how much salt do we put in it? If we have breakfast in the morning, there is one spoon of salt in the idli batter, even in the dosa batter, there is one spoon of salt, and again one spoon of salt in the chutney.
The tablet is so small, but the salt we eat becomes too much. So the first step to control BP is to reduce salt intake. We should not consume more than 5 grams of salt per day in a day. How can we measure that? Suppose there are four family members. I will tell everyone this little tip . There are four members in your house. What should the cooks do when they wake up in the morning? Put four teaspoons of salt in a small [snoring] box . No matter what you cook that day, whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner, you shouldn’t use more than four teaspoons. Let me tell you another little tip. If you want to reduce salt, you can do something else. There is no need to add salt while cooking food. After cooking, for those who have high blood pressure, it is enough to take the curry separately and sprinkle a little salt on top. They will not feel like they have eaten less salt and the food will still taste tasty .
The second important tip is to exercise regularly. Exercise increases blood flow to our body. Another important thing is that blood vessels are always at risk of this BP, which is called essential hypertension, which is what we see in older people. What happens when we age, the elasticity of these blood vessels decreases. That is, have you seen thick arteries? We have blood vessels on the upper arm here. If you look at them in older people, they become very thick. When they become thick, we call it atherosclerosis. That is, if the elasticity decreases and the pressure in those thick blood vessels increases, the pressure in the blood vessels also increases. Even if we have high cholesterol, we still notice that our blood pressure is rising [snoring] . People with diabetes usually also have high blood pressure. We observe high BP in 60 to 70% of people. Diabetes actually damages the body, but if high blood pressure joins it, we quickly see complications. People who smoke tend to have higher blood pressure, so if we quit smoking, we can easily control our blood pressure . Another simple tip we can do is to lose excess weight. Even losing 5 to 10% of your body weight will lower your blood pressure. For example, suppose your body weight is 70 kg . You should be 60 kg. Even if you lose 3 kilos of weight, your BP will be controlled and you should eat foods that are high in potassium. We have green vegetables, fresh fruits. Now, think about diabetes patients. What can they eat? Papaya, guava, pomegranate. All of these are high in potassium. You should drink more water. We are now seeing high BP due to stress.
Even those who do not sleep for six to one hours have high BP. Therefore, sleep for six to one hours. Drink up to two liters of water in a day. If you reduce stress, you can easily control your BP. We thought that those who don’t check their BP were the silent killer. It causes so much damage that some people say it can cause permanent vision loss. The optic nerve at the back of our eyes is called the retina, and blood vessels in it can suddenly bleed. If the blood vessels in the brain bleed, a stroke occurs. We see heart attacks. Kidney failure is the second most common cause of kidney failure. High blood pressure is the reason. So, simple tips are to exercise daily, lose excess weight, reduce salt intake, eat more green vegetables, sleep for six to eight hours and provide the body with the necessary water. These are all very simple tips. If we maintain a healthy lifestyle, we can protect ourselves from high BP.
