San José, Costa Rica. May, 2015.

Arterial hypertension or high blood pressure is a chronic disease that is characterized by the person usually having high numbers in his/her arterial pressure or a lesion in certain vital organs such as the kidney, arteries, heart, brain, among others.

“It was believed that this disease only affected people over 50 years-old. Today, with greater frequency, there are diagnoses for young people, around 40 years old or even less. In Costa Rica, 34% of the population suffers from arterial hypertension” commented Dr. Juan Carlos Elizondo Urrutia, Cardiologist of the Clínica Bíblica Hospital.

Inappropriate consumption of salt, sedentarism, overweight and heredity are the main causes of the disease. Some people may present common symptoms such as headache, dizziness, ringing in the ears, palpitations, and shortness of breath, nosebleeds, nausea, vomit and even sudden fainting.

The surest way of detecting arterial hypertension is to take your blood pressure frequently. This one should be less than 120/80 mmhg, since if the numbers are higher (121-139 over 81-89 mmhg) that is what we call pre-arterial hypertension. In case the pressure surpasses140/90 mmhg, it is important to immediately resort to a specialist physician in order to receive a timely diagnosis and treatment.

Changes in lifestyle and a medical check-up on time are the key

There are very important risk factors that could be key to preventing high blood pressure. The first one is to know if there is a hereditary factor; also, the reduction of consumption of foods with too much salt, of alcohol, avoiding sedentarism, smoking and controlling stress, among others.

“It is always important to prevent disease. However, if you already suffer from high blood pressure, the most important thing is to maintain an adequate control of the arterial pressure and have the adequate treatment, according to the diagnosis of each person. Also, it is always recommendable to do physical exercise at least 5 days a week, 30 minutes every day; maintain an adequate weight, drink a sufficient quantity of water and avoid the consumption of processed foods or with a lot of salt,” indicated the physician.

There is a medical test in the market called 24 hour Blood Pressure Ambulatory Monitoring (MAPA-its acronym in Spanish). It consists of an electronic bracelet that takes your blood pressure at certain times during the 24 hours.

So now you know, the first step is changing your lifestyle, but even then, if you notice some of the symptoms mentioned or you have high pressure peaks, the best thing is to go to the doctor and have him offer you a safe and timely diagnosis.

For further information or for requesting medical attention, please call the number 2522-1000, or write to the email citas@clinicabiblica.com or contact us via chat at the website: www.clinicabiblica.com.