So compute your body mass index to see if you are still within your ideal body weight.Being overweight as a young adult or even as a child will soon catch up with you in the form of many chronic conditions as you grow older.
Have your blood pressure taken. Many have access to a clinic at their workplace or even at a local health center. Hypertension maybe detected this early, and elevated BP may be even lead to the discovery of other conditions such as kidney disease.
Eye examinations should also be performed every year. This may diagnose certain eye conditions that need medical attention. You may also find an explanation for the frequent headaches you may have been having- an error of refraction. Why suffer for a long a time when just a pair of corrective lenses can dramatically improve your quality of life.
What causes hypertension? About 10 percent of all cases are due to kidney or adrenal disease, but the remaining 90 percent have no definitely known cause. There are however, some factors that may contribute to high blood pressure.
- Atherosclerosis (narrowing of blood vessels by cholesterol build-up) is also thought to be a factor in hypertension. If this proves to be true, avoiding excessive fat and cholesterol in our diets would be a great help.
- Estrogen, a female hormone found in birth control pills or given for menopause, causes the body to retain salt, and has the same effect as consuming too much salt.
- Some people are more sensitive to salt than others. In fact, the sodium in salt may actually be the number one cause of hypertension. A study shows that those people consuming very little salt, like Eskimos, new guinea and Solomon island tribes, Australian aborigines, have no incidence of high blood pressure. Northern Japanese farmers preserve their food with salt and eat an average of 30 grams of salt per day. Sixty percent of these farmers have hypertension, and strokes are the most common cause of death among them. This does not mean that salt should be eliminated from the diet entirely. Salt is vital to health, but our bodies need only 0.2 grams of sodium per day. If we cut our salt intake to one teaspoonful of salt per day, including those used in preparation of food, we could solve one of the biggest health problems. Individuals with hypertension would have to cut salt even more.
- Obesity may also contribute to hypertension. Every pound of fat requires thousands of extra blood vessels. These in turn require a higher blood pressure to circulate blood through them. It is any wonder, then, that obese people are five times more likely to have hypertension? Anyone who is more than 20 percent overweight is considered obese.
- Stress can cause hypertension, whether it be social stress, noise stress, or work stress. All of these may increase hypertension.
- Over consumption of refined sugar a possible contributing factor in persons with decrease kidney function is associated with the aging process.
I have a relative who had Pre-Eclampsia (Pregnancy induced hypertension) during her fourth pregnancy. first name found out on her third prenatal visit.
As she found out, first pregnancy, age older than 35 years, a new sexual partner, a history of pre-eclampsia, and time since your last pregnancy of less than 2 years or more than 10 years make it more likely to have Pre-Eclampsia (Pregnancy induced hypertension).
Other things that increase the risk of Pre-Eclampsia (Pregnancy induced hypertension) are chronic hypertension, thrombophilia, preexisting diabetes, type 2 and obesity.
Pre-Eclampsia (Pregnancy induced hypertension) might not cause any symptoms. However, it can cause visual disturbances like scintillations (flashes of light) and stomata (blind spots) - probably from spasm of cerebral arteries, rapidly increasing swelling of the legs and rapid weight gain. Upper abdominal pain might suddenly occur and is usually constant and fairly severe. Headaches are often in the front, throbbing and similar to migraine headaches.
The problem with Pre-Eclampsia (Pregnancy induced hypertension) is that it can cause thrombosis (blood clots), hemorrhage (bleeding) and even death of the mother. In fact, from 1991 to 1999 over 15% of the deaths of women during pregnancy were caused by Pre-Eclampsia (Pregnancy induced hypertension).
There are three types of Pre-Eclampsia (Pregnancy induced hypertension): Chronic Hypertension, Preeclampsia and Transient hypertension.
Chronic Hypertension
The majority of the time chronic hypertension has no other cause. However, it can be caused by kidney disease like poly cystic kidneys, glomerular or interstitial disease, too much parathyroid hormone or even using oral contraceptives.
Pre-eclampsia
Nobody knows for sure what causes pre-eclampsia. One thing that we know is that it is caused by a problem with the inside lining of the blood vessels. This causes the blood vessels to spasm. When the arteries get smaller, the blood pressure increases. The damage also causes the blood vessels to leak causing swelling. It can cause problems with the brain, lungs and kidneys. These changes also can cause lower blood flow to the growing baby.
Transient hypertension
The elevated blood pressure called transient hypertension just happens late in pregnancy. Then after delivery, the blood pressure goes back to normal. But, it probably increases your chances of getting high blood pressure later in life.
Pre-Eclampsia (Pregnancy induced hypertension) is one of the major reasons that you should keep your regular appointments with your family doctor.
People in the provinces are said to live longer than people in the city. Socio-economic and cultural factors aside, some theories credit the health advantages of a rural lifestyle, less stressful. Others say it's the food, home cooked vegetables, fish and meat, fresh from the backyard, market, or sea. Bot don't ignore one other aspect, sleep. Rural people normally get a full eight hour of sleep every night. Sleep affects various aspects of our health, including:
- Cognitive performance - Sleep helps organize memories, solidify learning, and improve concentration. Lack of sleep impairs alertness and affects judgment, reaction time, and recall.
- Mood and mental well being - Lack of sleep has been linked to anger, anxiety, sadness, and mental exhaustion.
- Hormones and metabolism - Important hormones are secreted based on person's sleep pattern. These hormones are affects growth, regulate energy and control metabolic and endocrine functions.
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Everybody wants a heart that's always in good shape but others don't even notice if there heart is in bad or good shape. Some are thinking that there heart is in good shape even though its not, some are afraid to check themselves or consult a doctor, so here's a checklist of things, for us to know if our heart is in good shape:
- Are you overweight?
- Are you diabetic?
- Do you have a high bad cholesterol level?
- Do you get tired easily?
- Do you live a sedentary lifestyle?
- Do you smoke?
- Do you have an immediate family member who has had a stroke or heart attack?
- Do you have hypertension?
- Are you over 55?
Exercise regularly - The heart needs regular exercise not sudden burst of activity. Exercise at least once every two to three days. It is not advisable to play sports only on the weekends some experts say, as the sudden physical exertion will stress the heart.
Floss and maintain Oral hygiene - If you have pre-existing abnormal or infected heart valves, it is best to maintain oral hygiene. The unsanitary condition in your mouth and gum's can infect valves and lead to heart disease.
Maintain a healthy diet - Avoid food with lots of fat and preservatives that tend build up your cholesterol. Supplement with vitamins. If you can see the fat in the food, you can be sure it will affect your heart.
Watch the numbers - High blood pressure, hypertension, and high cholesterol level cab cause the heart to become abnormally larger and less efficient. Your LDL cholesterol levels or bad cholesterol should be 130 mg. or less per deciliter. If you have more than one risk factor, your cholesterol level should be less than 70 mg. per deciliter. Here are some numbers game for a healthy heart:
Blood pressure
- Normal: lower than 120/80
- PreHypertension: 120/80 to 139/89
- Hypertension: 140/90 and higher
- Desirable: Less than 200 mg/dl
- Borderline high: 200 to 239
- High: 240 and up
- Protective: 60 mg/dl and up
- Moderate risk: 40 to 59
- Major risk: below 40
- Optimal: (particularly if you have other risk factors, like diabetes) Less than 100 mg/dl
- Near optimal: 100 to 129
- Borderline high: 130 to 159
- High: 160 and above
- Healthy: less than 100 mg/dl
- Prediabetes: 100 to 125
- Diabetes: 126 or higher
Heart disease is a perennial number one in the list of top killer diseases. The beauty of heart disease is that it can be prevented or, in some instances, slowed or reversed. Some factors that heighten your risk for heart disease - age, gender and family history - are out of your control, but others are within your power to change. Taking the following four steps can significantly cut your risk of having a heart attack and lower your overall risk for coronary artery disease:
- Don't smoke = Smoking accounts for 20 percent of all deaths from CAD, while exposure to secondhand smoke results in an estimated 38,000 to 40,000 cardiovascular deaths a year.
- Eat healthy diet and choose fats wisely = This can help keep blood fats -such as triglycerides and various forms of cholesterol- in balance. Considerable evidence favors including a daily source of omega-3 fatty acids (found in fish, flax seeds, walnuts and canola oil) to reduce your risk of heart disease. Soy protein and nuts may help too.
- Exercise regularly = It will help you lose weight, control blood pressure and balance cholesterol levels. Another largely unrecognized benefit of exercise is reduction of a blood clotting factor called fibrinogen. Excessive levels of fibrinogen have identified as a cardiac risk factor.
- Control your blood pressure = Manage your blood pressure though diet, lowered salt intake, exercise and stress reduction programs and drugs if necessary. High blood pressure may be the biggest preventable killer in the world. Yet only a small portion of the millions of the people diagnosed with hypertension have the problem under control.
- Aspirin
- Cholesterol lowering wonder drugs called statins, which have few side effects and some surprissng benefits, such as stroke reduction and, possibly, osteoporossis prevention.
- Folic acid, B6, and B12 supplements, which help depress levels of an amino acid called homo cysteine. Research connects high levels of homo cysteine with a three fold risk with heart attack in men and suggests even modestly elevated levels may promote atherosclerosis ( the process by which an accumulation of fatty plaques eventually narrow an artery) in men and women.
- Other medictions, such as beta blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme.
Here are some cheap herbal plants to use as herbal medicine against hypertension:
Garlic - you can grill, fried or boil it, treat it like a desert after eating. Garlic has a depressing effect that can slow the fast heart beat, to help low your blood pressure. But if you have peptic ulcer avoid doing this.
Some uses fresh crushed garlic and combined it with honey, they drink it 1 tablespoon a day, this combination are not just good for hypertension but also for some disorders.
Sambong leaves - Cut or crushed it into small pieces of 6 tablespoon leaves of sambong. Boil it with 2 glass of water for 15 minutes. Drink the sambong leaves juice that you boiled earlier, drink it 3 times a day.
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Does high blood or high blood drugs affects sex?
People with high blood pressure are often prohibits fatty foods, salty foods, alcohol, smoking and lack of sleep this are only some of the things we need to avoid if we have high blood. But if the call of sex comes its hard for us to avoid it, but is it true that high blood and high blood drugs affects our sex appetite?
Some people with high blood say, there are side effects on the high blood drugs they take, One is the lose of appetite for sex. They said that drugs for high blood makes there blood in calm and normal condition so its also affects there sex urges.It may affect sex by having a lower sex drive. It depends on how high that your blood pressure is, because it may be unsafe. Make sure to ask your doctor on this one because the Dr. can put you on low blood pressure drugs. But studies shows that high blood drugs only affects minimal possibilities in sexual urges. You can ask your doctor on what drugs are good for you and the right dosage.
There own blood pressure is the main reason for this sexual disorder. People with high blood pressure are aware on there own blood pressure, they always know if they feel excitement that can affect there blood pressure, because too much excitement can lead to no good for a person with high blood. Once they feel this kind of excitement they also feel fear, fear that they might got heart attack, that's why there appetite for sex slow down. This is a psychological effect that affect our sex urges.
Related Article: Stroke and high blood pressure
All of us really wants to be healthy, i think no one wants to be sick, but because of many things to do we sometimes forget to take care of our health, but don't blame yourself that you do nothing for your health, because there are many easy ways to stay healthy and we just have to do it.
here are the easy tips to stay healthy:
1. Don t eat too much: Eating too much can get you fat, and being fat is not healthy
2. Drink right amount of water: at least 8 glasses a day, water carries wastes out of your body. It cushions your joints. It supplies oxygen and energy to your cells. It regulates your body temperature.It stops kidney failure, it stops loss of hair, it stops you from getting dry skin and headaches.Water is like oil in a vehicle. You have to have it.
3. Don t Skip Breakfast: Eating in the morning give you energy for the rest of the day. Because it gets your bodies metabolism going first thing in the morning so you don't feel like snacking on bad stuff. It puts your body on a schedule so your body will release fat and start burning energy. You need 1300 calories a day to lose weight anything less you just store and gain back in a cycle.
4. Do breathing exercise: Specially in the morning when the air is fresh.it lowers blood pressure, heart rate, and stress levels. it increases blood oxygen levels which helps with kidneys, heart, muscle growth, electrolyte exchange, circulation. it also prevents atelectasis which is a closing of the aveoli in the lungs by forcing them to stay open. one of the problems that we face as we get older is a lack of expansion in the lungs. muscles become weaker, cartilage flexes less, etc. as the lungs will expand less and less, the lower parts lose their ability to open and hold air so we get short of breath with simple exercise the older we get because we have less space. doing deep breathing as a younger person helps fight off some of the effects of old age, just like stretching muscles of the back or legs improve flexion and circulation as we get older. how often?? good question. just like regular exercise, doing it every day is a good thing. but like regular exercise sometimes we just don't have the time or energy. even once a week will do you some good and increase the oxygen levels in the blood
5. Always smile: Firstly and most importantly it improves the overall psychological and mental state of a person. It relaxes some facial muscles and widens blood vessels that help blood flow better and benefit the physical and mental health.
I am sure it also increases one's popularity and thus improves his/her social state
6. Drink your vitamin: The benefits one gets in general is, it builds up our immune system, e.g. Vit-C, B, E, A, D, K all help improve your immune system.
7. Eat Fruits: fruit has fiber, vitamins, minerals. Benefits of fruit on the digestion
Most fruits function as natural laxatives, helping to regulate your body's digestive process. They provide roughage and fiber that is important in helping your body get rid of wastes.
8. Stay Relax: Stay calm always, relaxation means three words " peace of mind"
9. Drink milk: There's loads of calcium in milk, which benefit joints. If you're not into artificial growth hormones, there are hundreds of organic options that taste the same and provide the same health benefits
10. Exercise: Strengthen your cardiovascular and respiratory systems, keep bones and muscles strong, manage your weight, prevent and manage diabetes, ease depression and manage pain and stress, reduce your risk of certain types of cancer and sleep better.
11. Socialize: Try to meet new people everyday having many friends can be benefit to your health.
12. Stay away from vices and bad habits: drinking too much alcohol, smoking, gambling, etc.
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Patient who suffers from heart attack are commonly half of their body becomes paralyzed, they call it hemiplegia left or right part of the body becomes paralyzed. The cause of hemiplegia ie stroke or cerebro vascular accident in medicine term.
Our body is controlled by two parts of our brain, the left part of the brain controls the right part of our body, and the right part of the brain controls the left part of the body. In cases were in their right part of their body are paralyzed the left part of their brain are mostly affected by heart attack.
High blood pressure is the most common cause of stroke, if a patient has high blood pressure, the blood are fast and heavy running through his veins. Because of this pressure of blood, the wall of veins are wounded, if the veins got wounded because of high blood pressure platelets and collagen from the body system enters the veins and starting to clog the veins, because of this clogging in our veins the blood cannot pass through our veins, the circulation of our blood will no be normal, this is why a person suffers from stroke.
There are anti-clotting drugs that can help, heaparin aspirin and dipyridamole are examples of it, they are effective in preventing clog veins, but in cases that there body are already paralyzed those drugs are no more effective in declogging the veins.
Physical Therapist can help patients who got paralyzed because of stroke, vitamin C and E are also helpful in patients who got paralyzed, For us to avoid stroke we must discipline our selves and avoid foods that trigger high blood pressure, like foods with high cholesterol, and stop smoking. Regular exercise is the most common way to help our blood circulate normally.
Related Article: Does high blood or high blood drugs have effects on sex?
