High Blood Pressure and Your Heart : What You Need to Know
How Uncontrolled Hypertension Damages the Heart and What to Do
About It
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is often called the silent killer, and for good reason. It produces no
obvious symptoms in most people, yet works quietly to damage blood vessels, the
heart, kidneys, and brain. In India, hypertension is extraordinarily common, and in a significant proportion of people who have it, it is either undiagnosed
or undertreated.
You can feel perfectly fine and
have dangerously elevated blood pressure. The absence of symptoms does not mean
the absence of risk.
How Does High Blood Pressure Damage the Heart?
When blood pressure is
persistently elevated, the heart has to work harder with every beat. Over the years, this causes the heart muscle to thicken. A thickened heart muscle is
stiffer, less efficient, and more prone to heart failure and arrhythmias.
At the same time, elevated blood
pressure damages the lining of the coronary arteries, accelerating the build-up
of plaques that cause coronary artery disease and heart attacks. High blood
pressure is the leading modifiable risk factor for both heart attack and
stroke.
What Counts as High Blood Pressure?
A single high reading does not
confirm hypertension. Diagnosis is typically based on multiple readings over
time, or 24-hour ambulatory monitoring.
•
Optimal: below 120/80 mmHg
•
High normal: 130-139 /
85–89 mmHg worth monitoring
•
Stage 1 hypertension:
140-159 / 90-99 mmHg , treatment usually recommended
•
Stage 2 hypertension: 160+
/ 100+ mmHg treatment essential
Lifestyle
Changes That Make a Real Difference
•
Reducing salt intake , most
Indian diets contain far more salt than the heart needs
•
Regular physical activity , 30 minutes of brisk walking most days, makes a measurable difference
•
Maintaining a healthy
weight
•
Reducing alcohol intake
•
Stopping smoking
•
Managing chronic stress
