- I'm Luke Laffin.
And I'm a cardiologist at Cleveland clinic.
Today, we're gonna speak about hypertension,
also known as high blood pressure.
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Oftentimes patients ask me what is high blood pressure?
And we tend to use the terms,
hypertension and high blood pressure synonymously.
Although they're not necessarily the same thing.
Anyone can have a single isolated episode
of higher blood pressure,
but hypertension is chronically elevated blood pressures
that increase our risk for things like strokes,
heart attacks, heart failure, and kidney disease.
And depending on the guideline that you're using,
typically what we say hypertension is
is blood pressures greater than 130/80
millimeters of mercury.
There's many reasons why blood pressure can be elevated,
but the biggest factors that ultimately lead
to chronically elevated blood pressures
and hypertension include getting older.
Unfortunately, stiffening of the large arteries
in the body ultimately can result in higher blood pressures.
And then certain dietary factors like excess sodium
or salt intake can also play a role.
Extra weight, so obesity, particularly midline obesity,
so that beer belly, so to speak.
That can definitely contribute to high blood pressures.
And then there's clearly genetic predisposition
in certain individuals as well.
If you or family members had blood pressure issues early
in life, you're more likely to develop them
as you get older.
A question I'm often asked is
how do I know if I have high blood pressure?
What am I going to feel like?
The answer is the vast majority of people have no idea
that they have high blood pressure.
And that's why they call it the silent killer - hypertension.
So it's really important to get it checked regularly.
Now, if blood pressure elevates all of a sudden radically,
for whatever reason,
you may notice that you have a headache,
you feel more anxious,
but that is the minority of individuals.
The vast majority of people do not know that,
that I have high blood pressure.
Anxiety and stress can definitely cause elevations
in blood pressure.
Now, do these causes sustained elevations in blood pressure?
Not necessarily.
It's typically their impact on some of the lifestyle things
that can cause sustained elevations in blood pressure.
So, if job is stressful, home life is stressful
and you're not gonna make the right dietary choices.
You're not gonna be sleeping well.
You're going to consume excess of alcohol.
You may put on some weight,
all of that will ultimately raise blood pressure as well.
So anxiety and stress unto itself
will not necessarily elevate blood pressure long-term
unless it's having an impact on those lifestyle factors
like dietary indiscretion, etc.
Certain foods can definitely contribute
to elevations in blood pressure.
Far and away, the most common culprit
for increasing blood pressure
are foods that are high in sodium.
Sodium is a really quick and easy fix
that most people can make to their diet
to try and lower their blood pressures as much as possible.
Instituting a low sodium diet typically is worth about one
to two blood pressure medicines in the average individual.
And it's very important
that if you're taking blood pressure medicine
to focus on being on a low sodium diet, as well.
Oftentimes I'm asked, are there natural ways
to lower blood pressure or lifestyle interventions
that can be done?
And they're definitely can.
And it doesn't necessarily mean don't need medicines,
but lifestyle interventions are
about 70% of blood pressure management,
medications were only about 30% or so.
And the big ones that we think about
are eating a healthy diet, okay,
including a low sodium diet.
Losing weight and getting to really an ideal body weight.
Exercising regularly,
and being mindful of not consuming excess alcohol.
Those are the best interventions
that you can do to ultimately lower blood pressure.
Individuals with elevated blood pressure
or individuals with a new diagnosis of hypertension
or those that maybe have had hypertension for awhile,
but it just seems to be creeping up
and not under as good a control as they'd like,
they should definitely speak with their physician
about making adjustments to their medication regimen,
or really starting to focus on some
of those lifestyle factors.
Losing weight, getting more active, watching sodium.
Those are really the next best steps that need to be taken
to better control blood pressure.
Remember, controlling blood pressure is a long-term issue
to hopefully decrease your risk of strokes, heart attacks,
heart failure and kidney disease.
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