Hypertension

How Can I Control My Blood Pressure?

I am a university student in a low- to middle-income country. Both my parents have high blood pressure (hypertension). They take their medications semiregularly, but what other measures will help them (and potentially me) control blood pressure?

The most effective and safest approach to managing hypertension is the combination of medication and a healthy lifestyle. Elevated blood pressure is a serious condition that significantly increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure. World Health Organization (WHO) statistics1 estimate that 1.28 billion adults worldwide have hypertension, with two thirds living in low- and middle-income countries. Hypertension is a leading cause of premature death.

Less than half of the adults who have hypertension are on treatment. Approximately half of the individuals in the world who do have hypertension are unaware of the diagnosis, and of those who are on treatment only 20 percent have their blood pressure adequately controlled. In more than 90 percent of cases there is no specific identifiable cause. Hypertension is largely genetically determined but significantly influenced by lifestyle choices.

Hypertension has been called the silent killer, as those who have high blood pressure often have no symptoms. When symptoms do occur, they may be severe in nature and associated with heart attacks, stroke, or kidney damage. It is therefore important that screening be intentionally and regularly done to identify those at risk.

This is an ideal opportunity for our church congregations to serve communities with health screening and health education programs. Healthy lifestyle choices are essential for wellbeing in general, but even more so in the presence of hypertension. Anyone identified as having abnormal blood pressure should be referred to health clinics for evaluation and treatment. Medications are often needed to ensure adequate blood pressure control and should always be used as an adjunct to lifestyle modification.2

Basic lifestyle interventions help reduce the disease burden of hypertension and include avoiding tobacco and alcohol, losing weight as needed, and maintaining a normal body weight/body mass index (BMI). In consultation with one’s physician, daily physical activity is encouraged: 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic exercise each week is recommended. Aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise each day.

The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet and the DASH Low Sodium studies3 confirmed the importance of nutrition in the management of hypertension. The DASH diet emphasized consuming more fruits and vegetables, reducing foods with saturated and trans fats, and reducing total salt intake to less than one teaspoon of salt (sodium chloride) per day.

There are ongoing discussions regarding salt and salt sensitivity, but the overall recommendation for best health outcomes is to cut back on sodium intake whether one has hypertension or not. Read food labels and go easy on adding salt to your food.

Jesus calls us to be “the salt of the earth” (Matt. 5:13). Consume it, however, in limited quantities!

1 https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hypertension

2 https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/344424/9789240033 986-eng.pdf

3 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM200101043440101

Peter N. Landless, a board-certified nuclear cardiologist, is director of Adventist Health Ministries at the General Conference. Zeno L. Charles-Marcel, a board-certified internist, is an associate director of Adventist Health Ministries at the General Conference.