Our Hidden Enemy

Christie Emeli from CIMSA USU

Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) arise from a combination of non-modifiable and modifiable risk factors. Risk factors that can not be modified by an individual include age, gender, and genetics. Mean while, modifiable risk factors are factors that can be changed through individual awareness and social intervention (Alifariki, 2015). The high incidence and mortality due to NCDs makes its control important.

Data from the World Health Organi zation (WHO) 2015 shows that the prevalence of hypertension in the world reaches around 1.13 billion individuals, meaning that 1 in 3 people in the world is diagnosed with hypertension. The number of people with hypertension is expect ed to continue to increase to reach 1.5 billion individuals by 2025, with deaths reaching 9.4 million individuals.

Let's talk about hypertension!

According to WHO, Hypertension is a condition in which blood vessels have high blood pressure (systolic blood pressure >140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure >90 mmHg). Based on the results of the study, factors such as gender, age, genetic factors, blood pressure, nutritional status, smoking habits, coffee consumption habits, fruit and vegetable consumption, physical activity, and stress experienced have a relationship that can trigger hypertension. Therefore, running a healthy and balanced lifestyle is highly recommended in order to minimize the risk of contracting hypertension, because prevention is better and more economical than cure.

Risk factors according to hypertension:

Genetics

Individuals with parents with hypertension have twice the risk of suffering from hypertension than people who do not have a family history of hypertension.

Obesity Gender

The prevalence of hypertension in men is the same as in women. However, women are protected from cardiovascular disease before menopause, one of which is coronary heart disease.

Stress

The adrenaline hormone will increase when we are stressed, and it can cause the heart to pump blood faster so that blood pressure increases

Lack of exercise

Lack of physical activity increases the risk of high blood pressure because of the increased risk of becoming obese.

High salt intake in the diet

Excessive consumption of sodium causes the concentration of sodium in the extracellular fluid to increase. To normalize it, the intracellular fluid is pulled out so that the extracellular fluid volume increases. The increased volume of extracellular fluid causes an increase in blood volume, which results in hypertension.

Smoking habits

Smoking has caused 5.4 million people to die every year (Gumus et al, 2013). The effect of smoking increases heart rate and blood pressure with increased levels of the hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine due to activation of the sympathetic nervous system.

A serious complication of hypertension:

Some studies say high blood pressure is the most common risk factor for stroke, because it causes unnecessary tension in the blood vessels to thicken and worsen which can eventually lead to stroke. When the blood vessels thicken with increased blood pressure, cholesterol and other fatty substances can cause damage to the artery walls and blockage in the arteries of the brain, the increased tension that occurs in the blood vessels of the brain can also cause the walls of the blood vessels to weaken which can eventually cause the blood vessels to burst. And finally a stroke.

Let's see what a stroke is for a moment!

Stroke is divided into two types. The first type is ischemic stroke which is caused by a lack of blood supply to the brain due to narrowing or blocked blood vessels on brain tissue. Many factors can influence the incidence of stroke include age, gender, heredity, race, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes mellitus, smoking, atherosclerosis, heart disease, obesity, alcohol consumption, stress, supportive socioeconomic conditions, poor diet, lack of physical activity, and the use of anti-pregnancy drugs. However, of the many factors that influence the incidence of stroke, only hypertension significantly affects the incidence of stroke.

This is a serious thing that can happen if not taken care of from now on! We can prevent it from now on, by living a healthy lifestyle. Living a healthy lifestyle has been shown to lower blood pressure, and is generally very beneficial in reducing the risk of cardiovascular problems.A healthy lifestyle is meant by losing weight, reducing salt intake, exercising, reducing alcohol consumption, and quitting smoking.

We can go towards a healthier Indonesia!