Exercising and eating healthy foods can help get you on the right path.
By Annette López-Muñoz
Special/El Nuevo Herald
Blood pressure is the force exerted by blood against artery walls. When a doctor measures blood pressure, the resulting reading registers with two numbers.
The first number, called systolic, measures the pressure while the heart is beating. The second one, called diastolic, measures the pressure while the heart rests between beats. Normal blood pressure is a systolic reading of not less than 120 pulses and a diastolic reading of less than 80.
You can have high blood pressure, or hypertension, and still feel well, as symptoms are not always manifest. Yet high blood pressure, often referred to as “the silent killer,” is a serious health problem. If high blood pressure is not controlled by changes in your lifestyle and medication, it can lead to brain hemorrhage, heart disease, eyesight problems or kidney failure.
Black women and Latinas are more at risk of high blood pressure than white women. But black women are more likely to have hypertension caused by genetics, while in Hispanic women the issue often is due to unhealthy habits.
“There was a time when it was thought that women did not suffer from high blood pressure, but the reality is that both men and women can equally suffer from this disorder,” says Dr. Sandra Chaparro, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Heart Failure and Transplant Section (Division of Cardiology), University of Miami who also practices at Jackson Memorial Hospital. “However, fewer women were diagnosed.”
With the greater diagnoses, women’s patterns can be discerned.
“African American women suffer the most, together with Native Indians, followed by Hispanic and then white women,’’ Chaparro said. “If Latinas exercised more and made some changes in their eating habits, they would see their number decrease.”
A good example is Nélida Santana, a 70-year-old Cuban who was diagnosed with high blood pressure at age 50. Initially she was told that it was due to fluid retention and so diuretics were prescribed. Yet the numbers would not go back to normal. Santana is not too overweight, but she has lived an extremely sedentary life.
“I have never exercised other than what I do at home cleaning and washing and ironing clothes,” she tells us. Her condition is made worse by genetic factors, since her immediate family has 11 siblings, five of whom suffer from high blood pressure. “My mother also suffered from hypertension,” she says.
“In its first stage it is a silent disorder,” says Chaparro. “Yet it gradually begins to damage your organs, and this is why it is very important to measure your pressure often, at least once a year. There are machines that do it in pharmacies, supermarkets and firehouses.”
There are many medications to control high blood pressure. However, experts say that 40 percent of cases can be controlled by a simple change of lifestyle.
“Exercise is very important,” says Chaparro. She says that we all suffer from stress in our lives and exercise is a great tool to control it. Avoiding smoking and alcohol are also important measures. “You don’t have to be an athlete,” says Chaparro. “Walk 35 minutes every day and have no more than two alcoholic drinks a day.” A diet low in fat and salt also helps, as well as increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables.
“It’s not so much the excess weight as the accumulated salt,” said Dr. Claudia Martínez, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Interventional Section (Division of Cardiology), University of Miami, who also practices at Jackson Memorial Hospital. “In the case of Latinas, when they reach menopause they gain weight and there is no reason for that. On the contrary, that is the moment to increase physical activity since metabolism slows down. It is advisable to take a walk after each meal.”
Dr. Pamela Green, 54, an African-American psychologist who suffers from hypertension, knows that she is 40 pounds overweight. Yet she said she lacks the willpower to lose weight.
“We all know what we have to do, but it’s difficult to do it,’’ says Green, whose blood pressure began to climb when she started putting on weight. She now takes pills. “Dr. Martínez has told me that if I lose weight she could probably get me off the medication.”
“To shed pounds is to lower the pressure,” says Martínez, who says there is a direct link between being overweight and hypertension, a disease that is the main cause of heart attacks, brain hemorrhages, kidney failure and other organs in the body.
Both experts, Martínez and Chaparro, point out that it is sad that many patients opt to take medication rather than change their habits. “With willpower or without it, there are no excuses to live with high blood pressure,” says Chaparro.
By Annette López-Muñoz
Special/El Nuevo Herald
Blood pressure is the force exerted by blood against artery walls. When a doctor measures blood pressure, the resulting reading registers with two numbers.
The first number, called systolic, measures the pressure while the heart is beating. The second one, called diastolic, measures the pressure while the heart rests between beats. Normal blood pressure is a systolic reading of not less than 120 pulses and a diastolic reading of less than 80.
You can have high blood pressure, or hypertension, and still feel well, as symptoms are not always manifest. Yet high blood pressure, often referred to as “the silent killer,” is a serious health problem. If high blood pressure is not controlled by changes in your lifestyle and medication, it can lead to brain hemorrhage, heart disease, eyesight problems or kidney failure.
Black women and Latinas are more at risk of high blood pressure than white women. But black women are more likely to have hypertension caused by genetics, while in Hispanic women the issue often is due to unhealthy habits.
“There was a time when it was thought that women did not suffer from high blood pressure, but the reality is that both men and women can equally suffer from this disorder,” says Dr. Sandra Chaparro, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Heart Failure and Transplant Section (Division of Cardiology), University of Miami who also practices at Jackson Memorial Hospital. “However, fewer women were diagnosed.”
With the greater diagnoses, women’s patterns can be discerned.
“African American women suffer the most, together with Native Indians, followed by Hispanic and then white women,’’ Chaparro said. “If Latinas exercised more and made some changes in their eating habits, they would see their number decrease.”
A good example is Nélida Santana, a 70-year-old Cuban who was diagnosed with high blood pressure at age 50. Initially she was told that it was due to fluid retention and so diuretics were prescribed. Yet the numbers would not go back to normal. Santana is not too overweight, but she has lived an extremely sedentary life.
“I have never exercised other than what I do at home cleaning and washing and ironing clothes,” she tells us. Her condition is made worse by genetic factors, since her immediate family has 11 siblings, five of whom suffer from high blood pressure. “My mother also suffered from hypertension,” she says.
“In its first stage it is a silent disorder,” says Chaparro. “Yet it gradually begins to damage your organs, and this is why it is very important to measure your pressure often, at least once a year. There are machines that do it in pharmacies, supermarkets and firehouses.”
There are many medications to control high blood pressure. However, experts say that 40 percent of cases can be controlled by a simple change of lifestyle.
“Exercise is very important,” says Chaparro. She says that we all suffer from stress in our lives and exercise is a great tool to control it. Avoiding smoking and alcohol are also important measures. “You don’t have to be an athlete,” says Chaparro. “Walk 35 minutes every day and have no more than two alcoholic drinks a day.” A diet low in fat and salt also helps, as well as increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables.
“It’s not so much the excess weight as the accumulated salt,” said Dr. Claudia Martínez, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Interventional Section (Division of Cardiology), University of Miami, who also practices at Jackson Memorial Hospital. “In the case of Latinas, when they reach menopause they gain weight and there is no reason for that. On the contrary, that is the moment to increase physical activity since metabolism slows down. It is advisable to take a walk after each meal.”
Dr. Pamela Green, 54, an African-American psychologist who suffers from hypertension, knows that she is 40 pounds overweight. Yet she said she lacks the willpower to lose weight.
“We all know what we have to do, but it’s difficult to do it,’’ says Green, whose blood pressure began to climb when she started putting on weight. She now takes pills. “Dr. Martínez has told me that if I lose weight she could probably get me off the medication.”
“To shed pounds is to lower the pressure,” says Martínez, who says there is a direct link between being overweight and hypertension, a disease that is the main cause of heart attacks, brain hemorrhages, kidney failure and other organs in the body.
Both experts, Martínez and Chaparro, point out that it is sad that many patients opt to take medication rather than change their habits. “With willpower or without it, there are no excuses to live with high blood pressure,” says Chaparro.
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