What Is High Blood Pressure?
Blood pressure is the force your blood exerts against artery walls as your heart pumps. When it stays consistently too high, it is called hypertension. Normal is around 120/80 mmHg; hypertension is diagnosed when readings consistently exceed 140/90 mmHg.
Why Is It Called the Silent Killer?
Most people with hypertension have no symptoms at all. Without regular checks, the condition can go undetected for years — silently damaging the heart, kidneys, brain, and blood vessels. It is often first discovered through a complication: a heart attack, a stroke, or kidney failure. This is why routine blood pressure monitoring is so important, even when you feel completely fine.
Risk Factors
- Age — risk increases as you get older
- Family history — hypertension tends to run in families
- Being overweight or obese
- Physical inactivity
- High-salt diet
- Excessive alcohol consumption
- Smoking
- Chronic stress
What Can You Do?
Reduce salt intake to less than 5g per day, exercise for at least 30 minutes most days, maintain a healthy weight, limit alcohol, quit smoking, and manage stress through adequate sleep and relaxation. When lifestyle changes are not enough, medication prescribed by a doctor can effectively control blood pressure. Our Internal Medicine team specialises in personalised hypertension care plans.
Get Checked Today
A blood pressure check takes less than two minutes and is part of every consultation at Medway Polyclinic. If you have not had yours checked recently — or if hypertension runs in your family — come in. Early detection is the most powerful tool you have.
Leave a Comment