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Adopting a healthy lifestyle to prevent hypertension

ByWebmaster

Oct 16, 2022

BUJUMBURA October 16th (ABP) – The President of the Burundian Society of Cardiology (SBC), Dr. Elysée Baransaka, cardiologist at the University Hospital Center of Kamenge, has invited the Burundian population to adopt a healthy lifestyle to prevent themselves from hypertension. He spoke on the occasion of the celebration of World Heart Day 2022 under the theme: “Using the heart for every heart.”

Dr. Baransaka first recalled that the heart is a large muscle whose role is to circulate blood through the blood vessels. Blood vessels supply all parts of the body with blood. Each time the heart beats, it forces blood through these vessels, which creates tension.

According to him, a tension (hypertension) appears when blood pressure, that is to say the force with which the blood is forced to circulate in the blood vessels, is constantly too high. He also pointed out that over time high blood pressure can be life threatening.

Talking about the causes of hypertension, Cardiologist Baransaka reported that many factors can cause hypertension either beyond a person’s control while others can be influenced.

For non-modifiable risk factors, he cited middle age, genetics (family history of high blood pressure), ethnicity (people of African descent are at higher risk due to genetic predisposition).

For modifiable risk factors, he advised the Burundian population to have their blood pressure checked at each medicinal visit, follow a balanced diet low in salt and fat, adopt a sports routine (150 minutes per week), try to lose weight permanently, avoid smoking, limit alcohol consumption, take treatment for high blood pressure, if prescribed by a doctor.

According to that cardiologist, high blood pressure is called a “silent killer” because most of the time there are no obvious symptoms. He also added that when hypertension is left untreated, the damage it causes to the blood system can lead to strokes, eye disease, heart attack or heart failure, kidney disease, sexual dysfunction and more. It should be noted that the WHO estimates that more than 17 million deaths linked to cardiovascular disease worldwide and each year.