The blood flowing inside the closed tubular system of our arteries exerts pressure on the arterial wall. Human blood pressure slowly goes up from the time of birth and reaches the adult level around 18 years of age. In most parts of the so-called ‘civilised world’, blood pressure keeps going up with age even after the age of 18 years. In the case of Polynesian islanders and other primitive races, the blood pressure does not go up after reaching the adult level at 18 years of age. In the rest of the civilized world, the stress of modernity inexorably pushes the blood pressure up.

When a person’s blood pressure is consistently higher than that of his peers in the same age group, it is called high blood pressure.

The higher the pressure, the quicker the death. There is no disease called ‘low blood pressure’. If one’s blood pressure remains high, it produces damaging effects on organs such as the heart, the brain, the kidney and the eyes. Vascular diseases resulting from high blood pressure are the greatest killers known to mankind.

When an individual’s blood pressure is high, he or she does not exhibit any symptoms and usually feels fit. Fatal vascular accidents or failure of the heart, or the brain, or the kidney or the eyes may provide the first sign of disease.

The pressure inside the artery during the contracting phase of the heart and that during the relaxation phase of the heart are called systolic pressure and diastolic pressure, respectively. The former is usually higher than the latter.

Blood pressure should be checked regularly. One can easily detect a tendency for the blood pressure, long before any serious damage can be done to the body. You can prevent high blood pressure and its ravages by simply changing your lifestyle or by means of minimal drug therapy.

In the initial stages, there are certain methods to effectively control elevated blood pressure and also to make the victims of this unfortunate malady perfectly fit so that they can again become useful to their families and also to society.

Even at a late stage, when high blood pressure has already caused some damage to the aforementioned target organs, medical science has now progressed tremendously and can help such unfortunate victims. However, the process may prove socially and economically detrimental, and may not make the victim normal again.

Checking the blood pressure involves a very simple technique which can be mastered by any intelligent person within a very short time. The basic idea should be to train five to ten enthusiastic volunteers in every locality to check the residents’ blood pressure. In case the recorded pressure is higher than expected, it has to be rechecked several times before a doctor need intervene. One casual reading of high blood pressure may not be significant.

The advantages are as follows:

You can easily keep it under control.

You can prevent serious or fatal diseases affecting the heart, the kidney, the brain and the eyes.

You can save yourself from premature death.

You can save a few thousand deaths in your own community.

Since the ravages of high blood pressure usually kill men in the prime of their life, the aforementioned measures will help prevent many women from becoming widows and many a child from becoming a destitute. We would do well to remember Benjamin Franklin’s immortal words: “Be sober and temperate and you will be healthy.”