Hypertension: Blood In The Human Body

Public Health Problem
Hypertension is when there is an elevated force of blood in the human body. High blood pressure virtually exists everywhere in the world and in almost every community. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2016), 75 million people are inflicted with increased blood pressure levels in the United States. Unfortunately, there is no root cause or definite explanation to hypertension. In most cases, it generally develops over time and often it is common in the elderly. However, there are numerous underlying conditions that in time lead a person to develop hypertension.
Blood pressure is determined by the amount of blood the heart pumps and the amount of resistance of blood flow. Hypertension occurs in
It may be due to the unfortunate origin of family history or due to poor lifestyle habits. Apart from the various factors that may lead to the development of chronic high blood pressure, the article USDA Guidelines for Sodium Intake by Ella Paula (2013) highly recommends that healthy adults limit their daily sodium intake to less than 2400 milligrams. High-risk individuals such as those with diabetes, obesity, or existing heart disease should limit their sodium intake to 1500 milligrams per day. The intervention programs established by the USDA also advocates for avoiding canned soups and prepackaged frozen dinners, and reading the nutrition labels on processed foods. An unfortunate popular choice by many college students is Cup of Noodles because of the cheap and quick accessibility of the meal. However, a single Cup of Noodles contains approximately 1400 milligrams of sodium, which already exceeds half the amount of sodium we should be consuming in a single day. Luckily enough, there are healthier alternatives of ramen noodles that contain less sodium which can be readily found in common markets. Another way to limit the epidemic of hypertension in the US is through awareness and education. In an editorial by Daniel Jones and John Hall from the Science Volunteer (2002), public health intervention programs like the National High Blood Pressure Education Program (NHBPEP) spreads awareness and education of
in the Journal of General Internal Medicine (2007), physician-to-patient interactions are strongly associated with proper medication adherence in the African-American community. In order to prevent the increase of hypertension due to poor lifestyle habits, it is advised that health providers actively learn more about their patients’ history and provide targeted counseling to help patients improve medication adherence. This conclusion applies to all cultural backgrounds, regardless of increased history of risks. According to the National High Blood Pressure Education Program (2002), many foods at restaurants contain high levels of sodium and because of our frequent dining and fast-foods lifestyle, risks of over consumption of sodium may seem inevitable. Despite the reasons that over consumption of high sodium foods may be unavoidable, the NHBPEP concludes that in order to prevent the increase of hypertension, we must reduce our sodium