Yesterday I found out a friend of mine collapsed in his office. It turns out he had neglected to take his blood pressure medication and was on the brink of having a stroke at the very young age of 24. He was rushed to the hospital and it scared the crap out of him (as well as everyone who cares about him). It got me thinking, how could someone so young already be on high blood pressure medication? High blood pressure is also known as hypertension has several factors that affect it including being overweight, lack of physical activity, too much alcohol consumption, and stress just to name a few. Knowing that my friend is a store manager for a bank (a job that comes with a lot of stress and pressure) and also has a tendency to drink more often than he should explained quite a bit. Looking at the homeostatic state of our bodies, high blood pressure is our body out of balance. There is too much blood forced against your artery walls, and to tip the scale in the opposite direction you have to make lifestyle changes or have help from medications made to help lower this force. This was a real eye opener for me because there are no symptoms for high blood pressure, and it’s actually nicknamed the “silent killer”. Now that I know this I will be more careful to keep an eye on my own BP, and so should everyone else!!
