The way to take care of your heart is to keep your blood pressure under check, because High Blood Pressure (Hypertension) is the main cause of cardiovascular disease. “It is a major health issue,” says Dr Rahul Gupta, well-known Cardiologist who is attached to Floris Hospital, Vashi.
He warns that the risk of stroke is four times greater if we have high BP. Dr Gupta, who has been promoting public awareness about hypertension, points out that high BP is the result of a high lifestyle. Quoting the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Gupta affirms that cardiovascular disease is the number one killer and a modern epidemic. Recently, delivering a talk in Vashi on World Hypertension (WHD) exhorted citizens of all countries to silence this ‘silent killer’. Dr Gupta said that while the risk of a stroke was four times greater, that of a heart attack (myocardial infarction) was two times greater in people who are hyper-tensed. On World Hypertension Day, he observed, “Lifestyle factors such as physical inactivity, a salt-rich diet with high processed and fatty foods, and alcohol and tobacco use are reasons for this increased disease burden, which is spreading at an alarming rate from developed countries to emerging economies, such as India, China and African countries.”
