Wednesday, 26 March 2008

HEALTH IS WEALTH

HEALTH ISSUES

In India, chronic diseases were the reason for 53% of all the deaths in 2005. Of these 29% were due to cardiovascular diseases; Cardiovascular diseases includes heart attacks, coronary artery disease and strokes. It is estimated that, by 2020, cardiovascular disease will be the largest cause of disability and death, as a proportion of all deaths in India.
India already has the largest number of people with diabetes in the world! India is the diabetes capital of the world. The occurrence of diabetes in urban Indians is 2nd highest in the world; approximately 12% of the adults develop diabetes!. Not only this, Indians succumb to diabetes and heart attacks 5-10 years earlier than their western counterparts. This means that most indians succumb to heart attacks, strokes and diabetes in their most productive years, when they are 40-50 years, when they are rising in their jobs, when they are peaking in their careers, when much of the family responsibility is on them, rather than their western counterparts who develop it at retirement, at 60-65 years. This will lead to huge economic burdens on the country. All this is due to the fact that Indians consume less of fresh fruits and vegetables, consume more tobacco, consume more unhealthy diets and are more sedentary than their western counterparts. In 2003 alone, in India, there were approx. 30 million people suffering from chronic heart disease.
The major risk factors causing heart attacks, diabetes and strokes are: high blood pressure, high concentration of cholesterol in the blood, inadequate fresh fruits and vegetable consumption everyday, overweight/ obesity and greater use of tobacco. Five of these 6 major risk factors are due to unhealthy diets and physical inactivity. Unhealthy diets and physical inactivity are thus amongst the leading causes of major diseases like coronary heart disease, strokes, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis. One third of all cancers too can be prevented by embracing a healthy diet, decreasing saturated fats in the diet, increasing fruit and vegetable consumption and increasing physical activity levels.



THE following website targets the major causes of majority of the
diseases in India and scientifically prevent them. Additionally, the
section on hygiene will help prevent many of the communicable
disease/infectious diseases that plague the everyday lives of people today.


http://healthy-india.org

What is low blood pressure?

Blood pressure is the force exerted by circulating blood on the walls of blood vessels, and constitutes one of the principal vital signs. Blood pressure is generated by the heart pumping blood into the arteries and is regulated by the response by the arteries to the flow of blood.

By convention, an individual's blood pressure is expressed as systolic/diastolic blood pressure, for example, 120/80.The systolic blood pressure (the top number) represents the pressure in the arteries as the muscle of the heart contracts and pumps blood into them. The diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) represents the pressure in the arteries as the muscle of the heart relaxes after it contracts. Blood pressure always is higher when the heart is pumping than when it is relaxing.

Systolic blood pressure for most healthy adults falls between 90 and 120 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). Normal diastolic blood pressure falls between 60 and 80 mm Hg. Current guidelines define normal blood pressure as lower than 120/80. Blood pressures over 130/80 are considered high. High blood pressureheart disease, kidney disease, hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis or arteriosclerosis), eye damage, and stroke. increases the risk of developing

Low blood pressure (hypotension) is pressure that is so low that it causes symptoms or signs due to the low flow of blood through the arteries and veins. When the flow of blood is too low to deliver enough oxygen and nutrients to vital organs such as the brain, heart, and kidney, the organs do not function normally and may be permanently damaged.

Unlike high blood pressure, low blood pressure is defined primarily by signs and symptoms of low blood flow not by a specific blood pressure number. Some individuals may have a blood pressure of 90/50 with no symptoms of low blood pressure and therefore do not have low blood pressure. However, others who normally have high blood pressure may develop symptoms of low blood pressure if their blood pressure drops to 100/60.

(** I HAVE A BLOOD PRESSURE OF 90/70 WITH NO SYMPTOMS OF LOW BP)


Is low blood pressure bad for your health?

People who have lower blood pressures have a lower risk of stroke, kidney disease, and heart disease. Athletes, people who exercise regularly, people who maintain ideal body weight, and non-smokers tend to have lower blood pressures. Therefore, low blood pressure is desirable as long as it is not low enough to cause symptoms and damage organs in the body.

What are low blood pressure signs and symptoms?

When the blood pressure is not sufficient to deliver enough blood to the organs of the body, the organs do not work properly and may be permanently damaged. For example, if insufficient blood flows to the brain, brain cells do not receive enough oxygen and nutrients, and a person can feel lightheaded, dizzy, or even faint. Going from a sitting or lying position to a standing position often brings out symptoms of low blood pressure. This occurs because standing causes blood to "settle" in the veins of the lower body, and this can lower the blood pressure. If the blood pressure is already low, standing can make the low pressure worse, to the point of causing symptoms. The development of lightheadedness, dizziness, or fainting upon standing caused by low blood pressure is called orthostatic hypotension. Normal individuals are able to compensate rapidly for the low pressure created by standing with the responses discussed previously and do not develop orthostatic hypotension.

When there is insufficient blood pressure to deliver blood to the coronary arteries (the arteries that supply blood to the heart's muscle), a person can develop chest pain (angina) or even a heart attack. When insufficient blood is delivered to the kidneys, the kidneys fail to eliminate wastes from the body, for example, urea and creatinine, and an increase in their levels in the blood occur (for example, elevations of blood urea nitrogen or BUN and serum creatinine, respectively).

Shock is a life-threatening condition where persistently low blood pressure causes organs such as kidney(s), liver, heart, lung, and brain to fail rapidly.

THE INFORMATIONS FROM http://www.medicinenet.com
THIS WEBSITE CONTAINS MANY USEFUL INFORMATIONS ON HEALTH ISSUES
ALL THE DISEASES(A-Z) AND THE CONDITIONS AND SYMPTOMS.

MedTerms Medical Dictionary A-Z List






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