Essay Example on Managing Hypertension: Mobilizing Communities and Medication

Introduction

Hypertension has been among the most prevalent conditions in the US and the world at large. The condition is characterized by an increase in blood pressure, which can damage other systems in the body. The disease is classified among cardiovascular illnesses. Various measures have been taken to help in the management of the condition and reduction of its prevalence in society. Some of the measures include mobilizing the community on behavioral changes and the use of antihypertensive medications. Although the approaches have been effective, more strategies need to be applied. The research question is: "can increasing physical activity help in the elimination of hypertension in the society in the future?"

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Importance of the Topic

Hypertension has been a concern in almost all healthcare systems. The number of people suffering from the condition is increasing daily, which strains most healthcare systems, especially in developing countries. Statistics indicate that the number of peoples suffering from the condition increased to 1 billion from 600 million between 1980 and 2008. In addition, the statistics revealed that in Europe, the cases of hypertension represent more than 15% of the total number of cardiovascular diseases in the region (Lopes, Mesquita-Bastos, Alves & Ribeiro, 2018). The cases of pregnant women suffering from the condition are also increasing rapidly. Due to this, more effective measures need to be applied.

Tools for research

Information on hypertension and the impact of physical activity of the condition was obtained from various databases, which include NCBI and PUBMED. To obtain quality and up-to-date articles, several words and phrases were used. Words used include "hypertension", "Physical activity", "high blood pressure", "Exercise" and "hypertension management". The information was readily available on the websites. The major task was to identify the articles that fulfill the inclusion criteria, which include articles with physical activity as an approach to manage hypertension, articles that are not older than five years, and articles with well-described research design, results, and discussion on the topic.

Analysis of the Articles

Three articles were identified and included to be used for the study. The article by Lopes, Mesquita-Bastos, Alves & Ribeiro (2018) gives detailed information on hypertension statistics. The author conducted an article review of seven articles. Three articles were on aerobic exercise, on eon resistance exercise, two on isometric exercise, and one on concurrent exercise training. Each of these forms of the exercise demonstrated a significant improvement in cardiovascular health. The facts indicate that all the forms of exercise can be used in the management of the condition. The second article demonstrated the importance of the interaction between the brain and exercise in improving cardiovascular health (Rêgo, Cabral, Costa & Fontes, 2019). The article contained detailed and quality information on the topic. The information is essential in determining the best practices to improve physical and mental health. The third article was mostly on the impact of exercise on cardiovascular health. The article was a summary of the article reviews conducted by the researchers (Hegde & Solomon, 2016). The strength of these articles is that they created an excellent link between exercise and hypertension. In addition, the results from the articles were obtained from different research designs. However, the second article had limited statistical analysis.

Conclusion

From the article review, it is evident that the prevalence of the condition is increasing worldwide. The number of cases is much higher in developed nations, especially in Europe. Several measures have been applied to help in the management of the condition. The use of exercise has been proven to be among the most effective approaches. From the first article, all types of physical activity demonstrated a significant improvement in cardiovascular health. Therefore, all healthcare systems should adopt this strategy to emphasize the importance of physical activity in the community.

References

Hegde, S., & Solomon, S. (2016). Influence of Physical Activity on Hypertension and Cardiac Structure and Function. Current Hypertension Reports, 17(10). doi: 10.1007/s11906-015-0588-3

Lopes, S., Mesquita-Bastos, J., Alves, A., & Ribeiro, F. (2018). Exercise as a tool for hypertension and resistant hypertension management: current insights. Integrated Blood Pressure Control, Volume 11, 65-71. doi: 10.2147/ibpc.s136028

Rêgo, M., Cabral, D., Costa, E., & Fontes, E. (2019). Physical Exercise for Individuals with Hypertension: It Is Time to Emphasize its Benefits on the Brain and Cognition. Clinical Medicine Insights: Cardiology, 13, 117954681983941. doi: 10.1177/1179546819839411