A 71 year old woman has urged people to get checked for Blood Pressure, having been recently diagnosed with it last year.
Rebecca Fitzsimons, a retired French and English teacher, hailing from Clontarf in Dublin, was diagnosed with it last year, despite living a healthy lifestyle.
She is now calling on people to have this checked, in order to reduce the chances of a stroke, heart attack, heart failure, dementia and some form of blindness. She revealed that her reading for high blood pressure, was then confirmed by her GP a month later.
This diagnosis prompted her to implement healthy lifestyle changes, including a change to a Mediterranean-style diet, weight loss, as well as cutting out eating late at night and improving her sleeping patters. This has led to her blood pressure returning to normal.
A recent survey from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, 62% of adults aged 50 and older with high blood pressure were not appropriately managed, which means that they were undiagnosed, untreated or treated but not controlled.
The Irish Heart Foundation, which is supported by other organisations, has launched a month-long campaign to raise greater awareness about high blood pressure and the importance of regular health checks.
For most people, high blood pressure is a reading of 140 over 90 or more. But for people with diabetes or kidney disease, the target blood pressure would be lower to reduce the risk of stroke.
Speaking about this, the Irish Heart Foundation's Director of Health Promotion, has said that there is often no single cause for blood pressure, but several factors can increase the risk. She added that it can run in families.
She also explained that nobody will know until they get their blood pressure checked.
