It’s simple to keep your health in check through monitoring your diet and lifestyle; avoid problems such as high blood pressure to enjoy a balanced lifestyle.

An increasing concern among the medical community in the Kingdom, Bahrain Specialist Hospital (BSH) has noticed that patients’ blood pressure levels are rising, and with it a host of ailments and complications.

Dr Teerath Kumar, an internal medicine and nephrology specialist at BSH, has extensive experience in this arena. He explains, for example, how the kidneys play a key role in keeping a person’s blood pressure within a healthy range.

“What most people don’t know is that high blood pressure can damage the kidneys and prompt chronic kidney disease (CKD). The higher the pressure, the more work the heart has to do. Over time, this can damage the vessels throughout the body and this in turn causes the kidney to stop removing wastes and extra fluid from the body,” he warns.

“That said, high blood pressure is one of the leading causes of kidney failure, which is also called end-stage renal disease. People with kidney failure must either receive a kidney transplant or have regular blood cleansing treatments called dialysis.”

He explains that most people with hypertension display no symptoms. The only way to know whether a person’s blood pressure is high is to have a health professional measure it with a blood pressure cuff.

“Early kidney disease is a silent problem, like high blood pressure, and does not have any symptoms. People may have CKD but not know it because they do not feel sick,” the doctor notes.

To keep your health in check and to avoid further issues, the doctors at BSH suggests that you keep your daily sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams or lower and your cholesterol levels in the target range. One way to achieve this is by paying careful attention to your diet.

“Choose fruits, vegetables, grains, and low fat dairy foods. Also make sure you limit your alcohol and caffeine intake,”

Dr Teerath advises. “Another general tip is to maintain your ideal weight and ensure you consume daily the recommended intake of required nutrients.”

One of the measures that BSH takes to test kidney failure is to check a patient’s urine for protein, as healthy kidneys take waste out of the blood but leave behind healthy proteins.
Call 17 812-000.