Our perception of hypertension (high blood pressure) is that it is part and parcel of the aging process and an accepted consequence of the higher standard of living we are blessed with in this country. The name itself, hypertension, doesn’t help to stem our blasé attitude toward this disease since hypertension has little to do with being hyper or tense.
However, what the disease does have to do with is to increase for 50 million Americans who have it the risk of a stroke by seven times, congestive heart failure by four times, and dying from a heart attack by three times.
Changing our perception of this disease shouldn’t be very hard as the answer is right under our noses—in our mouths. And while we are changing something, why don’t we consider changing the name of the disease to something more fitting like, say, Disaster Warning?