Hypertension is a common fellow-companion of elderly people: increase in atrerial pressure. Hypertension is a treacherous disease. The increased arterial pressure may lead not only to stress on the heart and to cardiac pain, but also to infarction. The stress is increased not only for the heart alone but also for the vessels. This may result in a brain stroke. In brain stroke, death or a paralysis of extremities occurs quite often.

  The upper arterial pressure is considered safe if it does not exceed 100 plus the age of the patient, and the critic one - 110 plus the age of the patient. It is not recommended to have a pressure above these figures. The optimal upper pressure is 90 plus one's age although this figure is rather individual. Many people have a stable blood pressure of 120/80 until the age of 50-60. In children the pressure is 100/60 as a rule. In young people: 110/70-120/80. Many individuals see their blood pressure increase with age.

  The greatest and, unfortunately, most widely spread mistake in treatment of hypertension is to undergo an irregular treatment. One should not forget that just 1 second of high pressure may be sufficient for a brain stroke. Therefore it is necessary to maintain a stable pressure. Treatment must start gradually and terminate just as gradually, and in elderly people with chronic hypertension, the treatment should be constant with a thoroughly selected dosage.

  Dizziness, nausea, weakness, headaches, cardiac pains: all these signs separately or in combination may accompany hypertension and give ground for measuring blood pressure and consulting a competent physician. Age-related changes in the blood pressure are very slow, therefore even a 10-unit increase per 24 hours may induce signs of hypertension.

There are many causes of hypertension. They may involve:
 

• A release of a large amount of adrenaline into the blood during stress (this leads to a temporary increase in the blood pressure, which then drops to a normal level);
   
• Insufficient renal functions directly are related to the upper level of arterial pressure (the so called renal hypertension);
   
• Vascular spasm leads to enhanced effort in maintaining the normal blood supply, and the effort is expressed as increased pressure. The heart and brain suffer from vascular spasm, as do the blood vessels.
   

If an increased pressure occurs for the first time and its value remain below the critical one, then one can abstain from taking medicines. In this case, a "Vitafon" procedure before going to bed is recommended.

  When there is a stable increase in blood pressure, one should visit a physician to find out what the causes of the disease are and to receive a prescribed treatment. In this case doses of the drugs should be selected as well as a scheme of treatment with the aid of the "Vitafon".