It is sad to know that my culture does not put enough importance on how dangerous high blood pressure is. Families that are in poverty do not even have access to health care and medical treatments because all the money that they have goes towards feeding their family and sending their children to school for a better future. There are thousands of people that have high blood pressure but they do not do anything to lower their blood pressure because they are more concerned with taking care of their family. I feel that in my Filipino culture, the family is so prioritized that people forget to take care of themselves as an individual. The Filipino culture is known to have one of the highest rates of high blood pressure compared to the other Asian cultures (Hypertension Among Filipinos). People who do not go to the doctors annually and get their blood pressure checked, do not know that they might have high blood pressure which would put them at a higher risk of heart conditions such as stroke and heart attacks. Medication and a change in lifestyle can treat high blood pressure. According to WebMD (2017), there are many causes of high blood pressure such as smoking, drinking, family history, age, salty diet, and lack of exercise. It is known as the silent killer because there are no clear symptoms other than death.
According to the American Heart Association (2017), hypertension is when the blood pressure, which is the strength of the blood pushing on the walls of the blood vessels, is too high. High blood pressure is also known as hypertension. This lifestyle that the Filipino population is living is also what is leading to a higher risk of high blood pressure.
The Filipino culture loves to eat and loves to drink but no one has brought up the effects of these actions. Growing up in the Filipino culture, I saw how important alcohol was to the social experience. For the population that has access to food, it is a luxury, however, not that many Filipino families are able to enjoy this luxury because of poverty. After family, food is the second priority. You go to school to give your family a better future. In my household, the family is the number one priority. I grew up in a small town in the mountains of the Philippine Islands, in a culture that emphasized the importance of food, family, and alcohol.
0 kommentar(er)
