Risk of disease due to heredity and lifestyle project Term Paper

Risk of disease due to heredity and lifestyle project - Term Paper Example However, they admitted that my maternal grandparent died from a complication of hypertension. My father’s brother too has had high blood pressure for twenty years. His doctor made the diagnosis when he was twenty-eight years old. Fortunately, he has managed to control it well, with only a few hospital admissions. The risk of developing hypertension is greater when one has close relatives or parents who have or had the condition (Whelton, He and Louis 5). Since there is a history of high blood pressure both from my maternal and paternal side, my risk of developing hypertension is great. The chances of me getting hypertension are even higher since I do not have an exercise program and have fast food for lunch on many occasions. It is not possible to control heredity because it is not possible to isolate the genes that are responsible for high blood pressure from the rest of the human genome. However, it is possible to modify one’s lifestyle and diet to reduce the risk of developing the disease altogether. Hypertension that is uncontrolled is one of the leading causes of disability among the US population (Whelton, He and Louis 2). Eventually, it causes a poor quality of life and might even cause blindness or a fatal heart attack. It damages the blood cells lining the blood vessels resulting in health emergencies like aneurysms. It also a plays a significant role in the development of coronary artery disease, enlarged left heart and cardiac failure. It also causes damage to the kidneys and could result in kidney failure. Perhaps the biggest risk of having high blood pressure is the risk of getting a stroke when one of the small arteries in the brain ruptures. Undoubtedly, I need a lifestyle modification plan to avoid developing hypertension. To start with, it is essential to have regular screening for blood pressure and related diseases,