High Blood Pressure: Get It Checked

This 2D animation follows a 40-year-old woman whose mother has been admitted to hospital with high blood pressure, possibly after living with it untreated for a long time. She has headaches herself and puts them down to stress. A doctor explains that high blood pressure can run in families, that symptoms can include tiredness, headache, blurred vision and palpitations, but that there are often no symptoms at all – so it is easily overlooked. The film shows how to measure blood pressure at home: three readings in the morning and three in the evening before eating, after sitting and relaxing for five minutes, using the same arm and position every time, and sending the results via Doktor.gl or bringing them to the next check-up. It explains how narrow, stiff blood vessels make the heart work harder and over time raise the risk of blood clots in the brain or heart, and that medication is not a cure: you keep taking it even when your blood pressure looks fine, and go for check-ups once or twice a year. It ends with everyday advice: walk more, eat healthily, follow the 10 dietary guidelines, cut down on salt and liquorice, drink less alcohol and eat less saturated fat from four-legged animals.