High blood pressure and the young

Presenter - Do young people get it as well?

Martin - They do, they do get it

Presenter - And why is that?

Martin - Well it's this weird genetic thing that we really don't understand but I would certainly say that if somebody, let's say a teenager, particularly if you had 2 parents with high blood pressure, this teenager should have his blood pressure checked you know 16 /18, something like that. What's the harm in it? You know if he comes away knowing his blood pressure is normal, fantastic. But it can also act as a bit of a benchmark, so you know he gets his blood pressure done when he's let say 18, wonderful. Gets it checked 3 years later, tiny bit higher. You know, is this forming a bit of a trend, because - I hope I'm putting across the prevention thing

Presenter - Yes – let's just run through that again then, so if you think you might be at risk of high blood pressure or you think you have high blood pressure obviously go and get it checked at your doctors, but what are the main factors to try and keep that blood pressure down?

Martin - Really really important to stress that this is really all about prevention ok, and this what I try, the message I really try and get across to my patients when I've just told them they've got high blood pressure. They're face falls, they think the end of the world has come, they're going to have to take tablets da dad a – what I say to them is look you are healthy, you were healthy yesterday, you're healthy today, this is all about making sure you're healthy tomorrow and in 10 years time, it's prevention. You can still bungee jump, sky dive, you know t ravel the world, everything ok but this is about prevention. And I totally understand people who will have this label on them, you know oh my God I've got this illness. They haven't really got an illness, they've got this pre-disposition to a problem later on if they do nothing about it and that's a really important message to get across. So this is all about prevention, getting your blood pressure down, looking after your body is all about let's get you to 90 without having a stroke, without having a heart attack, having a great quality of life. That's what it's about. It's not about I'm going to give you these tablets and you're going to feel wonderful, or I'm telling you you've got some terrible condition that's going to end your life you know tomorrow

Presenter - So it's not the end of the world and it's not something that's not treatable

Martin - It's not the end of the world, this is about prevention and if people are really edgy about the tablets again which I totally understand, look upon it slightly like you're taking vitamins

Presenter - Yes

Martin - You know you take vitamins because you want to remain healthy, I want to give you these tablets because I want you to remain healthy

Presenter - It's sort of an insurance policy isn't it?

Martin - It's a very very similar thing basically