Mulling over his comments, it became clear to this editor, for one, that Dr. Gardner, could, indeed, bring valuable information and inspire interesting discussions in the community, and he has kindly agreed to provide a monthly column.
In addition to addressing matters of the heart, his columns may take on “myth-busting” or explore public health issues such as common and advanced medical services that are available locally.
“Ask Dr. Mark” will run on the first Sunday of each month in the Sunday Faces and Places section. Please send comments and questions, of a general nature, to me at spaulsen@napanews.com, and I will forward them on.
For his first column, our new “friendly neighborhood cardiologist” answers questions he is commonly asked. — Sasha Paulsen
“I have hypertension and I love wine. Can I have my wine and drink it, too?”
First, you are far from alone. High blood pressure or hypertension is at epidemic levels globally. There are 5.4 billion Google searches performed daily and 5% (270 million) of those searches are healthcare-related. I did the math: That is 187,500 searches per minute or 3,125 per second! The #1 search question: ”How do I lower my blood pressure?”
In the US, 116 million adults (half) have high blood pressure, but unfortunately less than one in four have it under control. Moreover, 25% of 20-somethings, a group that is largely under-diagnosed and untreated, have it as well.
