The Blood Pressure Mania

Jumpy monkey was feeling unwell. He went to Dr Jeffrey giraffe and said, “Doctor, I feel irritable. I am getting angry over small things.”

- Kumud Kumar

Dr Jeffrey checked his blood pressure with a machine and said, “Jumpy, our blood pressure, or BP, is how strong our heart pushes our blood to move around our body. Your blood pressure is a bit high—that’s all.”

“How high is it, doctor?” Jumpy asked, alarmed.

“It should ideally be around 120/80, but yours is 150/95.”

“Oh no!” Jumpy exclaimed, touching his forehead. “No wonder I have such high fever too.”

“No, you don’t,” laughed Dr Jeffrey. “It’s not that bad, Jumpy. Your high BP is treatable. Just reduce the amount of salt in your diet. If it doesn’t get better with that, I will give you some medicine.”

Jumpy decided to go one step further, and cut out salt entirely from his diet. He began eating bland food.

In a few days, Jumpy started feeling tired. He didn’t feel like doing anything and was unusually sleepy all the time.

He went back to Dr Jeffrey, who checked his blood pressure and said, “Jumpy, your blood pressure is only 90/65! Did you take any medicine by yourself?”

“No, doctor,” Jumpy replied, “I did something even better than what you asked me to do—I completely stopped eating salt!”

“But I never advised that, Jumpy!” Dr Jeffrey said, removing the stethoscope from his neck in frustration. The other patients began to giggle.

“What should I do now, Doc?” Jumpy asked.

“Firstly, please do not try to be your own doctor. Secondly, salt is necessary for all body functions. You should take it in balanced amounts, Jumpy.”