High Blood Pressure: What You Need to Know

High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is a condition where the force of blood pushing
against the walls of our blood vessels is too high. Imagine your heart as a powerful pump that sends blood
throughout your body.
When someone has high blood pressure, people will have several health problems. Firstly, Heart
Strain that makes heart has to work harder to pump blood. Just like lifting heavier weights at the gym, the
heart muscles have to contract more forcefully to push blood into the arteries. Moreover, people will
have stressed arteries that position them under greater strain. Think of them like stretchy rubber tubes.
When blood pressure is high, these tubes become tense and less flexible. Over time, this can damage the
arteries and lead to serious health problems. Last but not least, the tricky part is that high blood pressure
often doesn’t show obvious symptoms. It’s like a stealthy ninja silently affecting your body. But if left
untreated, it can harm your heart, kidneys, brain, and blood vessels.
High blood pressure can sneak up on anyone, even teens. Factors like an unhealthy diet, lack of
exercise, and obesity play a role. Hormonal changes during adolescence and rapid growth spurts can also
contribute. So, it’s essential to be aware and take steps to keep your blood pressure in check.

1. What is the central theme of the passage?

A) The importance of maintaining healthy blood pressure.
B) The role of hormones in blood pressure regulation.
C) The impact of obesity on heart health.
D) The dangers of untreated high blood pressure. (pengecoh)
E) The benefits of regular exercise.
Explanation and clues:
Options B, C, and E are facts and exist as part of the information in the text. But the question is “the
central theme”, option D is also a fact and mentioned in paragraph 2. When it comes to the theme or
topic, we can see the main frame of the text, which is usually written in the first or the last paragraph,
never in the body paragraph (2, 3, or else before the last paragraph).
Meanwhile, in option A, two words have similar meanings to the information in the last paragraph as a
conclusion or central theme, “essential” means “important” (penting), and “keep in check” means
“maintain” (menjaga, merawat, mengecek). So, this is the best answer to the question number 1.

2. Which term is synonymous with “hypertension”?

A) High blood pressure
B) Low blood sugar
C) Elevated heart rate
D) Blood clotting disorder
E) Irregular heartbeat
Explanation and clues:
Options A “High Blood Pressure” has a similar context with the term Hypertension in the question
as it has similar meanings in “high” which means “hyper” (tinggi, di atas), and “pressure” which also
means “tension” (tensi, tekanan). Also, we can get the second clue from the title of the text which says
“High Blood Pressure: What You Need to Know”. The other options (B, C, D, E) are not related to the
topic.
 High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is a condition where the force of blood pushing
against the walls of our blood vessels is too high. Imagine your heart as a powerful pump that sends blood
throughout your body.
When someone has high blood pressure, people will have several health problems. Firstly, Heart
Strain that makes heart has to work harder to pump blood. Just like lifting heavier weights at the gym, the
heart muscles have to contract more forcefully to push blood into the arteries. Moreover, people will
have stressed arteries that position them under greater strain. Think of them like stretchy rubber tubes.
When blood pressure is high, these tubes become tense and less flexible. Over time, this can damage the
arteries and lead to serious health problems. Last but not least, the tricky part is that high blood pressure
often doesn’t show obvious symptoms. It’s like a stealthy ninja silently affecting your body. But if left
untreated, it can harm your heart, kidneys, brain, and blood vessels.
High blood pressure can sneak up on anyone, even teens. Factors like an unhealthy diet, lack of
exercise, and obesity play a role. Hormonal changes during adolescence and rapid growth spurts can also
contribute. So, it’s essential to be aware and take steps to keep your blood pressure in check.

3. What can happen to arteries when blood pressure is consistently high?

A) They become more flexible.
B) They stretch like rubber tubes.
C) They contract less forcefully.
D) They experience less strain.
E) They remain unaffected.
Explanation and clues:
The clues from the option to make you can get the answer more quickly are “arteries” and
“consistently high”. Go to the part of the text with those clues. Don’t translate the text. Pay attention to
the words that have opposite meanings such as “less” and “more”, un- and without -un, etc.

4. Why is high blood pressure often referred to as a “stealthy ninja”?

A) Because it affects the kidneys and brain.
B) Because it shows obvious symptoms.
C) Because it harms the heart.
D) Because it silently impacts the body.
E) Because it is easily treatable.
Explanation and clues:
The clues from the option to make you can get the answer more quickly are “stealthy ninja”. Go
to the part of the text with those clues. Don’t translate the text. Pay attention to the words in the options
that have incorrect/false facts. Options A and C are correct based on the fact, but they are not related to
the word “stealthy ninja”. Options B and E are not correct based on the facts. Option B contains opposite
meanings from the fact in the text, “doesn’t show” and “show”. Option E says the detail condition,
“easily”, but in the text, it doesn’t tell the detail condition “easily” or “hardly”. It just says “if left
untreated”.

5. When can high blood pressure affect teenagers?

A) During rapid growth spurts.
B) Only if they have an unhealthy diet.
C) When they lack exercise.
D) When hormonal changes occur. (Pengecoh)
E) Only in adulthood.

Explanation and clues:

Option B is incorrect because of the word “only”, it is not only that factor and it can happen to
anyone of all ages. Option C is also incorrect because it is not only that factor. Option D is incorrect
because the option with the word “adulthood” is not consistent with the question which is about
“teenagers”.
We now have two options left, A and D. Let’s see this part of the text: “Hormonal changes during
adolescence and rapid growth spurts can also contribute”. Based on that fact, adolescence (masa
remaja) and rapid growth spurts (lonjakan pertumbuhan cepat) is the time WHEN this high blood
pressure affects teenagers. The word “when” in the question has a similar context to the word “during” in
the text and option A. So, the best answer is option A.