High blood pressure increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and occurs in 1 in 3 Dutch people between the ages of 30 and 70. Both the shop floor and the Etos website are used to make knowledge about blood pressure more accessible.
The Etos survey among more than 3000 Dutch women shows that measuring their own health is popular. 80% measure one or more health indicators every week, such as counting steps, the number of minutes of intensive exercise, heart rate, calorie burn or sleep. More than half of the respondents also feel that achieving set goals such as 10,000 steps has a positive and motivating effect.
Noor de Bruijn, VP Commerce at Etos (photo above): ‘Feel better about yourself, starts with good health. We want to make the Netherlands happier by being your partner in your daily wellbeing. This goes beyond selling products, we also see creating awareness and sharing insights as our role. Blood pressure is an important theme in our training institute, also because many questions are asked about this in the shops. We have therefore delved deeper into this theme and we have conducted a study of female Netherlands. The current campaign shows that you can approach Etos in an accessible way for good advice about a healthy lifestyle. To increase our knowledge, we actively contacted specialists from UMC Utrecht, Erasmus MC and Amsterdam UMC. You can ask Etos any question that helps you to feel good. Both in our physical stores and online, we look beyond our product range and are ready to provide consumers with knowledge. ‘
Measuring blood pressure is still too often forgotten
Measuring blood pressure and knowledge about what a healthy blood pressure means is not yet commonplace. 94% of the female Netherlands knows that high blood pressure increases the risk of heart failure, stroke or myocardial infarction. Yet more than half of women between the ages of 40 and 59 say they never measure their blood pressure. The study also shows that there is a lot of uncertainty when it comes to blood pressure. Statements such as “Blood pressure means that your heart is beating faster” and “Healthy blood pressure is different for women than for men” were not answered correctly by 56% and 69% respectively. The full investigation can be found here.
Hester de Ruijter, professor of cardiovascular disease in women (UMC Utrecht): ‘It’s fantastic that 80% of the women indicate that they are working on their health on a regular basis, insight into your own blood pressure is certainly part of that. You usually do not notice high blood pressure. Even if you eat healthy and exercise a lot you can have high blood pressure. Therefore, start from your 40th with measuring your blood pressure (at home) at least once a year. High blood pressure is fairly easy to deal with with lifestyle changes or medication, but the long-term consequences for the heart or vessels are often irreversible. ‘
(PvWK)
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