Many people believe that hypertension is easy to diagnose and simple to treat. To treat hypertension, it is just a matter of taking one or two medications every day. In fact, there is a lot to learn about taking medication for hypertension. 1, whether to take medication, distinguish the type Once you find yourself with elevated blood pressure, you must first confirm whether you need to take medication. Once confirmed to take medication, the patient must take medication for life. Hypertension is divided into two types: secondary hypertension and primary hypertension. Secondary hypertension has a clear cause, such as kidney disease, and once the cause is removed, the patient no longer has hypertension and does not need to take medication for life. Primary hypertension has an unknown cause and cannot be cured at the moment, so lifelong medication is required. 2, when to take medication, the time has to be careful Blood pressure in the 24 hours a day is not constant, there are spontaneous fluctuations. Studies have shown that blood pressure is highest between 8-10 a.m. and 3-5 p.m. The effects of drugs generally appear half an hour after taking the medication and peak at 2-3 hours. Therefore, it is most appropriate to take antihypertensive medication at 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. Of course, we can further simplify the time to take the medication by taking it upon waking up, or about 1 hour after lunch if there is no break at noon. Blood pressure can drop dramatically during nighttime sleep. Patients with hypertension who often forget to take their medication during the day and take their antihypertensive medication at night before going to bed may cause their blood pressure to drop too low during the night. Especially in the elderly, it is easy to induce ischemic stroke as a result. 3, what drugs to take, the goal should be recognized Research shows that hypertensive patients with systolic blood pressure every 10-14 mm Hg, diastolic blood pressure every 5-6 mm Hg, can reduce stroke by 2/5, coronary heart disease by 1/6, the total population of cardiovascular events by 1/3. hypertensive patients should control blood pressure below 140/90 mm Hg. If blood pressure does not reach this goal, necessary measures should be taken under the guidance of a physician, such as increasing the dose, combining medications, and changing medications. In order to keep the blood pressure basically in a stable state during the day, it is advocated to use long-acting preparations and gradually phase out short-acting drugs to avoid artificially caused blood pressure instability. Long-acting preparations can be taken once a day, at any time (the most appropriate time to take the drug after waking up in the morning), but the time of day should be fixed. However, long-acting preparations tend to be expensive, and there are difficulties in popularizing them at present.