Dr János Nemcsik: We Must Consciously Take Care of Our Physical and Mental Health
We spoke with Dr János Nemcsik, PhD, Associate Professor, at his general practice at Örs vezér Square in Budapest on 18 May 2026.
Professor, do you remember the moment when you first felt that researching and treating hypertension was going to become your vocation?
I cannot associate my commitment with one particular moment. I first began researching vascular diseases in 1999 as a student researcher, initially using animal models at the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, under the supervision of Dr Ferenc László.
After graduating from university, I continued this work as a doctoral fellow. In 2003, I began working as an internist and, at the same time, shifted my research focus from animal experiments to human studies.
At the Department of Internal Medicine I of Szent Imre Hospital in Budapest, where I worked, hypertension was one of the department's main areas of expertise. I had the opportunity to work with outstanding mentors such as Csaba Farsang, István Kiss, Zoltán Járai and Katalin Farkas, all of whom were prominent members of the Hungarian Society of Hypertension.
Although I moved into family medicine in 2009, my professional path naturally led me to the leadership of the Hungarian Society of Hypertension. I became a member of its executive board in 2013, and at the invitation of my friend Zoltán Járai, who was then President of the Society, I had the privilege of serving as Secretary General from 2017 to 2025.
During those years, I was able to contribute to many important initiatives both in Hungary and internationally. I am currently Vice-President of the Society, so hypertension will certainly remain a major focus of my professional life in the years ahead.
High blood pressure is often referred to as the “silent killer”. Why do you think people still fail to take this condition seriously enough?
In the vast majority of cases, hypertension is asymptomatic. Alternatively, patients may simply learn to live with their symptoms and become accustomed to them, so they often do not complain. Their high blood pressure may only be discovered during a routine screening.
Headache, for example, can be one such symptom. Many people simply tolerate it and only report feeling relief once we have brought their blood pressure back to normal.
For this reason, it is often difficult to make patients accept that, in addition to lifestyle changes, lifelong medication is usually necessary to prevent complications.
A great deal depends on communication by doctors and other healthcare professionals, as well as on the trust between patients and healthcare providers. It is essential to raise awareness that hypertension is the most significant modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular mortality.
You work both as a family physician and as a researcher. What have you learned from your patients that no textbook could ever have taught you?
By gradually getting to know the stories of families, I have learned a great deal about humanity from my patients. In the case of many of them, I feel fortunate to be their doctor.
Family medicine creates this kind of closeness. During my hospital work, there was no opportunity to develop relationships with patients to such a depth.
At the same time, these personal relationships also provide scientific inspiration. Observing how my patients cope with illness in different ways depending on their personalities has led to a number of new findings in my research.
Over the past two decades, which development do you consider the most significant in the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension?
I would mention two things.
The widespread adoption and professional acceptance of home blood pressure monitoring has contributed enormously to improving blood pressure control. I try to teach all my patients with hypertension how to measure their blood pressure at home. In this way, I involve them directly in their own treatment, which has been shown to improve cooperation between doctor and patient.
The other major breakthrough has been the increasing use of single-pill combination therapies. These have greatly simplified treatment and reduced the number of tablets patients need to take, which also improves adherence to treatment.
Many people expect medication to provide the solution. In your opinion, which lifestyle changes could bring about the greatest improvement in the health of the Hungarian population?
The best outcome, of course, is to prevent hypertension from developing in the first place.
Simple measures can make a great difference. We should not add salt to our food before tasting it. In fact, there should be no real need for additional table salt at all, as the salt naturally present in foods such as bread and meat is more than sufficient to meet our body's needs.
Increasing potassium intake, on the other hand, can be very beneficial for people who do not have kidney failure. Potassium can help lower blood pressure, and one of the most pleasant ways of increasing potassium intake is by eating bananas.
It is also important to change a sedentary lifestyle. For example, if somewhere is within walking distance, we should walk rather than drive.
No amount of alcohol is beneficial for the prevention of cardiovascular disease, while smoking is extremely harmful from numerous health perspectives.
Nowadays, high blood pressure is being detected in an increasing number of young people. What social or lifestyle factors do you believe are responsible for this?
Obesity is becoming increasingly common, even among young people. The spread of sedentary lifestyles plays a major role in this.
The popularity of salty snacks and energy drinks also makes the situation considerably worse. Unfortunately, alcohol consumption is not uncommon even at a young age, while stimulant drugs can also cause high blood pressure.
Has there been a particular patient or case during your medical career that left an especially deep impression on you on a human level?
I could mention many such cases, but what I would particularly highlight are family stories.
It is the natural order of life that parents give life to their children. But if, as children, we have the opportunity to bring one of our parents back from the brink of death and give them additional meaningful time on Earth, I believe that is an extraordinary privilege.
I had the opportunity to experience this with my father.
In the age of artificial intelligence and digital healthcare technologies, how do you see the future of the personal doctor–patient relationship?
Patient care is undergoing a transformation, and as a doctor I must continually adapt to new challenges.
One positive development is that extensive and detailed medical histories can now be accessed electronically with just a few clicks. At the same time, the digital world has not yet developed a fully established and mature culture.
Patients sometimes write lengthy emails describing their symptoms and expect to receive medical advice by email. However, effective medical care requires active communication and physical examination. Without these, the possibility of error is considerably greater.
For my part, I must consciously ensure that, despite electronic prescribing, I continue to arrange periodic face-to-face consultations with my patients who have chronic conditions. We must also ensure that healthy people do not miss appropriate screening examinations.
As Vice-President of the Hungarian Society of Hypertension, what do you consider the most important objectives for improving hypertension care in Hungary over the coming years?
In 2025, our Society published new recommendations for the treatment of hypertension. It is important that we communicate their key messages to as many medical colleagues as possible.
According to WHO data, the proportion of people with hypertension in Hungary whose condition is adequately controlled increased from 23% in 2019 to 27% in 2024. However, this is still far from the recommended target of 50%, so we still have a great deal of work ahead of us.
If you could give the Hungarian people just one piece of advice to help them live longer and healthier lives, what would it be?
We should consciously take care of both our physical and mental health and actively work to preserve them, because once they are lost, restoring them is far more difficult than keeping them intact in the first place.







