My Boyfriend Is 22, Exercises Regularly During All Week, But

My boyfriend is 22, exercises regularly during all week, but has really high blood presure since he was 18 or 19. He took medication for several years, but now decided to stop and doesn't want to take it anymore, and he also smokes. Sometimes he says he has shortness of breath and some pain in the chest when he exercises for a long time, but that already happened in the past. Can this be for not taking the medication?