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What is Blood Pressure?
Blood pressure is the force of blood as it moves through your blood vessels. High blood pressure, or hypertension, is the increased force of blood in your arteries. Hypertension is a serious condition, which exhibits no symptoms. For this reason, it is known as the "silent killer."
Why is High Blood Pressure so Dangerous?
Many Americans develop high blood pressure as they age; however, high blood pressure is not a natural process of aging and is more likely due to a change in diet and physical activity patterns. Untreated high blood pressure causes the heart to work harder and over time, the heart becomes enlarged and weakens and increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and congestive heart failure.
How is Blood Pressure Measured?
High blood pressure has no symptoms. The only way to know if you have it is to get it measured each time you visit your doctor’s office. Blood pressure is reported using two numbers and is measured in millimeters of mercury. The top number is the systolic pressure, or pressure in the arteries as the heart contracts (beats). The bottom number, diastolic pressure, is the pressure in the arteries as the heart relaxes.
Optimal pressure is 120/80 mmHg or less. Extremely low blood pressure is rare, but may be caused by nerve/endocrine disorders, prolonged bedrest, or a decrease in blood volume due to hemorrhage or dehydration. Hypertension is diagnosed after several readings (on different occasions) of 140/90 mmHg or higher.
High Risk Populations
Recent estimates are unsettling; nearly 1 in 3 adults has high blood pressure. High blood pressure is especially common among African Americans, who tend to develop it earlier in life than their Caucasian peers. Additionally, people who are overweight, those with a family history of high blood pressure, smokers, women on birth control pills, heavy drinkers, and those with high-normal blood pressure are also at risk of developing high blood pressure.
Prehypertension is defined as the range between "normal" and high, and affects approximately 59 million American adults. Even those people who have normal blood pressure at age 55 are likely to develop hypertension. In fact, the Framingham Heart
Study documents that the lifetime risk for developing hypertension is 90 percent. In the past, if your blood pressure was less that 140/90 mm Hg, it was considered normal. This is no longer the case. According to the new guidelines, normal is now less than 120/80 mm Hg, and 120-80 mm Hg - 139/89 mm Hg is the newly defined prehypertensive zone.
Blood Pressure Facts
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Of those with high blood pressure, 30 percent don't know they have it.
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High blood pressure is 2-3 times more common in women taking oral contraceptives.
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Compared with their Caucasian peers, African Americans develop high blood pressure earlier in life.
Prevent High Blood Pressure
The cause of high
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