High Blood Pressure Can Be A Dangerous Condition For Which There Is Often A Simple Solution
In the last few years alterations to the lifestyle and diet in the majority of western societies have resulted in a growth in the number of people with high blood pressure.
High blood pressure (otherwise referred to as hypertension, or more correctly arterial hypertension) can be a serious condition that rarely has any symptoms and that, if not detected and treated, can cause stroke, heart attack, heart failure, arterial aneurysm or renal failure - any one of which is a life-threatening condition.
So exactly what is high blood pressure and precisely what causes it?
The arteries of the body are continuously filled with blood that provides a normal 'background' pressure against the artery walls. As the heart pumps newly oxygenated blood around your body it pushes this blood into the arteries which briefly raises the pressure on the artery walls during every heartbeat. These two pressures are referred to as the systolic pressure (the higher pressure as the heart pumps) and the diastolic pressure (the lesser 'background' pressure).
Normal blood pressure differs from individual to individual but, in general, systolic pressure should be around 120 mm Hg and diastolic pressure ought to be in the region of 80 mm Hg. This is ordinarily written as a blood pressure of 120/80.
Whenever your blood pressure starts to rise and stays above 120/80 then you are described as being 'prehypertensive' and, while this is not in itself serious, it is an indication that you might be at risk of developing hypertension and all of the problems which are linked with it. Once your blood pressure reaches, and remains at, a level of 140/90 or above you are suffering from hypertension and action needs to be taken to lower your blood pressure.
So just what causes your blood pressure to rise and than remain at a high level?
Well, there are a number of factors involved here and to begin there is a group over which you have little, if any, control. This group includes low weight at birth, various genetic factors, some types of diabetes (particularly type 2 diabetes) and your age (with increasing age the arteries have a tendency to become fibrous and lose their elasticity, producing a reduced cross-sectional area through which the blood can flow).
The second group of factors is much more controllable and includes a sedentary lifestyle, large levels of salt and saturated fats in the diet, being overweight, smoking tobacco, alcohol abuse, stress and working in certain occupations like motorway maintenance or flying.
The majority of these factors are of course treatable and, in a lot of cases, a quite simple change in your diet and the addition of a little exercise into your daily diary is all that is needed to cure the problem. The difficulty however is that, with few, if any, symptoms, the majority of people are not aware that they have high blood pressure in the first place.
So how do you go about solving the problem?
Luckily the answer to this particular question is quite simple. All you have to do is to call in at your physician's office on a regular basis (for most of us a couple of times a year should be sufficient) and ask him or her to check your blood pressure. The whole procedure is painless, easy and fast and will give you peace of mind and can save your doctor a lot of work, time and expense later on when you are forced to visit his office once hypertension rears its ugly head.
If you are not too keen on calling in to see your doctor then one excellent alternative now is to simply monitor your own blood pressure at home. A number of easy to operate and reasonably inexpensive blood pressure monitors are available now, allowing you to check your health, as well as that of your whole family, in the comfort and privacy of your own home.
More Readings
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- Blood Pressure Monitors Are Quick To Use, Comfortable, Accurate And May Save Your Life
- Once You Have High Blood Pressure Readings Take Action To Lower Each One And Enjoy Living For For A Longer Time
- Hypertension Can Be A Very Dangerous Problem For Which There Is Normally A Quite Simple Answer
- Anytime You Have High Blood Pressure Readings Take Simple Steps To Decrease Them And Enjoy Living For For A Longer Time
- Blood Pressure Monitors Are Straightforward To Use, Unproblematic, Reliable And Can Save Your Life
- Blood Pressure Monitors Are Quick To Use, Comfortable, Reliable And Might Save Your Life
- Hypertension Is A Very Dangerous Condition For Which There Is Often Simple Solution
- Hypertension Is A Very Dangerous Condition For Which There Is Normally Simple Solution
- Blood Pressure Monitors Are Straightforward To Use, Comfortable, Reliable And May Save Your Life
- If You Have High Blood Pressure Readings Take Steps To Lower Them And Live For Longer
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