Living with High Blood Pressure: Simple Changes That Will Change Your Life
The term high blood pressure is heard across America as statistics show that one in three adults have high blood pressure.
However, only 77.6% of those who have it are aware that they have the condition which is also known as hypertension.
Blood pressure in the amount of pressure that circulating blood exerts on blood vessels as it travels around your body.
This pressure is an important vital sign and helps tell how well your heart is doing.
The farther away from your heart the measurement is, the lower the pressure of the blood will be, because the force from the pump of your heart is farther away.
The pressure also varies as the heart beats between higher and lower pressures.
The higher pressure is called systolic pressure and the lower is called diastolic pressure. Blood pressure is usually expressed as systolic pressure over diastolic pressure and in milligrams of mercury.
This pressure of the pumping blood can be measured in a variety of ways. The most common way is to measure near the brachial artery in the upper arm using a sphygmomanometer.
For a healthy, resting adult blood pressure tends to be around 155/75 mmHg, but there is a range of normal pressures. The highest healthy pressure is 140/90 mmHg and the lowest is 90/60 mmHG.
The cause of hypertension is unknown in 85-95% of the people diagnosed, but there are several factors that can affect it. hypertension is most likely caused by a combination of these factors.
The first cause is age and gender. The older you are the higher your risk is. Men generally are at higher risk before the age of 45 than women, but women are at higher risk after the age of 54.
The second thing that influences hypertension is your track record of how often hypertension shows up in your family history.
If several people have had it in your family, then you will be at higher risk for the condition.
Sadly, hypertension is also impacted by ethnicity. Native Americans and African American generally have much higher pressures than Caucasians, and the difference has been growing.
As with all health related issues exercise and diet also have a huge impact on hypertension. If you want to avoid this condition it is also a good idea to avoid high salt diets.
It is also important to avoid obesity, as they struggle with many more health issues, including hypertension.
The last common cause is the level of stress or anxiety a person has. If the level of stress or anxiety, anger, or suppressed anger is really high, then pressure of his or her blood is more likely to be high as well.
Even if you have high blood pressure it is not likely that symptoms will appear unless you have had it for a very long time or your pressure is severely high. When symptoms do appear, you should definitely seek a doctor’s advice.
Possible symptoms include damage to major organs such as the heart and kidneys or damage to the blood vessels in the eyes. These blood vessels are more delicate than others and are more easily damaged by hypertension.
If these symptoms are left untreated, they could stimulate serious complications. There are many things you can do now to avoid developing high blood pressure.
The first thing you can do is to start eating healthy.
As mentioned before, avoid a high salt diet and increase the amount of potassium and calcium in your diet.
Secondly, start exercising. Among many other things exercising can strengthen your heart and cardiovascular system, improve your circulation, and help you to get better sleep.
Thirdly, maintain a healthy weight. People who suffer from being over a healthy weight struggle with many health problems including hypertension.
Fourth, do not smoke. Smoking also has serious side effects that are not only limited to this condition.
Fifth, manage stress well. Lowering anxiety by participating in relaxing activities has just as much positive effect on high blood pressure as all of the other suggestions.
Awareness of high blood pressure is growing throughout America. It will continue to afflict thousands of people until they learn and start doing the correct things to avoid developing it.
About the author
Jack R. Landry has worked as a nurse practitioner for the last 16 years. He has worked in local clinics and the ER and recommends looking into heart disease remedies to avoid a fatal heart attack. Contact Info: Jack R. Landry JackRLandry@gmail.com http://livingwithoutdisease.comTags: high blood pressure remedies