What is Blood Pressure?
Blood pressure is simply the term used to describe the pressure of your blood against the walls of your arteries. It varies throughout the day depending on your level of activity or other stresses on your body. Your circulatory system controls your blood pressure and heart rate (or pulse) to supply more oxygen to your body when it is needed.
What is High Blood Pressure or Hypertension?
“Hypertension” and “High Blood Pressure” are terms that are both used to describe the same condition. When your blood pressure is higher than the normal range for most of the time, you are considered to have high blood pressure. This is a dangerous condition because it puts increased strain on your heart, circulatory system and other organs. High blood pressure puts you at greater risk for heart failure, stroke, kidney failure and other life threatening conditions.
How is Blood Pressure Measured?
Blood pressure is measured on a device called a “sphygmomanometer”. These are now available in manual or digital forms. Original forms of these machines measured pressure by varying the level of mercury held in a column so even today the standard scale used is graded in millimetres of mercury or mmHg.
A blood pressure reading usually has two measurements expressed in the form 120/80, or “120 over 80″. The first number is your systolic blood pressure, which is the pressure in your arteries as your heart is beating. The second number is the pressure in your arteries between beats when your heart relaxes.
What Level is Considered High Blood Pressure?
It’s best to measure blood pressure when you are in a relaxed state, ideally sitting or laying down. Normal blood pressure is considered to be below a reading of 120/80. Between 120/80 and 140/90 is referred to either as a high normal or pre-hypertension level. Between 140/90 and 180/110 is regarded as high blood pressure. Above 180/110 is very high blood pressure. Your doctor would need to take several readings over subsequent visits to confirm a diagnosis of high blood pressure readings.
What are some of the causes of high blood pressure?
There are a number of risk factors that can contribute to blood pressure problems. Many of them can be controlled. A family history of blood pressure related problems may be a factor and certainly gives you a reason to have regular check-ups. Blood pressure may also increase with age due to some hardening of the arteries making it more difficult for the heart to pump blood through them.
Risk Factors that can be controlled include the following :-
Smoking
High Salt/Sodium intake
Excessive alcohol consumption
Lack of physical activity
Excess weight
Poor diet
Lifestyle changes that improve the controllable risk factors can make a significant difference to reducing high blood pressure. Your doctor may also prescribe medicines to bring your blood pressure under control. Once you start to take medication you may need to stay on it for life, although the dosage could be varied over time.
