Be Aware Of your Blood pressure

Blood pressure is the force exerted by blood against the walls of the arteries. Systolic pressure occurs when the heart contracts; diastolic pressure occurs when the heart expands. Blood pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg). Hypertension is the diagnosis given when readings consistently rise above normal.

Hypertension is the most under treated cardiovascular condition in the U.S., affecting roughly 20% of the population - over 50 Million people. It can lead to heart disease, strokes and other serious conditions. Yet according to recent studies, only 27% of those with hypertension are adequately controlled, leaving 37 Million people at risk. Referred to as the "silent killer" because it often has no symptoms, it can be treated if diagnosed early.

The benefits of monitoring your blood pressure at home.

If you're trying to lower your blood pressure by dieting or medication, you may be encouraged by frequent evidence that you're succeeding. Some medications require monitoring to minimize side effects. Also, taking blood pressure at home helps distinguish patients who genuinely have high blood pressure from those who have "white coat" hypertension, that is, the artificial heightening of a patient's blood pressure while he or she is in the unfamiliar environment of a doctor's office or hospital. If white-coat hypertension is suspected, home monitoring is especially important in order to avoid unnecessary drug treatments.

What's it all about?
When a blood-pressure cuff is placed around a patient's arm and inflated, circulation in the artery is temporarily blocked. Then, air is let out of the cuff and the sounds of rushing blood inside the artery are monitored with a stethoscope. When the first sound is heard, the blood pressure gauge is checked for the systolic, or top, number. This is the pumping pressure. When the sounds disappear, there's the diastolic pressure, or lower number. This is the pressure in the arteries when the heart relaxes between beats. Both numbers are important. The higher the number, the harder it is for the blood to flow. A reading above 140/90 indicates hypertension or high blood pressure. It is a sign the heart is working too hard to get blood through the circulatory system because of narrow and/or inflexible arteries.

The standards in this table are for assessing high blood pressure (without regard to age) and have been established by the National Institutes of Health JNCVI


Category Systolic (mmHg) Diastolic (mmHg)
Optimal <120 <80
Normal <130 <85
High Normal 130 - 139 85 - 89
Hypertension
Stage 1 140 - 159 90 - 99
Stage 2
160 - 179 100 - 109
Stage 3 > 180 > 110



Home Management
The good news, experts say, is you can take control of your life where your blood pressure is concerned. There are several lifestyle check points to keep in mind: not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, regular exercise, limiting salt intake, and minimizing your alcohol consumption. Keeping the stress down in your life will work wonders in keeping your blood pressure under control. Relaxation exercises, meditation, and stress management tapes play a helpful role in anyone's life.

Across the world, caring organizations are dedicating specific days of the year to the importance of Blood Pressure Awareness. Throughout Europe, a campaign is in force to raise public awareness about blood pressure. Since 1984, May has been proclaimed as National Blood Pressure Awareness Month in the United States. The official motto of the blood pressure awareness initiative is "know your numbers".

More than 1 out of every 10 Americans has high blood pressure. Many of those who have high blood pressure do not know it. This is a uniquely silent disease. There are no symptoms until it is too late; the catastrophe of a heart attack or stroke is all too often the first indication of a problem.

Because high blood pressure is silent and can be treated effectively, early detection (home management) is important. Hypertension is unique in this regard. However, don't be panicked by any one reading. Because your blood pressure varies up and down, you will need to have several readings of the first reading is elevated. At least one-third of the people whose first reading is high will be found to have normal readings on subsequent checks.

The blood pressure reading has two numbers. The higher one is the systolic pressure and the lower is diastolic pressure. Blood pressure is considered to be high if the higher number exceeds 140 or the lower number exceeds 90. Traditionally, "normal" is said to be 120 over 80, but this has been overemphasized. Generally, the lower the blood pressure, the better. Low readings are usually found in youngsters and in older people who are in excellent physical condition.

The most important thing to realize is that you must manage this problem yourself. It will be up to you to control your weight, your exercise, your salt intake, and to take your medicines. It should be up to you to take your own blood pressure. Your doctor should be your trusted advisor but cannot assume your responsibility. No matter how much the doctor would like to take care of this for you, he or she cannot. If you are going to manage this problem, you need the blood pressure readings so that you can report changes or difficulties to the doctor. You are in control, and good doctors will emphasize this point.

Blood pressure readings tell pretty much the whole story. Accurately measuring blood pressure at home over a full day is a significantly better predictor of cardiovascular risk than standard office-based measurements. In general, everyone's blood pressure varies in the same way throughout a given day. It is usually highest at work and then drops slightly at home.

Blood pressure falls to its lowest level during sleep but suddenly increases at waking, the highest risk period for heart attack and stroke in those with severe high blood pressure. Devices that use a digital readout and a cuff that can be electronically inflated and deflated are proving to be as accurate as a stethoscope. Studies indicate that home blood pressure monitoring has been shown to improve blood pressure control and thereby reduce the risk of cardiovascular events.

Make exercise, weight control, and diet a part of your program. It is true that you can have high blood pressure even though you are slim and exercising regularly. But it is also true that being overweight and out of shape increases the risk of high blood pressure.

Most important, recent studies have confirmed that people with high blood pressure who are overweight and not exercising can lower their blood pressure by losing weight and exercising regularly. Many can control their blood pressure entirely without the use of drugs. Most others can reduce the amount of medication that they require. That means less expense and fewer risks and side effects.

Aerobic exercise conditions the cardiovascular system so that blood pressure is reduced. Too high a weight means too high a blood pressure, and reducing your weight is a reliable method for reducing blood pressure. Exercise and diet are, of course, the keys to weight control. Decreasing the salt, fat, and cholesterol in your diet and increasing the potassium and calcium in your diet helps to lower blood pressure and decrease the risk of heart disease.

How to Maintain a Healthy Heart
One of the keys to a healthy heart is to maintain a normal or optimal level of blood pressure. Healthcare professionals recommend a few basic proactive steps:

1. Maintain a low-fat healthy diet with fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy foods.
2. Prepare and eat foods with less salt to reduce your salt intake.
3. Maintain optimal weight in relation to your height and age.
4. Stay physically active daily.
5. Drink caffeinated and alcoholic beverages in moderation.
6. Do not smoke.
7. Monitor your blood pressure regularly.

A sphygmomanometer measures blood pressure in millimeters of mercury. The normal blood pressure readings in young people are about 120 mm for systolic pressure and about 80 mm for diastolic pressure, commonly written as 120/80 and read as one-twenty over eighty. With age, and the constriction of the small arteries and then the large ones, blood pressure increases, so that at 50 years, normal individuals have a systolic pressure between 140 and 150, and a diastolic pressure of about 90.

Factors other than heart action and the condition of the arteries also influence blood pressure. Temporary high blood pressure usually occurs during or following physical activity, nervous strain, and periods of rage or fear. Therapy for persistent high blood pressure, sometimes called hypertension, consists of sufficient rest, a diet low in salt and alcohol, reduction in weight where there is obesity, and increased exercise.

What is High Blood Pressure/Hypertension?

Hypertension or high blood pressure results from an increase in the amount of blood pumped by the heart or from increased resistance to the flow of blood through the small arterial blood vessels (arteries). Hypertension is generally defined as a blood pressure reading greater than 140 over 90. When the cause is unknown, the condition is called primary, or essential, hypertension. When a known cause can be identified (e.g., a disorder of the adrenal glands, kidneys, or arteries), the condition is know as secondary hypertension. Factors such as heredity, obesity, smoking, and emotional stress are thought to play a role.


Research has found that diet affects the development of high blood pressure, or hypertension (the medical term). Recently, two studies showed that blood pressure can be lowered by following a particular eating plan—called the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan—and reducing the amount of sodium consumed. While each step alone lowers blood pressure, the combination of the eating plan and a reduced sodium intake gives the biggest benefit and may help prevent the development of high blood pressure. This fact sheet, based on the DASH research findings, tells about high blood pressure, and how to follow the DASH eating plan and reduce the amount of sodium you consume. It offers tips on how to start and stay on the eating plan, as well as a week of menus and some recipes. The menus and recipes are given for two levels of daily sodium consumption—2,400 milligrams (the upper limit of current recommendations by the Federal Government’s National High Blood Pressure Education Program (NHBPEP) and the amount used to figure food labels’ Nutrition Facts Daily Value) and 1,500 milligrams. Those with high blood pressure may especially benefit from following the eating plan and reducing their sodium intake. But the combination is a heart healthy recipe that all adults can follow.

Fruits and Juices
Increase consumption of juices, fruits (especially bananas) and whole grain based cereals to counteract high levels of potassium found in other foods and in your body.
Monounsaturated Fats
Increase consumption of products with monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil, in your diet can greatly diminish your risk of high blood pressure and may even eliminate the need to take medication to control the situation.
Potassium Intake
Decrease potassium intake to 2,400 milligrams or less on a daily basis.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Increase consumption of omega-3 fatty acids that are commonly found in cold-water fish. These acids are proven to reduce high-blood pressure as well as lower your cholesterol.
Whole Oats
Increase consumption of whole oats help to help control your high blood pressure. Additionally, they also have positive affects on cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
Vitamin C
Increase consumption of products containing Vitamin C to battle high blood pressure. This may mean a daily vitamin supplement or be part of an increased consumption of fruits, such as oranges.


Understanding why high blood pressure is a problem

Generally, normotension (normal blood pressure) is defined as less than 130mmHg for systolic value (SBP) and less than 85mmHg for diastolic value (DBP). The higher the blood pressure, the more load on the blood vessels, and this can damage the vessels.
In the worst case, blood vessel walls can develop holes causing internal bleeding.
When this happens in the brain, it is called a stroke.
In addition, high blood pressure increases the myocardial workload so that the heart must work harder to maintain adequate blood flow to the body.
This causes ischemic heart disease (IHD) such as a heart attack (myocardial infarction) and angina. People with hypertension have the increased risk of suffering from of having a stroke.
Conversely, It is also known that those with normal blood pressure have a lesser risk of ischemic heart disease (myocardial infarction and angina) and stroke.
Thus, it can be concluded that keeping blood pressure within a normal range to prevent these occurrences is of the utmost importance.

Hypertension Symptoms & Signs

Usually, no symptoms are present. Occasionally, you may experience a mild headache. If your headache is severe, or if you experience any of the symptoms below, you must be seen by a doctor right away. These may be a sign of dangerously high blood pressure (called malignant hypertension) or a complication from high blood pressure.

* tiredness
* confusion
* vision changes
* angina-like chest pain (crushing chest pain)
* heart failure
* blood in urine
* nosebleed
* irregular heartbeat
* ear noise or buzzing