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National High Blood Pressure Education Month
May 22, 2012
National High Blood Pressure Education Month
May is National High Blood Pressure Education Month. About 74 million people in the United States have high blood pressure, which is also called hypertension. High blood pressure increases the risk for heart disease and stroke, the first and third leading causes of death in the United States.
What is Blood Pressure?
Blood pressure is the force of blood against the walls of your arteries. Blood pressure is necessary to move the blood through your body so it can get to all the body’s organs.
Blood pressure is written as two numbers. The first number, which is called systolic, represents the pressure when the heart beats. The second number, which is called diastolic, represents the pressure when the heart rests between beats.
A normal blood pressure is below 120/80. If your numbers are between 120/80 and 139/89, you have pre-hypertension and are more likely to develop high blood pressure, also called hypertension. High blood pressure is any number 140/90 or above.
Most people with high blood pressure have no signs or symptoms, so it’s best to have your blood pressure checked regularly by your doctor.
What Causes Hypertension?
High blood pressure has many risk factors. Some are hereditary, others are
Risk Factors You Can’t Control:
Risk Factors Within Your Control:
- Being overweight or obese.
- Not being physically active.
- Using tobacco.
- Too much salt (sodium) in your diet.
- Too little potassium in your diet.
- Too little vitamin D in your diet.
- Drinking too much alcohol.
- Stress.
- Certain chronic conditions also may increase your risk of high blood pressure, including high cholesterol, diabetes, kidney disease and sleep apnea.
Effects of High Blood Pressure
Uncontrolled high blood pressure increases your risk of serious health problems, including heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure and kidney disease.
The excessive pressure on your artery walls caused by high blood pressure can damage your blood vessels, as well as organs in your body. The higher your blood pressure and the longer it goes uncontrolled, the greater the damage.
Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to:
- Damage to your arteries. This can result in hardening and thickening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), which can lead to a heart attack, stroke or other complications.
- Aneurysm. Increased blood pressure can cause your blood vessels to weaken and bulge, forming an aneurysm. If an aneurysm ruptures, it can be life-threatening.
- Heart failure. To pump blood against the higher pressure in your vessels, your heart muscle thickens. Eventually, the thickened muscle may have a hard time pumping enough blood to meet your body's needs, which can lead to heart failure.
- A blocked or ruptured blood vessel in your brain. High blood pressure in the arteries leading to your brain can either slow the blood flow to your brain or cause a blood vessel in your brain to burst, causing a stroke.
- Weakened and narrowed blood vessels in your kidneys. This can prevent these organs from functioning normally.
- Thickened, narrowed or torn blood vessels in the eyes. This can result in vision loss.
- Metabolic syndrome. This syndrome is a cluster of disorders of your body's metabolism — including increased waist circumference, high triglycerides, low high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or "good," cholesterol, high blood pressure, and high insulin levels. If you have high blood pressure, you're more likely to have other components of metabolic syndrome. The more components you have, the greater your risk of developing diabetes, heart disease or stroke.
- Trouble with memory or understanding. Uncontrolled high blood pressure also may affect your ability to think, remember and learn. Trouble with memory or understanding concepts is more common in people who have high blood pressure.
*Information on this page is provided for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice.
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