Everyone who has ever been to the doctor has had their blood pressure checked. Without blood pressure you wouldn’t be able to live. The blood could not circulate though out the body and carry oxygen to your vital organs. One in every five Americans has hypertension!
You can live for many years with high blood pressure without seeing or feeling any symptoms. This is why hypertension is often nick named, “the silent killer.” Even though you are not showing any signs the high blood pressure is still affecting your bodily functions.
Blood pressure is very easy to check. A cuff is wrapped around your arm and then the cuff is pumped full of air, the air is then let out slowly and your blood then slowly can return to the artery. The nurse will count the time between the beats and how many beats in a certain amount of time. An average blood pressure is 120 over 80.
The force when your artery beats against your blood vessel walls and when your artery is at rest is your blood pressure. A high blood pressure also known as hypertension is about 140 over 90. Low blood pressure is considered at 90 over 60. This is when symptoms start to occur.
Understanding your blood pressure is important because there are many risks with both high and low blood pressures. With high blood pressure you have a greater risk of coronary heart disease/, heart attack, and strokes. Anyone can have high blood pressure. It is most common to have higher blood pressure once you reach the age of 35, but it is not uncommon for children to have high blood pressure as well.
People that are most common to have high blood pressure are middle aged to elderly. Also smokers and drinkers are proven to have elevated blood pressure level. Women who take birth control often are at risk as well. People with kidney disease, mellitus, or gout may have high blood pressure as well.
Your blood pressure can change at any time. It is affected by many things from activity to stress. Other things that can affect it are diet, temperature, posture, and medications. Knowing if you already have high blood pressure is important, due to the fact that you may want to limit your physical activity, or watch what medications you are taking.
The pressure of blood against the walls of the arteries is called your blood pressure. It results from two sources, the heart when it pumps blood, and the circulatory system. If your blood pressure isn’t normal than it can either be high or low. Blood pressure is measured by an electronic device that is put around the arm and blown up. The doctor then puts a stethoscope to your arm while the air is let out slowly.
High blood pressure (systolic pressure) is measured when the doctor first hears the pulse. Low blood pressure (diastolic pressure) is measured from the moment the doctor is unable to hear the pulse. It is normally measured in terms of millimeters of mercury but do to the dangers of mercury it is no longer used. The systolic pressure is always placed first, for example 120/80 or 120 over 80. Blood pressure below this number is considered to be a good number. An example of high blood pressure would look like 140 over 90and low blood pressure would look like 80 over 89.
High blood pressure usually doesn’t have any symptoms; most people go years without ever knowing they have it. Hypertension is the medical term for high blood pressure. The only way to know if you have high blood pressure is to have it checked. This can be done at a yearly physical.
Low blood pressure is called in medical terms hypotension. It has symptoms due to the low flow of blood through the veins. If the flow of blood is too low it doesn’t deliver enough oxygen to the vital organs. If they don’t get enough oxygen and nutrients they can not f unction normally and it can cause permanent damage.
The body has sensors in the walls of the arteries to monitor the pressure of blood sends signals out to other organs to either lower or increase the bloods pressure. There is a few different ways that this can be done. The veins can expand and narrow. This makes it so that more blood can be stored in the veins and less blood returns to the heart. The arterioles can also expand and narrow. The heart can also speed up and contract more frequently this makes it so it ejects more blood into each contraction. The kidneys can also help by increasing and decreasing the amount of urine that is being produced. Urine is mostly water that is removed from the blood.
High blood pressure can really hurt your kidneys. It makes your heart work harder and damages the blood vessels through your body. Damaged blood vessels in the kidney can result in them stopping wastes from being removed and removing excess fluids. The excess fluids can make blood pressure rise even higher. Kidney failure can result from high blood pressure.
There are changes you should have to make in your life if you have high blood pressure and need to lower it. Quitting smoking is a big cause. Lose weight if you’re over weight. And exercise regularly even if you aren’t over weight. Eating healthy and right can make a huge difference. Lots of fruits and veggies and food low in fat are optimal. Lower the amount of salt you in taking and caffeine too. Relieving stress can all help.
Not every one gets affected by high sodium intakes however. You still should limit your in take of salt to 2,400 mg. your doctor should be able to give you your proper limit. But make sure you are not adding salt to food and read the labels that are on packages to make sure that you’re not taking in over your limit. You may not realize that some foods contain a lot of salt in them. It’s not something you think about when n you’re eating it. Like bread and cheese have a lot of salt in them.
There are many kinds of medications that you can take to lower your blood pressure as well. If your blood pressure can only be controlled by taking prescription medication then most likely you’re going to have to take the medication for the rest of life. Stopping taking the medication without talking to your doctor could really increase your risk of a heart attack and a stroke. Some of these medications are diuretics, beta blockers, alpha blockers, ace inhibitors and calcium channel blockers.
There are lots of herbs and herbal remedies that can help you with your blood pressure as well. They can help to stimulate the circulation and important glands. Rosemary steeped as tea is a good tonic for the heart. Siberian ginseng, ginger, spiralina, and ginkgo biloba can all stimulate the circulatory system. Hawthorn berries and garlic can also regulate blood pressure in those who have to raise their blood pressure. Something that can also help is trying FrequenSea nutrition it offers the most complete whole food source required by the human body.
Steven Johnson is interested in maintaining a vital and healthy lifestyle. For more information on various health products and other life-enhancing nutrients please visit his website Alternative Health Supplements.
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