Thursday, May 13, 2010
Do you have High Blood Pressure?
What is High Blood Pressure? Labels: High Blood Pressure
Blood Pressure is the force that moves your blood around your body. The pumping action of your heart creates this force which helps the blood carry food and oxygen to all parts of your body.
Blood pressure is not a constant fixed value. It is different from one person to another. Even in the same person, blood pressure changes from minute to minute. Your blood pressure goes up when you are stressed, excited or exercising. It goes down when you are relaxed or asleep. These changes are normal.
Most of the time, your blood pressure stays within a normal range when you are at rest. Usually the younger you are, the lower your blood pressure should be. If your blood pressure goes up and stays high most of the time, even at rest, then you have high blood pressure or also known as hypertension.
What makes Blood Pressure go up?
Your blood pressure will go up if:
-your blood volume is increased by too much salt which retains more water in the blood
-your blood vessels become more rigid due to atherosclerosis (a process where fatty substances are deposited in blood vessel walls)
-your heart pumps too hard and too fast because of substances like alcohol and chemicals found in cigarettes.
Do I have High Blood Pressure?
Take the opportunity to get your blood pressure checked whenever you visit the doctor. If you are 40 years or older, you should have your blood pressure checked at least once a year.
The systolic reading is the blood pressure when your heart is pumping. It is high than the diastolic pressure. The diastolic reading is the blood pressure when your heart is relaxing between the pumps. Blood pressure is given as systolic/diastolic, eg. 120/80 mmHg.
You have high blood pressure if your systolic reading is 140mmHg or more and/or your diastolic reading is 90mmHg or more. However, a single raised blood pressure value does not necessarily mean that you have high blood pressure. Your doctor will usually check your blood pressure at a second visit to see if it is still high.
What causes High Blood Pressure?
Older people and men are more likely to develop high blood pressure. High blood pressure also seems to run in families. Although you may inherit the tendency to get high blood pressure, other lifestyle factors may determine if you actually get the disease:
Overweight & sedentary lifestyle. If you are not active and do not get enough exercise, you are likely to become overweight. When you are overweight, you heart has to pump harder to move blood around your larger body. People who are overweight are more likely to have high blood pressure.
Eating unhealthily. Taking too much fatty food like fatty meat, sausage, butter and deep-fried food makes you overweight. Together with high cholesterol food which includes egg-yolk and organ meat, it also increases the blood cholesterol level. Too much cholesterol in the blood makes the artery walls thick and hard. This can increase blood pressure.
Taking too much salt. Salt contains sodium which draws water into the blood. This increases the blood volume and pressure.
Drinking too much alcohol. People who drink large amounts of alcohol regularly are more likely to develop high blood pressure. Alcoholic drinks also contain many calories and can make a person overweight.
Diabetes mellitus. Diabetes mellitus accelerates atherosclerosis, which normally occurs with ageing. This can result in blindness, kidney disease and high blood pressure.
Too much stress. When you are angry, excited, frightened or under stress, you blood pressure goes up temporarily. If you remained stressed for a long time or are unable to cope effectively with stress in daily life, you may develop high blood pressure.
Smoking. The chemicals in cigarette smoke raise the smoker's blood pressure while he smokes. They also speed up atherosclerosis and increase his risk of heart disease.
And many other factors........... so do exercise regularly to have a healthy lifestyle. :)
