High Blood Pressure Is A Very Dangerous Problem For Which There Is Often A Quite Simple Answer

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In the last few years changes in diet and lifestyle in many western societies have led to an increase in the number of people with high blood pressure.

High blood pressure (otherwise called hypertension, or more correctly arterial hypertension) is a serious condition which seldom shows any symptoms and which, if not detected and treated, can result in stroke, heart attack, heart failure, arterial aneurysm or renal failure - any one of which is a serious life-threatening condition.

So just what is high blood pressure and just what causes it?

The arteries of the body are continuously filled with blood that produces a normal 'background' pressure against the artery walls. As the heart pumps newly oxygenated blood around the body it pushes this blood into the arteries which briefly raises the pressure on the walls of the arteries with each beat of the heart. These two pressures are referred to as the systolic pressure (the higher pressure as the heart pumps) and the diastolic pressure (the lesser 'background' pressure).

Normal levels of blood pressure differ from individual to individual but, generally, systolic pressure ought to be in the region of 120 mm Hg and diastolic pressure should be about 80 mm Hg. This is normally shown as a pressure of 120/80.

If your blood pressure starts to rise and then remains above 120/80 then you are described as being 'prehypertensive' and, although this is not in itself serious, it is a sign that you might be at risk of developing hypertension and the problems which are linked with it. As soon as your blood pressure reaches, and remains at, a level of 140/90 or higher you are suffering from hypertension and steps should be taken to lower your blood pressure.

But just what makes you blood pressure rise and stay at a high level?

Well, there are several factors at play here and to begin there is a group over which you have little, or no, control. This group of factors includes low weight at birth, a variety of genetic factors, some forms of diabetes (particularly type 2 diabetes) and your age (as we grow older our arteries have a tendency to become fibrous and lose their elasticity, producing a reduced cross-sectional area through which the blood can flow).

The second group of factors is far more within your control and includes a sedentary lifestyle, high levels of salt and saturated fats in your diet, excess weight, smoking tobacco, alcohol abuse, stress and working in certain occupations such as motorway maintenance or flying.

The vast majority of these factors are treatable and, in many cases, a simple adjustment to your diet and the addition of some exercise into your daily diary is all that is necessary to cure the problem. However, the difficulty is that, without any real symptoms, the majority of people are not aware that they have hypertension to start with.

So how can you go about curing the problem?

Well, fortunately, the answer to this question is quite simple. All you need to do is to pop into your doctor's office regularly (for most of us about twice a year should be sufficient) and ask him/her to check your blood pressure for you. The whole procedure is painless, simple and quick and will give you peace of mind and might save your doctor a lot of time, work and expense later on when you are forced to drop by his office once hypertension arrives.

If you are not so keen on visiting your doctor then an excellent alternative today is to monitor your own blood pressure at home. A large selection of easy to operate and reasonably inexpensive blood pressure monitors are available now, allowing you to maintain a check on your health, and that of your complete family, in the privacy and comfort of your own home.