Hypertension Can Be A Dangerous Condition With A Normally Simple Solution - By: Don Saunders

In recent years alterations to the lifestyle and diet in the majority of western societies have produced a growth in the number of people with high blood pressure.

High blood pressure (otherwise known as hypertension, or more properly arterial hypertension) is a serious condition which rarely carries any symptoms and which, if not detected and treated, can cause stroke, arterial aneurysm, heart attack, heart failure or renal failure � all of which represent potentially serious life-threatening conditions.

So just what is hypertension and just what causes it?

The arteries within the body are continuously filled with blood which produces a normal 'background' pressure on the artery walls. As the heart pumps newly oxygenated blood around the body it pushes this blood into the arteries momentarily raising the pressure exerted on the artery walls during every heartbeat. These two pressures are called the systolic pressure (the higher pumping pressure of the heart) and the diastolic pressure (the lower 'background' pressure).

Normal blood pressure differs from one person to the next but, on average, systolic pressure should be in the region of 120mm and diastolic pressure should be approximately 80mm. This is generally expressed as a blood pressure of 120/80.

Whenever your blood pressure begins to rise and then stays at a level above 120/80 then you are described as being 'prehypertensive' and, while this is not in itself serious, it is an indication that you may be at risk of developing hypertension and all of the problems associated with it. Once your blood pressure reaches, and maintains, a level of 140/90 or above then you are said to be suffering from hypertension and action needs to be taken to reduce your blood pressure.

So what makes you blood pressure rise and then stay at a high level?

Well, there are a variety of factors at play here and to start there is a group over which you have little, if any, control. This group includes a low birth weight, various genetic factors, certain forms of diabetes (in particular type 2 diabetes) and your age (with increasing age the arteries display a tendency to become fibrous and lose their elasticity, resulting in a reduced cross-sectional area through which the blood can flow).

The next group of factors is far more controllable and includes stress, alcohol abuse, being overweight, high levels of salt and saturated fats in the diet, leading a sedentary lifestyle, smoking and employment in certain occupations such as motorway maintenance or flying.

The majority of these factors are treatable and, in a lot of cases, a quite simple change in your diet and the addition of some exercise into your daily routine is all that is necessary to resolve the problem. The difficulty however is that, with few symptoms, the majority of people do not know that they have hypertension to start with.

So how do you go about curing the problem?

Well, fortunately, the answer to this particular question is quite simple. All you have to do is to drop by your doctor's office regularly (for most of us about twice a year will do the trick) and ask him/her to check your blood pressure for you. The whole procedure is painless, simple and fast and will give you peace of mind and possibly save your doctor a lot of work, time and expense down the road when you are forced to present yourself at his office once hypertension sets in.

If you are not so keen on visiting your doctor then an excellent alternative nowadays is to check your own blood pressure at home. A large selection of simple to operate and reasonably inexpensive monitors are available nowadays, allowing you to check your health, and the health of of your entire family, in the privacy and comfort of your own home.

About the Author

TheBloodPressureCenter.com provides information on a variety of topics including salt and high blood pressure, the importance of blood pressure monitoring and finding the best Omron blood pressure monitor

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