What Is High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)?

By HelloLife

At some point you'se probably said the words, "I'm so mad my head is going to explode." Perhaps you have even had someone tell you that your face or ears are red during a moment of high stress or anger. We"ve all been there, but despite the fact that you may feel like your head is going to pop off or someone has told you that you look like you're on fire, chances are that rise in blood pressure is temporary. But for some people it isn't temporary, which means they suffer from a chronic condition that could have dire consequences if it is not recognized in time. It is called Hypertension, or high blood pressure, and it can lead to other cardiovascular problems that can shorten your life or even destroy the quality of it. Hypertension occurs when the force of blood is too strong against the walls of the arteries. If you'se noticed, when your vitals are taken at the doctor's office, you see two numbers when your blood pressure is taken. Systolic is the blood pressure against the walls of your arteries when your heart is contracting and diastolic is the blood pressure against the walls of your arteries between each heartbeat. If your systolic blood pressure (the top number in your blood pressure reading) is 140 mmHg (millimeters of mercury) or above and your diastolic (the bottom number) is 90 mmHg or above, you are considered hypertensive or having high blood pressure. The ideal standard is to have a blood pressure reading that is at or below 120/80 mmHg. Anywhere between the 120/80 mmHg reading and 138/88 mmHg is fine since blood pressure also depends on gender and size, but once that 139/89 mmHg mark is reached, a person is considered as having prehypertension. This is the point in which a person needs to consider lifestyle chances before becoming hypertensive. Factors such as physical activity, diet, and reducing stress need to be implemented to avoid chronically high blood pressure. A very unfortunate fact about hypertension is that it is sometimes not found until something such as heart attack or a stroke has occurred. Such a fate usually occurs in people who have a systolic reading of 240 mmHg and above and never knew it in order for it to have been treated. Routine doctor visits can usually detect a high blood pressure reading when your vitals are taken prior to seeing the doctor. Through careful monitoring by your doctor, it can be determined if you have high blood pressure or are at risk for it. If you already have high blood pressure, your doctor will most likely recommend changes in your lifestyle such as your diet and the amount of exercise you get. There is also a high probability that he will prescribe you medication to help lower your blood pressure, but medication cannot always work alone depending on the severity of your high blood pressure. You will most likely be told by your doctor to implement a healthy diet and to get regular aerobic exercise to get full control over your blood pressure no matter the severity of it, but the most effective treatment for hypertension is prevention. Through healthy diet and regular exercise, you may never have to experience that high blood pressure reading at the doctor's office. With this normal reading, you can also experience other good reports from the doctor because you won't have to worry about many of the things that high blood pressure causes. Through prevention, you are not only prolonging your life, but the quality of it as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertension#Treatment http://health.yahoo.com/topic/bloodpressure/overview/article/healthwise/hw62789