Knowing about your body can be very beneficial to your health as you age. Knowing about your blood pressure can help prevent strokes, heart disease and kidney disease. In this article you will find everything you should know about your blood pressure.
Anyone can have high blood pressure. It doesn’t matter your age, race, ethnicity or gender. Many people suffer from high blood pressure and have a higher risk of strokes and heart diseases than those with regular blood pressure.
What is high blood pressure?
High blood pressure is the force of blood against the walls of your arteries. Your blood pressure is always rising and falling throughout the day and if it rises and stays that way over time, you have high blood pressure.
High blood pressure is usually referred to as hypertension. When you have high blood pressure it puts more pressure on the heart, making it work harder than usual. This is why you end up at risk for strokes or heart disease.
What is the normal blood pressure level?
The normal blood pressure level is less than 120 over 80 or less. The first number is your systolic pressure and the second number is your diastolic pressure. Your numbers are read 120 over 80, etc. If your pressure is 140 over 90 or higher you have high blood pressure.
What is systolic blood pressure? This is the force of blood in your arteries when your heart is beating.
What is diastolic blood pressure? This is the force of blood in your arteries when your heart is relaxing.
What are the risk factors of high blood pressure?
The most common risks of high blood pressure are stroke and heart disease. There are a few other risk factors that can be modified and some that cannot be. The following are some risks:
? Tobacco
? Physical Inactivity
? Diabetes
? Abnormal Cholesterol
? Being overweight
Who can get high blood pressure?
Unfortunately anyone can get high blood pressure but it is more common among African Americans. Nearly one in three American adults has high blood pressure. African Americans also have a much higher death rate from kidney disease and stroke than white Americans. Even so, with treatment you can help lower your blood pressure.
How can I lower my blood pressure?
Fortunately there are many different ways of helping to lower your blood pressure. Exercise is a great way to lower it. Doing physical activity will make your heart stronger over time. If you have a stronger heart it can pump blood easier lessening your risks of stroke and kidney diseases. It is never too late to start exercising!
If you are concerned about your blood pressure consult your physician. Ask any and all questions you might have and find the best way for you to lower it. If all regular ways fail, consider medication. Talk with your doctor about your health and lifestyle so he can choose the best medicine for you. If you want to live a healthy life, taking control of your blood pressure is very important.
Are you health conscious??? If you have a better idea to reduce high blood pressure, let us know, your views and comments will be appreciated. High blood pressure, commonly known as Hypertension/arterial hypertension is a state of body in which blood pressure in your body is chronically increased. In this techno world, hypertension is the most common disease, people are becoming careless and life has become so fast that very few of us are truly health conscious. With digitization of world, moving towards automation from manual systems, fast food has become way of life. Truth is that today we are not able to intake fresh food – vegetables and fruits that we consume all have high concentration of chemicals and pesticides that indirectly affect our health. But in case you are unaware about blood pressure then this is the right time to have a better understanding about blood pressure. Blood pressure also known as vascular pressure relates to the force applied by circulating blood on the walls of blood vessels. In medical terms, it can be defined as the force of the blood pushing against the walls of the arteries.
The important factor to note is that every time your heart beats, it impels out blood into the arteries. The heart which acts as a vital muscular pump applies the pressure to circulate the blood throughout the body. The blood vessels called arteries have resilient walls and so provide some resistance during the flow of blood. Thus, there is pressure in the system, even between heartbeats. Blood pressure alters during the day and it gets lower when you sleep and rises when you get up. It may rise when you are excited or tensed.
Now, blood pressure is calculated in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) and BP reading below 120/80 mmHg is considered normal. However, BP of 140/90 mmHg or higher is measured arterial hypertension and commonly known as “Silent Killer”. Any individual with arterial hypertension can be very dangerous and is one of major risk factors for Stroke, Heart Attack or Kidney Damage. Moreover, hypertension is the next major threat for congestive heart failure. In congestive heart failure the pumping power of heart gets lowered, beating gets harder and harder and as a result heart losses its ability to pump sufficient blood to meet up the body’s requirements. In addition to this high BP can also lead to burst of eyes blood vessels. Therefore it becomes very important to control high BP.
The frequency of people suffering from high BP increases naturally with age and can be often related to lifestyle habits. Ayurvedic health care acts as anti-hypertensive for maintaining pressure of blood in your body. These days most doctors advise patients to re-establish your BP 80/120 level by making changes in lifestyle. Some of the natural and effective ways to bring down rising pressure of blood are:
1. Reduce salt intake: Now it is very important to understand that high consumption of salt is directly linked to high blood pressure. Commit yourself to consume not more than 2,000 milligrams of sodium per day, which estimates around 1 teaspoon of salt. You can lower your sodium intake by eating less processed and fast foods.
2. Quit smoking: The nicotine in cigarettes makes your blood vessels to compress and heart to beat faster, which automatically results in raising your blood pressure. If you are a smoker then make sure to quit smoking. By quitting you can keep your blood pressure in line and this in turn helps in reducing the threat of cardiovascular disease.
3. Reduce your extra body weight: Make sure your body weight does not exceed; it should be proportionate to your height. As per recent studies it has been proved that high blood pressure has a direct link to overweight. The more weight you have, higher is the chance of having high blood pressure. Keeping weight off is one of the most vital tactics for calculating blood pressure. Even losing a pound in a week can be a noteworthy step in the right direction.
4. Limit alcohol consumption: This is one of the most important ways to reduce high blood pressure. It is important to understand; in case of healthy people alcohol does not cause hypertension while in some it does not. If you drink alcohol try to have limited consumption 1 or 2 drinks per day. If your blood pressure rises with alcohol, it is better to avoid drinking alcohol.
5. Do exercise regularly: Regular exercise helps in lowering your blood pressure. It further helps in lowering cholesterol, and stress management. Perform any activity that you enjoy like walking, jogging, or swimming. Initially start your work-out slowly and then work your way up to 30-60 minute sessions of moderate exercise each week. Then, slowly begin aerobic exercise into your daily life; increase the time and intensity at a speed and try for at least 30-minute workout in most days of the week.
According to recent studies the ratio of high blood pressure is increasing day by day and because it does not show any symptoms most of the nearly don’t know they have high blood pressure. Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to various disease so have proper medical check up and normal blood pressure to live a healthy life. Healthy lifestyle is key of maintain your blood pressure, give away your tension.
The author is an aspirant writer on Yoga, Meditation and Health, Ayurveda health care. To buy books online on effective ways to reduce high blood pressure, best seller books on different ways to reduce blood pressure, Ayurveda, yoga & meditation log on to online book store, online Indian books on Meditation, yoga and health treatment store.
