Sep

25

High Blood Pressure - What Is It and Why Is It Such a Big Deal?

September 25, 2008 |


One out of 3 adults in the US has it. It has no symptoms, so you can have it for years without knowing it. During this time, it can damage the vital internal organs: kidneys, heart, blood vessels and much more.

One out of three adults in the United States has it. It has no
symptoms, so you can have it for years without knowing it. During the
time when you were clueless that you have it, it can damage the vital
organs inside you: your kidneys, your heart, blood vessels and a lot
more. What is it? It’s high blood pressure or HBP.

As we all
know, the force of blood that pushes against the walls of the arteries
as your heart pumps blood is called “blood pressure”. If it rises and
remains high over a period of time, it becomes a high blood pressure
case which can damage your body in more ways than one.

There is
what we call blood pressure numbers: “systolic”, or the pressure as the
heart beats, and the “diastolic” which is the pressure in between
beats, while the heart is at rest. These numbers are written with the
systolic above the diastolic, together with the symbol mmHg, which the
millimeters of mercury, the one used to measure a person’s blood
pressure. Normal blood pressure is 120/80. Anything slightly higher
than that and we have ourselves a case of pre-hypertension, which means
if you don’t take preventive measures you will most likely end up with
high blood pressure.

What’s even worse with high blood pressure,
or hypertension, is that it can cause a series of life-long damages
that can lead to another series of diseases in the body.

These include:

?
Heart failure. High blood pressure can enlarge or weaken one of the
most important organs in our body, the heart. Heart failure is a
medical condition in which your heart can no longer pump enough blood
throughout the body.

? Aneurysms. It’s an abnormal bulging in
your arteries’ wall. (It can be formed in the blood vessels.) The main
arteries that carry blood from the heart to the body, the arteries in
the brain, legs and intestines, and the artery leading to your spleen
are the most common spots for aneurysms.

? Kidney failure. Hypertension can make the blood vessels in the kidney narrow and often cause kidney failure.

?
Heart attack/Stroke/Amputation of the leg. HBP can also narrow some
arteries and therefore limits the blood flow in the heart, brain,
kidney and legs.

? Vision changes/Blindness. Hypertension can
also cause the blood vessels in the eyes to bleed or burst, which
results to changes in vision or even blindness.

The good
news is, you can still prevent high blood pressure! If you have a
normal blood pressure, here are some steps that you can take to prevent
it:

? Follow a healthy diet. Limit the intake of salt and alcohol in your system.

? If you are overweight, lose it!

? Exercise at least half an hour every day.

? Stop smoking!

? Learn to manage your stress.

If
you already have high blood pressure, there are still ways in which you
can prevent the lifelong problems that goes with it by simply following
a diet plan and a healthy lifestyle (like the one listed above). Also ,
do not forget to strictly follow the treatment prescribed by your
doctor to control your blood pressure. It can help you prevent or delay
the tons of baggage that goes with it.

About the author

Dee Braun, a single mom of 6, is a Certified Aromatherapist and natural health practitioner. Click now to visit Health or High Water at http://www.healthorhighwater.com/ where you’ll find info on ways to improve your health using nutritional supplements to help battle the ravages of time, poor nutrition, & toxins and address heart health, arthritis and high cholesterol.

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