What is blood pressure? Blood pressure is caused by the heart as it pushes blood around your body. Blood pressure is measured under two circumstances so the reading has two numbers, not one.
The upper number is your systolic pressure. This is the force of blood in your arteries each time your heart beats. The lower number refers to the lowered pressure in your arteries each time the heart relaxes between beats and is the diastolic pressure.
What is normal blood pressure? This is regarded as a measurement of 120 over 80 or lower depending upon age, lifestyle and existing medical problems. A measurement of 140 over 90 or greater is regarded as high blood pressure. High blood pressure is a serious condition linked to a greater danger of strokes, heart or kidney disease and needs to be treated.
Being overweight makes it harder for your heart to pump blood around your body and this can also be a cause of high blood pressure.
High blood pressure can create certain serious conditions some of which can shorten your life. For instance you may have a stroke. A stroke is a product of blood having escaped into the brain through a weakened blood vessel which opened because of high blood pressure.
Your eyesight may be at risk if you have untreated high blood pressure; blood vessels inside your eyes can bleed or break producing hazy or impaired vision or total blindness.
Along with a stroke or impaired eyesight, high blood pressure can also trigger a heart attack because it damages the vessels that bring blood carrying oxygen to your heart muscle. If your heart is not receiving adequate oxygen you will be subjected to chest pain. If the blood supply is blocked as well you will undergo a heart attack.
Now you understand that high blood pressure is a condition not to be taken lightly, you should also take symptoms such as chest pains seriously and see your general practitioner. On the other hand, don't be defeatist about high blood pressure - if it is monitored and regulated you will not become ill because of it.
You should always have your blood pressure checked at your regular doctor visits especially if you are aged over 40. If you have high blood pressure and are concerned you can easily monitor from home. If you do this you want to have your doctor look at your home monitoring device to help ensure it is effective and you are operating it correctly.
Bear in mind that no matter how severe your high blood pressure is, if it is controlled by treatment and/or lifestyle measures, you have an excellent chance of living a long and health life.
Author Resource:
Robert likes to write on health issues using a concise and straighforward style to inform readers on important matters regarding their health and wellbeing. He is also webmaster of several websites such as www.castironbaths.org
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/rss.jpg "XML Feed For RSS")