What is Blood Pressure?
Blood pressure is measured with a cuff that wraps around your arm just above the elbow, and a stethoscope that listens on the inside of your elbow. When taking a blood pressure, the nurse will listen for the sound of your heart or karotkoff sounds in the inner elbow. The first number of your blood pressure is the systolic and is a measurement of the heart during contraction. The second number is diastolic and during this period the heart is at rest. Blood pressure is shown as a fraction 120/80 or systolic / diastolic.
|
Provided by the Blood Pressure Health Channel on eMedTV.com |
Detect High Blood Pressure Early!
As with most problems in life, the earlier you identify them, the quicker they can be fixed. This is especially true with blood pressure, because through both lifestyle changes and/or medication, you can prevent it from becoming worse.
American Heart Association Blood Pressure Stages
Types of High Blood Pressure
There are two main categories of causes for high blood pressure (hypertension).
- Primary hypertension, most commonly found, is rise in blood pressure gradually overtime that isn't linked with another specific condition. The cause is often unknown but can be attributed to a number of factors like, including diet, activity, smoking, drinking, and genetics. Primary hypertension progresses over time and may go unnoticed until a high blood pressure crisis (180/110 or higher) or other emergency such as a heart attack or stroke.
- Secondary hypertension which is caused by other conditions such as problems with kidneys, blood vessel defects, drug use and side effects of other medication which can cause high blood pressure to come on suddenly.
Risk Factors for developing High Blood Pressure
|
|
Risk Factors Associated with Having a
High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure over long periods of time puts you at higher risk for:
|