- High blood pressure: who are at higher risk?

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High blood pressure: who are at higher risk?

Date Added: December 07, 2009 11:53:05 AM

Category: Health

Arteries carry blood around the body. When the heart beats, it thrusts blood through the arteries. In a person who has healthy arteries, the blood is able to run through the arteries with little resistance. But in a person whose arteries have become narrow, the arteries resist the blood streaming through them. The heart has to work harder to get the blood where it should go, and that is how high blood pressure occurs. Hypertension puts a huge strain on your heart and causes damage to the arteries. This raises your risk for coronary problems and kidney failure. High blood pressure is very often called the "silent killer", as plenty of people do not even know they have it. This is because the vast majority of men and women with high blood pressure have no symptoms. Blood pressure in a healthy adult is 120/80 or lower. Hypertension is a reading 140/90 or higher. A few factors raise your risk of high blood pressure. Some you can be in control of, and some you cannot. The factors you cannot be in control of are: • Race. African Americans are said to develop hypertension more often and earlier in life. Besides, severe cases of hypertension are more often observed in African Americans. • Age. Risk of high blood pressure increases as you age. • Family history. If some of your close family members have hypertension, you are at risk. Other factors that place you at risk for hypertension are corpulence, lack of exercise, using tobacco products, consuming too much salt. Physicians recommend that all grownups aged 18 and older be screened for high blood pressure. If you have hypertension, the following are some tips to help you reduce it. • Give up smoking. Nicotine makes your blood vessels constrict and your heart beat quicker, which raises your blood pressure. • Lose extra weight if you are overweight. • Be more active. Exercise at a moderate intensity for half an hour, 5 or more days a week. • Choose a healthy well-balanced diet that contains lots of fresh fruits and veggies and is low fats. • Cut down on alcohol and sodium. If lifestyle changes alone do not reduce your blood pressure, your general practitioner may besides prescribe antihypertensive drugs to treat your hypertension. The aim is to decrease blood pressure to normal levels with drugs that are easy to take and have few adverse side effects.

High blood pressure: who are at higher risk?

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