What Is Hypertension And Why Is It A Problem?
Your blood pressure will vary over the course of a day – exercise, caffeine, strong emotion can all have an effect. But when your blood pressure stays elevated – that is a problem. The medical term is Hypertension.
When your blood pressure is measured two readings are taken one when your heart is beating (this is the high number know as the systolic) and one when your heart is between beats (this is the low number known as diastolic)
Here are the numbers:
SystolicDiastolicNormalLess than 120Less than 80Pre-Hypertension120 – 13980 – 89Stage One Hypertension140 – 15990 – 99Stage Two Hypertension160 or higher100 or higher
These numbers were revised a few years ago to include the class of “Pre-hypertension”. That was because of increasing evidence of the dangers of high blood pressure and the likelihood of people with what was “high normal” to develop hypertension.
Why Does It Matter?
Hypertension is also known as the “silent Killer” because it works away damaging your body quietly often with no symptoms until there is a serious problem.
Untreated hypertension multiplies your risks for a number of things:
* Approximately 3 times the chance of dying form a heart attack
* Approximately twice the chance of dying form a stroke
* Approximately twice to 3 times the chance of getting heart disease
* Approximately 3 times the chance to get kidney disease
* You could also go blind!
Unfortunately there are no symptoms of high blood pressure (Until the damage has already been done or your blood pressure is so high that urgent medical treatment is required). The only way to know whether you have high blood pressure is to get it checked.