INTRODUCTION: – The pressure of circling blood against the boundaries of blood vessels is known as blood pressure (BP). Through the circulatory system, this pressure results from the heart pumping blood to all the organs. BP is expressed as systolic pressure over diastolic pressure in the cardiac cycle.
Blood pressure can be measured in millimetres of mercury (mmHg) above the nearby atmospheric pressure. Equipment like a sphygmomanometer is used for measuring blood pressure. In evaluating a patient’s health, blood pressure and pulse rates jointly with oxygen situations, respiratory rate, heart rate and the body temperature is used.
In adults normal blood pressure is about 120millimeters of mercury (16kPa), 80 millimetres of mercury (11kPa) over systolic designated as 120/80 mmHg. Since 1975 to the present, the normal blood pressure according to age has remained about the same, as about 122/77 mmHg in women and 127/79 mmHg in men. (1)
When your blood pressure increases to unhealthy levels then hypertension or high blood pressure occurs. Resistance increases in narrow arteries. The blood pressure will be higher if you have narrow arteries. With the passage of time, the increasing rate of pressure can make many health issues, including heart attack.
Nowadays more American adults are being diagnosed with this condition. The blood pressure develops over the several years. At the start, you can’t even notice the symptoms but the blood pressure can cause damage (even without any symptoms)to organs and blood vessels especially the brain, eyes, heart and kidneys. Early disclosure is important. Make regular checkups that help you and your doctor to notice any change. If your doc sees any changes, then you have to keep checking your blood pressure over several weeks to see whether the numbers stay elevated or falls back to normal levels.
Causes of blood pressure: Blood pressure can be classified into two categories which are caused by different factors.
- Primary hypertension: It is also known as an essential hypertension. It develops without any identified cause. It is more common form of BP. Many factors play a significant part, some of them are as follows:
- Genes: – People can sometimes be genetically predisposed to BP. This can happen from modification of genes or the abnormalities which are inherited from parents.
- Physical change: – if some changes occur in the body, you may feel issues throughout your body. BP is one of these issues. For example, it is considered that the changes in the kidney function as you age, may upset the balance of salts and fluids in the body. Maybe it becomes the reason for the increasing risk of your BP.
- Environment:- it is also noticed that your lifestyle choices may cause such a disease for example unhealthy lifestyle, poor diet can have a high toll on your body. Weight issues also increase the risk of hypertension especially being overweight and obese.
- Secondary hypertension: – The severe form of primary hypertension is secondary hypertension because it often occurs quickly. There are some conditions that may cause secondary hypertension:
- Medications side effects.
- Disease of kidneys.
- Usage of illegal drugs.
- Thyroid problems.
- Problems of adrenal gland.
- Endocrine tumors.
- Obstructive sleep apnea.
Symptoms of hypertension(3): – it is basically a silent condition. Not all symptoms are experienced by all people. Some say that it may take years or decades to reach the severe condition. These symptoms may ascribe to other problems. Some of the issues that relate to hypertension are discussed as bellows:
- Pain in the chest.
- Blood in the urine.
- Headaches
- Bleeding of nose.
- Faintness
Sometimes you might need medical help as an emergency if any of these symptoms occur in your body. If you are suffering from these symptoms there could be a risk of heart attack or stroke.
Or you may also suffer from some other health issues. Headaches and nose bleeds often doesn’t occur during high blood pressure. It occurs only when the blood pressure is above 180/120. During these conditions, you must have some rest and then check again. Then if your blood pressure in not becoming normal then it would be the medical emergency.
You must have to remember that high blood pressure often doesn’t have any symptoms. So, if you want to spend your life a healthy one you must check your blood pressure regularly. The blood pressure must be checked at health visits of an adult annually to decrease the rate of its symptom, its severest conditions and to avoid any health problems. It is specially recommended by American Heart Association. You can maintain your regular checkups from the nearby health resources of your community.
If you are suffering from high blood pressure your doctor advises you to check up regularly at home. Because it is noticed that home monitors works better than store-based machines. If you want to reduce the risks of blood pressure your doctor recommend you to change your lifestyle and take medicines on time. Because if you ignore this disease it may cause many problems such as heart disease, kidney failure, eye problems and strokes.
Treatment for blood pressure: – If you want to control the rate of blood pressure, you can manage your lifestyles to avoid from this disease. Here are some points which are recommended by your doctor to reduce the risks of high blood pressure.(2)
- You must have a heart-healthy meal with less salt.
- You must take regular medical activity.
- If you have obese weight then you must have to lose some weight or maintain your weight.
- Alcohol amounting must be decreased.
If your diet plan, lifestyle changes and exercise doesn’t work then your doctor must recommend you some medications to improve your health and reduce the side effects of high blood pressure. You must take two or more drugs which are related to blood pressure. You must make a goal for making your blood pressure normal as less than 130/80 mmHg.
References.
- https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/about.htm#
- https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/lifestyle/what-is-blood-pressure/
- https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/measure.htm
