High blood pressure: Causes, symptoms, and treatments | HealthInfi

Overview

High blood pressure is also known as hypertension. Blood pressure is the amount of force exerted against the walls of the arteries as blood flows through them.

If a person has high blood pressure it means that the walls of the arteries are receiving too much pressure repeatedly – the pressure needs to be chronically elevated for a diagnosis of hypertensionto be confirmed. In medicine, chronic means for a sustained period; persistent.

In the United States, approximately 85 million people have high blood pressure – about 1 in every 3 adults over 20, according to the American Heart Association. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimate that about two-thirds of people over the age of 65 in the U.S. have high blood pressure.

If left untreated or uncontrolled, high blood pressure can cause many health problems. These conditions include heart failure, vision loss, stroke, and kidney disease.

Blood pressure is the amount of force your blood exerts against the walls of your arteries. Normal blood pressure effectively and harmlessly pushes the blood from your heart to your body’s organs and muscles so they can receive the oxygen and nutrients they need.

Blood pressure is variable—it rises and falls during the day. When blood pressure stays elevated over time, however, it is called high blood pressure or hypertension. According to the American Heart Association, 76.4 million Americans have high blood pressure. High blood pressure was a primary contributing cause of death for 326,000 Americans in 2006.

Hypertension can occur in both children and adults, but it is more common in adults, particularly African Americans and the elderly. People with other conditions such as diabetes and kidney disease are likely to become hypertensive. In addition, being overweight, drinking alcohol excessively (defined as more than two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women) and taking oral contraceptives may increase blood pressure.

About half of Americans with high blood pressure are women. More men than women have hypertension, until women reach menopause, when their risk becomes greater than men’s. About 30 percent of women have high blood pressure.

Blood pressure is typically expressed as two numbers, one over the other, and is measured in millimeters of mercury (noted as mm Hg). The first number is the systolic blood pressure, the pressure used when the heart beats. The second number,diastolic blood pressure, is the pressure that exists in the arteries between heartbeats.

Depending on your activities, your blood pressure may increase or decrease throughout the day. If you are not acutely ill, are over 18 years of age and are not taking antihypertensive drugs, a blood pressure reading of 119 mm Hg or below systolic and/or 79 mm Hg or below diastolic (119/79) is considered normal.Read More