Did you know that high blood pressure is the most common health problem that affects adults in the US.
Over 65,000,000 people in the United States have high blood pressure and 69% of people who have their first heart attack suffer from high blood pressure.
The terrifying thing is most people don't even know they have it.
A brief overview of blood pressure.
Everyone has it but in some cases it can be a health risk, i.
e.
when it is too high or in some cases when pressure is too low.
It is the force that is exerted on blood vessels and heart by the flowing of the blood.
There are 2 components.
One is systolic pressure which is the max pressure in your arteries when your heart is pumping blood around your body.
Two is diastolic pressure, which is the minimum pressure when your heart is resting between beats.
In an adult you can expect the normal blood pressure to be 120 over 80 millimeters of mercury.
Anything above these numbers is considered high.
So why is high blood pressure dangerous? People with high blood pressure are more succeptable to heart diseases, heart failure and stroke.
Now you don't have to be having these problems to have high blood pressure, other symptoms can include obesity, quick temper and breathlessness, to name a few.
It's no wonder that it's known as the silent killer, most of the symptoms are passed off as general ailments.
People don't discover they have it until it's advanced and at a much later stage.
As you get older and the less active your lifestyle, the more at risk you will be at developing high blood pressure.
Studies have shown that unhealthy lifestyles feature prominently in sufferers of high blood pressure.
Fear not as preventing and gaining control of your blood pressure can be relatively simple.
Here are some tips - 1 - First things first, check with your doctor to see if you even have high blood pressure.
Your doctor will also be able to advice you on what to do.
2 - If you're obese you need to consider a weight loss program.
3 - Reducing your salt intake will have big impact on your blood pressure.
There's so much salt already in prepacked food that adding some extra is a big no no.
4 - You need to moderate your drinking of alcohol.
5 - Smoking is another no no.
It's bad for you for so many reasons but it is another cause of high blood pressure and needs to reduced or better yet stopped all together.
You can also take some drugs in addition to the above recommendations to keep your blood pressure under control.
Only take prescribed drugs.
Although it is recommended to try to alter your lifestyle before trying the drug route as lifestyle changes can have a huge impact on your blood pressure.
Failing to control your blood pressure can lead to other problems and fatal complications.
Take action now as prevention is always better than cure.