New Recommendations On Monitoring Blood Pressure
The new guidelines also encourage additional monitoring, using a wearable digital monitor that continually takes blood pressure readings as you go about your life, or checked with your own cuff at home. This additional monitoring can help to tease out masked hypertension or white coat hypertension . There are clear, helpful directions for setting patients up with a home blood pressure monitor, including a recommendation to give people specific instructions on when not to check blood pressure and how to take a measurement correctly . The home blood pressure cuff should first be validated .
What Is Blood Pressure
Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the walls of arteries as the heart pumps blood. When a health care professional measures your blood pressure, they use a blood pressure cuff around your arm that gradually tightens. The results are given in two numbers. The first number, called systolic blood pressure, is the pressure caused by your heart contracting and pushing out blood. The second number, called diastolic blood pressure, is the pressure when your heart relaxes and fills with blood.
A blood pressure reading is given as the systolic blood pressure number over the diastolic blood pressure number. Blood pressure levels are classified based on those two numbers.
- Low blood pressure, or hypotension, is systolic blood pressure lower than 90 or diastolic blood pressure lower than 60. If you have low blood pressure, you may feel lightheaded, weak, dizzy, or even faint. It can be caused by not getting enough fluids, blood loss, some medical conditions, or medications, including those prescribed for high blood pressure.
- Normal blood pressure for most adults is defined as a systolic pressure of less than 120 and a diastolic pressure of less than 80.
- Elevated blood pressure is defined as a systolic pressure between 120 and 129 with a diastolic pressure of less than 80.
- High blood pressure is defined as 130 or higher for the first number, or 80 or higher for the second number.
What To Do If Your Blood Pressure Reading Is 157/90
A blood pressure reading of 157/90 can be cause for concern. The first step is to take another reading to confirm your blood pressure.
As an aside, home blood pressure monitors are amazingly affordable and great way to stay on top of your blood pressure. So invest in your health and check out .
Elevated blood pressure should be confirmed on at least 3 separate days before diagnosing hypertension.
Already diagnosed with hypertension? If so a blood pressure in this range may indicate the need to adjust your blood pressure medications.
Once you have been assessed by a medical professional there are a number of ways you can address a blood pressure reading of 157/90.
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What Are The Dangers Of High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is known as the silent killer. This means it does not have any symptoms and can go untreated for a long time, which can lead to many major health risks. If left untreated, a blood pressure of 180/120 or higher results in an 80% chance of death within one year, with an average survival rate of ten months. Prolonged, untreated high blood pressure can also lead to heart attack, stroke, blindness, and kidney disease.
Treatment For High Blood Pressure
Specific treatment for high blood pressure will be determined by your child’s doctor based on:
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Your child’s age, overall health, and medical history
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Extent of the condition
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Your child’s tolerance to specific medications, procedures, or treatments
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Expectations for the course of the condition
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Your opinion or preference
If a secondary cause has been found, such as kidney disease, the underlying disease will be treated. If no cause has been determined, the first treatment approach is lifestyle therapy, including the following:
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Weight reduction
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Increasing physical activity
These interventions can lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure, improve the strength of the heart, and lower blood cholesterol. These are all important steps in preventing heart disease as an adult.
Medications to control high blood pressure are only needed in about 1 percent of children with the disorder. Consult your child’s doctor for more information.
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Learning To Cope With Stress Can Help
Stress and hypertension have often been linked, but researchers are still looking into a direct relationship between the two. Still, the best advice to hypertensive patients: Try to relax.
When you are stressed, your body sends stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol into the bloodstream. These hormones create a temporary spike in blood pressure, causing your heart to beat faster and blood vessels to narrow. When the stressful situation is over, blood pressure goes back to its normal level.
Chronic stress, however, may cause your body to stay in this highly-charged state longer than natural.
While stress itself may or may not affect blood pressure, how you cope with stress does. For instance, overeating, smoking and drinking alcohol in response to stressful situations are direct causes of sustained high blood pressure. On the flip side, healthier coping mechanisms like exercising, practicing yoga and meditating can all help lower blood pressure.
Primary High Blood Pressure
While the specific cause of primary high blood pressure remains unknown, there is compelling evidence to suggest that a number of risk factors increase your chances of developing the condition.
These risk factors include:
- age – the risk of developing high blood pressure increases as you get older
- a family history of high blood pressure – the condition seems to run in families
- being of Afro-Caribbean or South Asian origin
- high amount of salt in your diet
- lack of exercise
- excessive alcohol consumption
A number of health conditions, such as diabetes and kidney disease, have also been linked to an increase risk of developing primary high blood pressure.
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Blood Pressure Is Diagnosed By A Doctor Using A Blood Pressure Machine The Process Includes:
- Being seated in a chair with your back supported
- Putting your feet flat on the floor and supporting your arm at heart level
- Remaining quiet for five minutes and refraining from talking
It is very important to use the proper size cuff when taking a blood pressure reading. Failure to do so will lead to inaccuracies. A cuff that is too small for the arm circumference will give an artificially high reading. A cuff that is too large will give too low a reading. Initially, blood pressure should be measured in each arm to make sure both readings are the same. The arm with the higher readings should then be targeted for all future blood pressure checks.
If your blood pressure readings are high, your doctor may ask that you return for additional measurements on different days because blood pressure can vary widely from day to day.
Your doctor will most likely diagnose you with high blood pressure if you have several readings of 140/90 or higher. If you have readings of 130/80 or higher and are diabetic or have chronic kidney disease, you are likely to be diagnosed with high blood pressure.
What can I do if I am diagnosed with high blood pressure?
Eat healthy food
Make sure your diet emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy foods. An easy tool for planning health meals is the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet which can help you reduce your systolic blood pressure by 8-14 mm Hg.
Achieve and Maintain a Healthy Weight
Increase Physical Activity
What Is Systolic Blood Pressure
Systolic blood pressure measures how much pressure your blood exerts against your artery walls. The pressure within our arteries changes with every heartbeat, says Ian Del Conde Pozzi, M.D., a cardiologist and vascular medicine specialist at the Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute. When the heart contracts, it pumps extra blood into the circulatory system, increasing the pressure. That increase is measured by systolic blood pressure.
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What You Should Know About A Blood Pressure Of 150/100
What is hypertension stage two? Blood pressure guidelines exist to define hypertension within stages. These stages, which were created by The American Heart Association and The American College of Cardiology, are like a roadmap to help guide and tailor decisions in the treatment process for hypertension. Understanding the specifics of your blood pressure stage is critical to successfully controlling readings over the long-term.
Stage two hypertension blood pressure is systolic blood pressure 140-180 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure 90-120.
Normal systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings are considered under 120/80 mmHg. The next stage is elevated blood pressure, which is 120-129 systolic mmHg and diastolic pressure remaining less than 80 mmHg. High blood pressure starts at hypertension stage one, which is a systolic reading of 130-139 mmHg or a diastolic reading of 80-89 mmHg. Hypertension stage two is progressive hypertension, and its the last stop before the hypertensive crisis stage of having blood pressures over 180/120 mmHg.
Its important to remember that the above stages are all distinguished through consistent, reliable blood pressure measurements. In other words, your blood pressure should be taken at least twice on two separate occasions via a trustworthy measurement tool before a classification of hypertension stage two is made.
What Does A Blood Pressure Reading Of 150/85 Mean
Readings above 140 systolic pressure indicate Stage 1 Hypertension even if your diastolic pressure is between 80 and 89. This is because the worse reading is used when systolic and diastolic pressure fall into different ranges.
Hypertension increases your risk of life-threatening problems such as heart attacks and stroke. Blood pressure in this range may also damage the heart and kidneys, particularly in those who already have chronic medical problems affecting these organs.
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When Can You Say That You Have Hypertension Related Problems
You will notice that hypertension problems can differ based on age. Ideally, you want to have the systolic number 120 or less and the diastolic number under 90 to avoid any hypertension.
A systolic number of 121 to 139 and a diastolic number between 81 to 89 will show a medium risk of hypertension. Once we get over 140 and 90 respectively, that means you have a very high chance of dealing with hypertension.
So, is 150/90 a good blood pressure? As you can see, its over the smallest high-risk number, which means its extremely problematic and you can encounter problems.
There are exceptions, however, if you have diabetes you want the blood pressure to be less than 130/80. People over 80 want to have less than 150 over 90.
Can Anything Else Be Done To Lower The Risks From High Blood Pressure
Your risk from blood pressure also depends on additional factors: Smoking, physical inactivity, high blood cholesterol, diabetes can markedly increase your risk from high blood pressure.Smoking not only increases the risk of heart attack and stroke but also increases the risk of lung cancer . One in two smokers die because of smoking related illnesses. Also you wont get the full benefit from lowering your blood pressure if you continue to smoke.You can assess your overall risk at QRISK website
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Treating High Blood Pressure
Treatment for high blood pressure will depend on your blood pressure levels and your associated risk of developing a cardiovascular disease, such as a heart attack or stroke.
There are seven main risk factors for developing a cardiovascular disease. These are:
- having a high level of cholesterol in your blood
- having a family history of cardiovascular disease .
High Blood Pressure And Older Adults
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High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a major health problem that is common in older adults. Your bodys network of blood vessels, known as the vascular system, changes with age. Arteries get stiffer, causing blood pressure to go up. This can be true even for people who have heart-healthy habits and feel just fine. High blood pressure, sometimes called “the silent killer,” often does not cause signs of illness that you can see or feel. Though it affects nearly half of all adults, many may not even be aware they have it.
If high blood pressure isn’t controlled with lifestyle changes and medication, it can lead to serious health problems, including cardiovascular disease such as heart disease and stroke, vascular dementia, eye problems, and kidney disease. The good news is that blood pressure can be controlled in most people.
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How To Check Blood Pressure At Home
What You Should Know About A Blood Pressure Of 150/103
What is hypertension stage two? Blood pressure guidelines exist to define hypertension within stages. These stages, which were created by The American Heart Association and The American College of Cardiology, are like a roadmap to help guide and tailor decisions in the treatment process for hypertension. Understanding the specifics of your blood pressure stage is critical to successfully controlling readings over the long-term.
Stage two hypertension blood pressure is systolic blood pressure 140-180 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure 90-120.
Normal systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings are considered under 120/80 mmHg. The next stage is elevated blood pressure, which is 120-129 systolic mmHg and diastolic pressure remaining less than 80 mmHg. High blood pressure starts at hypertension stage one, which is a systolic reading of 130-139 mmHg or a diastolic reading of 80-89 mmHg. Hypertension stage two is progressive hypertension, and its the last stop before the hypertensive crisis stage of having blood pressures over 180/120 mmHg.
Its important to remember that the above stages are all distinguished through consistent, reliable blood pressure measurements. In other words, your blood pressure should be taken at least twice on two separate occasions via a trustworthy measurement tool before a classification of hypertension stage two is made.
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How Does Blood Pressure Affect My Health
Even if you’re only in your 20s or 30s, long-term studies show that having elevated blood pressure significantly increases your risk of developing serious health conditions later in life.
“Uncontrolled high blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease in middle age, which is the leading cause of death in the U.S.,” says Dr. Nasir. “It’s also a risk factor for stroke, kidney disease and several eye conditions.”
Plus, high blood pressure affects more than just your health there are financial implications, too. A person with high blood pressure spends almost $2,000 a year on the associated medications and health costs. These costs skyrocket if high blood pressure is left uncontrolled and serious medical conditions, such as heart disease, result.
Facts About High Blood Pressure
There’s a good reason why every doctor’s appointment starts with a blood pressure check. While one in three American adults has high blood pressure, about 20% of people are unaware that they have it because it is largely symptomless.
In fact, most people find out they have high blood pressure during a routine office visit.
Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the walls of arteries as the heart pumps blood. High blood pressure, also referred to as hypertension, is when that force is too high and begins harming the body. If left untreated, it willl eventually cause damage to the heart and blood vessels.
Your blood pressure is measured in two numbers: The top systolic blood pressure measures the force pushing against artery walls when the heart is contracting. The bottom diastolic blood pressure measures pressure in the arteries when the heart is resting between beats.
Normal blood pressure levels are 120 mmHg/80 mmHg or lower. At risk levels are 120-139 mmHg/80-89 mmHg. Readings of 140 mmHg/90 mmHg or higher are defined as high blood pressure.
Here are six other things you should know about high blood pressure.
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How Do You Measure Blood Pressure
In a doctor’s office, blood pressure is traditionally taken manually by a doctor or nurse with a sphygmomanometer. A sphygmomanometer is a medical instrument with an inflatable cuff and pressure meter or dial. The sphygmomanometer is placed snugly around the upper arm and is inflated by hand, and the doctor or nurse listens to the brachial artery with a stethoscope as they gradually reduce the pressure of the cuff. When the whooshing sound of blood is first heard through the stethoscope, the doctor or nurse makes note of the reading on the pressure meter. This indicates the systolic blood pressure reading. When the sound disappears, the reading on the pressure meter indicates the diastolic pressure reading.
Blood pressure can also be taken at home using a number of a digital devices. They typically consist of an inflatable cuff and digital display and simply work by placing the cuff around the upper arm and pressing a button, after which the cuff inflatess, deflates, and displays a reading. The most popular blood pressure machines for home use are made by Omron, Beurer, and Paramed, amongst many others.
What Does A Blood Pressure Reading Of 150/70 Mean
Readings above 140 systolic pressure indicate Stage 1 Hypertension even if your diastolic pressure is between 60 and 79. This is because the worse reading is used when systolic and diastolic pressure fall into different ranges.
Hypertension increases your risk of life-threatening problems such as heart attacks and stroke. Blood pressure in this range may also damage the heart and kidneys, particularly in those who already have chronic medical problems affecting these organs.
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