When You Are At Home How Do You Monitor Your Blood Pressure
There are various simple blood pressure monitors like our Omron BP Monitorthat may be used at home to measure blood pressure. Generally, India has two types of blood pressure monitors: Manual BP monitors: These devices feature a cuff that wraps over your upper arm, a rubbersqueeze bulb to inflate it manually, and a gauge that measures blood pressure and displays it as a rise or falls in the mercury column. A stethoscope is utilized Krokoff sounds are produced when a blood pressure cuff modulates blood flow through the artery. They produce reliable
results when used correctly. They cost less than digital blood pressure monitors but must be trained well to operate.
Digital BP monitors: They have a little screen that displays your blood pressure and pulse rate. They also have an error indicator. Cuffs that inflate and deflate automatically make them easier to operate than manual BP monitors. Body movements and irregular heartbeats influence the accuracy of the results. As a result, they must be used correctly.
How Can I Be More Active
- Check first with your healthcare provider before increasing your physical activity. Ask your provider what type and amount of exercise is right for you.
- Choose aerobic activities such as walking, biking or swimming.
- Start slowly and increase activity gradually. Aim for a regular routine of activity five times a week for 30 to 45 minutes each session.
High Blood Pressure And Women
A common misconception is that high blood pressure rarely affects women. However, nearly half of all adults with high blood pressure are women. In fact, women that are just 20 pounds or more overweight, have a family history of HBP or have reached menopause are known to increase a womans risk.
While high blood pressure isn’t directly related to gender, throughout a womans life, health issues like pregnancy, pregnancy prevention and menopause can increase the risk of developing high blood pressure.
Women represent almost 52% of deaths from high blood pressure.
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A Woman’s Risk Of High Blood Pressure Increases After Menopause
Menopause, which begins once a woman goes 12 consecutive months without experiencing a period, usually around her 50s, is related to high blood pressure.
“During aging and menopause, there are several changes in the body related to hormone levels and body weight,” warns Dr. Patel. “These changes may increase a woman’s risk of high blood pressure.”
Menopause and its symptoms also might be another reason high blood pressure sometimes goes undiagnosed in women. Symptoms of the two, such as fatigue and headaches, can overlap.
“A woman may delay scheduling a checkup with her doctor about symptoms because they seem related to menopause,” Dr. Patel adds. “In this way, high blood pressure can go undiagnosed which is yet another reason why regularly monitoring your blood pressure is so important.”
Symptoms Of High Blood Pressure In Women
High blood pressure doesnt always cause symptoms. In fact, its sometimes referred to as a silent condition because most people with high blood pressure have no symptoms at all.
Often, symptoms dont appear at all until someone has had high blood pressure for years and the condition has become severe, but even people with severe high blood pressure might have no symptoms at all.
When symptoms do occur, they look the same in everyone and might include:
But these symptoms only occur once elevated blood pressure has caused the damaged blood vessels to break. The only real sign of high blood pressure is getting consistently high blood pressure readings. Thats why its important to have your blood pressure checked at least once a year.
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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.
Blood Pressure Checks During Pregnancy
If you are pregnant, you should have your blood pressure checked on a regular basis, even if it is not high.
Watching your blood pressure while you are pregnant reduces your risk of developing pregnancy-induced hypertension. This can lead to a serious condition called pre-eclampsia where there is a problem with the placenta .
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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.
About High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is usually defined as having a sustained blood pressure of 140/90mmHg or above.
The line between normal and raised blood pressure is not fixed and depends on your individual circumstances. However, most doctors agree that the ideal blood pressure for a physically healthy person is around 120/80mmHg.
A normal blood pressure reading is classed as less than 130/80mmHg.
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Blood Pressure Highly Likely To Cause Neurotic Personality Trait
Keeping it under control can help curb neuroticism, anxiety, and cardiovascular disease.
High blood pressure is a leading cardiovascular disease risk factor and is considered to be associated with psychological factors. However, the causal relationships between blood pressure and anxiety, depressive symptoms, neuroticism, and subjective wellbeing are unclear.
A new study assessed the genetic relationships between blood pressure and anxiety, depressive symptoms, neuroticism, and subjective well-being. Scientists used a technique called Mendelian randomization. To gain genetic evidence for a causative association and minimize the biases present in observational studies, this method uses genetic variants as a proxy for a specific risk factorin this case, blood pressure.
Over 1000 genetic single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs for short, have been linked to blood pressure, accounting for between 30 and 60 percent of it. SNPs aid in predicting an individuals response to specific medications, vulnerability to environmental influences, and the likelihood of developing diseases.
The scientists used DNA from blood samples taken from persons with primarily European ancestry from 8 large-scale study databases .
They used Mendelian randomization to compare four psychological statesanxiety , depressive symptoms , neuroticism , and subjective wellbeingwith four blood pressure traitssystolic blood pressure , diastolic blood pressure , and high blood pressure .
Journal Reference:
High Blood Pressure Treatment
The best way to lower blood pressure begins with changes you can make to your lifestyle to help lower your blood pressure and reduce your risk of heart disease. Additionally, your doctor may prescribe medicine to lower your blood pressure. These are called antihypertensive medicines.
The goal of treatment is to reduce your blood pressure to normal levels. Your doctor may prescribe medicine thats easy to take and has few, if any, side effects. This treatment is highly successful. If your blood pressure can only be controlled with medicine, youll need to take the medicine for the rest of your life. It is common to need more than one medicine to help control your blood pressure. Dont stop taking the medicine without talking with your doctor. Otherwise, you may increase your risk of having a stroke or heart attack.
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Prevalence Of High Blood Pressure In Women
Roughly 44% of women in the U.S. have high blood pressure, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although the percentage of women who have hypertension is lower compared to men, hypertension is still a major health concern. Only one out of every four people with hypertension has the condition under control, meaning many women are at an increased risk of serious health complications like heart disease and stroke.
Monitoring Blood Pressure In Women
Taking regular blood pressure readings can help you keep blood pressure down. Those readings act as reminders to keep up with your healthy lifestyle and any medications. They also let you learn patterns, so you can easily know if something is wrong and it is time to contact your healthcare provider.
If you have hypertension, taking blood pressure twice a day can be burdensome because it is hard to remember, but you can get help. Your Lark health coach can remind you and automatically store your measurements so you can see trends and share them with your doctor.
In addition, your healthcare provider might prescribe hypertension medications if you are unable to control your blood pressure with these lifestyle strategies.
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How To Check Blood Pressure
1 From the middle of the thirties, one should check the blood pressure from time to time, with familial stress with cardiovascular diseases also earlier. It would be even better to regularly take advantage of the cardiovascular check-ups offered free of charge.
2 The health insurance companies currently pay them every two years, starting at the age of 35 The blood pressure measurement is an integral part. Also, pharmacies also offer blood pressure measurements.
3 In many cases, the result will be healthy. However, if too high blood pressure is measured, the next question is: Is there high blood pressure? The diagnosis is usually fast. Further investigations follow suspicion of secondary hypertension or sequelae.
What Are The Symptoms Of High Blood Pressure In Women
Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the inside lining of the arteries. High blood pressure, or hypertension, occurs when that force increases and stays higher than normal for a period. This condition can damage the blood vessels, heart, brain, and other organs.
Hypertension is often considered a mens health problem, but thats a myth. The in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. Gender doesnt usually impact the risk greatly, but the onset of menopause slightly raises the risk of developing high blood pressure.
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Tomatoes And Tomato Products
Tomatoes and tomato products are rich in many nutrients, including potassium and the carotenoid pigment lycopene.
Lycopene has been significantly associated with beneficial effects on heart health, and eating foods high in this nutrient, such as tomato products, may help reduce heart disease risk factors like high blood pressure .
A review of 21 studies concluded that consuming tomato and tomato products improves blood pressure and may help reduce your risk of heart disease and heart-disease-related death 30010-2/fulltext rel=nofollow> 26).
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Lowering Systolic Blood Pressure More May Cut Health Risks
One major study found that lowering systolic blood pressure to well below the commonly recommended level also greatly lowered the number of cardiovascular events and deaths among people at least 50 years old with high blood pressure.
When study participants achieved a systolic blood pressure target of 120 mmHg compared to the higher target of 140 mmHg recommended for most people, and 150 for people over 60 issues such as heart attack, stroke and heart failure were reduced by almost one-third, and the risk of death by almost one-fourth.
“That’s important information, because more lives may be saved and more deaths may be prevented if we maintain lower blood pressure in certain patients,” says Lynne Braun, NP, PhD, a nurse practitioner at the Rush Heart Center for Women.
Braun cautions, however, that your personal blood pressure target depends on a variety of things, including your current blood pressure, lifestyle, risk factors, other medications you are taking and your age. “Every person has to be evaluated as an individual,” she says. “Realistically, we can’t get everybody down to 120, and trying to do so may create unintended problems.”
It can be dangerous, for instance, to keep an older person on medications that have unsafe side effects, such as diuretics , which can cause dehydration and dizziness in older adults.
And there can be other issues involved with taking multiple medications, such as cost and compliance.
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Do The Guidelines Recommend That I Do Anything Differently
Other than monitoring your blood pressure at home, they do not. The guidelines maintain the commonly held beliefs that the way to treat high blood pressure is through medication, diet, exercise, and weight loss.
Of course, since the actual definition of high blood pressure has changed, it may mean that you are now eligible for medication. Medication is usually prescribed for people who have Stage 1 hypertension and have already had a stroke. However, people who just have Stage 1 hypertension or high blood pressure can usually treat both of those things purely through lifestyle changes.
More Than Blood Pressure
The new guidelines have other changes, too. First, they don’t offer different recommendations for people younger or older than age 65. “This is because the SPRINT study looked at all patients regardless of age and didn’t break down groups above or below a certain age,” says Dr. Conlin.
The guidelines also redefined the various categories of hypertension. It eliminated the category of prehypertension, which had been defined as systolic blood pressure of 120 to 139 mm Hg or diastolic pressure of 80 to 89 mm Hg. Instead, people with those readings are now categorized as having either elevated pressure or Stage 1 hypertension .
A reading of 140/90 mm Hg or higher is considered Stage 2 hypertension, and anything higher than 180/120 mm Hg is hypertensive crisis.
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How To Measure Blood Pressure At Home
The American Heart Association recommends home monitoring for all people with high blood pressure to help the healthcare provider determine whether treatments are working.
Home monitoring is not a substitute for regular visits to your health care professional but can be very useful in managing high blood pressure.
Heart Attack And Heart Disease
High blood pressure can damage your arteries by making them less elastic, which decreases the flow of blood and oxygen to your heart and leads to heart disease. In addition, decreased blood flow to the heart can cause:
- Chest pain, also called angina.
- Heart attack, which happens when the blood supply to your heart is blocked and heart muscle begins to die without enough oxygen. The longer the blood flow is blocked, the greater the damage to the heart.
- Heart failure, a condition that means your heart cant pump enough blood and oxygen to your other organs.
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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
Blood Pressure Is Linked To Other Medical Issues
High blood pressure can be the first indication of a serious underlying condition. When a patient comes in with high blood pressure, doctors will check their urine and kidney function do an electrocardiogram to check the size of the heart and look for lung changes.
Stress on the blood vessels makes people with hypertension more prone to heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, heart attack, stroke, kidney disease and aneurysms. Correspondingly, chronic conditions such as diabetes, kidney disease, sleep apnea and high cholesterol increase the risk for developing high blood pressure.
In some women, pregnancy can contribute to high blood pressure, leading to preeclampsia. Postpartum blood pressure typically goes back to normal levels within six weeks. However, some women who have high blood pressure during more than one pregnancy may be more likely to develop high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases as they age.
Some of these medical issues can also cause spikes in high blood pressure .
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