Blood Pressure
What is Blood Pressure?
- Every time your heart beats, blood filled with oxygen comes in through the lungs is forced out and into your arteries (blood vessels)
- Arteries are normally stretchy hollow tubes that travel away from the heart to all parts of your body to deliver the blood
- The force of the blood pushing against the walls of the arteries is called blood pressure
What do the blood pressure numbers mean?
- Doctors report blood pressure with two numbers
- The first number is the pressure in your arteries when the heart beats (contracts). This is SYSTOLIC pressure
- The second number is the pressure in your arteries when the heart is resting between beats and filling with blood. This is DIASTOLIC pressure
What is normal blood pressure?
- We report blood pressure by saying the systolic number first, then the diastolic
- Written:
– 120/80 (said “one twenty over eighty”)
– In a healthy person, the systolic pressure should be lower than 120 and the systolic lower than 80
What is Hypotension?
- Hypotension is Low Blood Pressure
- A systolic (or top number) pressure lower than 90 or a diastolic (bottom number) pressure lower than 60
- Main Symptoms:
– Dizziness or lightheadedness
– Fainting
– Seizures
– Extreme thirst
Causes of Hypotension
– Low blood volume (due to blood loss, dehydration, diarrhea)
– Heart problems
– Dilated (or widened) arteries so less pressure is made when blood flows through
– Pregnancy
– Medications
– Severe infections
What is Hypertension?
- Hypertension is High blood pressure
- A systolic (or top number) pressure between 120 and 139 or a diastolic (bottom number) pressure between 80 and 89 is called “pre-hypertension”
- A pressure of 140/90 or higher means that you have high blood pressure, or hypertension
- About 1 in 4 adults over the age of 18 have hypertension!
What is the main cause of hypertension?
– Narrowing and/or hardening of the arteries
– Obesity
– High fat and high cholesterol diet
– Smoking
– Family history of hypertension or heart disease
– Stress!
– Pregnancy (usually goes away after delivery)
– No exercise
– Excess alcohol (more than 2 per day for men and more than 1 per day for women
Why is it important to keep Blood Pressure Low?
Complications of long-term hypertension can be very serious, some even fatal!
- These include:
– Heart failure
– Heart attack
– Stroke
– Kidney Failure
– Peripheral Artery Disease
– Blindness
This sounds scary…what can I do?
- Eat a healthy diet – lots of fruits, veggies, and low fat dairy
- Exercise regularly – try to do as much as you can, even if it is walking more each day
- Limit how much salt is in your diet (don’t add extra salt to your food)
