Blood pressure is the force of your blood pushing against the walls of your arteries. Each time your heart beats it pumps blood into the arteries.
Your blood pressure is highest when your heart beats pumping the blood. This is called systolic pressure. When your heart is at rest, between beats your blood pressure falls. This is called diastolic pressure.
High Blood Pressure:
High blood pressure also called hypertension is a common disease that occurs when the pressure in your arteries is higher than it should be.
Five categories define blood pressure are:
Healthy: A healthy blood pressure reading is a systolic pressure of less than 120 mmHg and a diastolic pressure of less than 80 mmHg. This is typically written as 120/80mmHg.
Elevated: The systolic number is between 120 and 129 mmHg, and the diastolic number is less than 80 mmHg. Doctors usually do not recommend medication for elevated blood pressure levels. They may rather encourage lifestyle changes to help lower your numbers.
Stage 1 hypertension: The systolic number is between 130 and 139 mm Hg, or the diastolic number is between 80 and 89 mmHg.
Stage 2 hypertension: The systolic number is 140 mm Hg or higher or the diastolic number is 90 mm Hg or higher.
Hypertensive crisis: The systolic number is over 180 mm Hg or the diastolic number is over 120 mm Hg. Blood pressure in this range requires urgent medical attention. If symptoms like headache, shortness of breath or visual changes occur when blood pressure is this high medical care in an emergency department is needed.
Causes
Symptoms
Hypertension is generally a silent condition. Many people won’t experience any symptoms. It may take years or even decades for the condition to reach levels severe enough that symptoms become apparent.
Symptoms of severe hypertension can include:
Complications of hypertension include:
Treatment and management for high blood pressure :
Some of the medications used to treat hypertension include:
Prevention
