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High blood pressure is a major concern in health circles and for good reason. High blood pressure can lead to a variety of diseases and other threats to the personal health of individuals. Unfortunately, and probably at least in part due to the modern lifestyle, many people have been diagnosed with this condition. The treatment for high blood pressure varies depending on the extent of the problem and it isn’t always helpful in lowering blood pressure. That’s why any new information on the issue is so valuable to the public and to medical professionals who treat people with the condition and are concerned with prevention. Keep reading here for the latest information on high blood pressure and what you can do about it.
Your blood pressure is a good overall measurement of your personal health and of your heart health. In basic terms, when you measure your blood pressure you are measuring the pressure your blood puts on the arteries as it circulates through your system. There are two numbers associated with this force, the systolic pressure which is usually the first number, and the diastolic which is usually the second number. The systolic pressure is the amount of force in your arteries at the moment your heart beats. The diastolic pressure is the amount of force when your heart is between beats.
The normal range for blood pressure varies from individual to individual. However, readings of between 90 and 120 for the systolic and 60 and 80 for the diastolic are considered to be normal. Any higher than these numbers and your heart is working too hard to get the blood around your system, which can cause damage to the muscle, or a hardening of the arteries, which can put you at risk of having a heart attack or stroke.
For many years people who had a systolic blood pressure above 140 or a diastolic of 90 or above received medical treatment for high blood pressure. That means that if your blood pressure was between 120 and 139, it was considered high and a good indication of future problems. People with blood pressure at this level were usually given a treatment plan aimed at prevention of further increases.
However, recent guidelines released by the American Heart Association (AHA) has changed all that. They lower this blood pressure danger zone from 140 to 130 for the systolic and from 90 to 80 for the diastolic. This is a controversial move, and will have implications for many people. Under these guidelines, half of the American public will be classed as having high blood pressure, most of them young people. Additionally, the rates of high blood pressure in men under the age of 45 is expected to triple, while the rates for women in the same age bracket will double. Researchers claim that people in these blood pressure brackets have already doubled their risk of heart attacks, and should be made more aware of that reality.
These changes are fairly controversial. There is some debate about using blood pressure in this way as an overall indicator of good or bad health when there are so many other factors that contribute to disease. Using one measurement in this way could cause medical professionals and even patients to overlook a more holistic view of health, which could indicate other areas of more concern.
In addition, recent studies have warned of the dangers of low blood pressure. It’s strongly associated with a number of serious health problems, including an early death because of stroke or heart attack. This doesn’t mean that high blood pressure is any less of a threat to your personal health or wellbeing. Instead it indicates that this approach to good health needs to be carefully balanced. Further research is also needed on the effects of low blood pressure if patients and doctors are to avoid going too far with preventative measures.
Although these guidelines have and should raise concern, there is a vital benefit to them as well. Medical professionals estimate only a small increase in the number of people who require medication under these new hypertension guidelines. Instead, they hope that the guidelines will encourage early intervention from medical professionals, which may persuade patients in the at-risk bracket to make important lifestyle changes. If these changes are made early enough, this will result in these patients enjoying better personal health over the long term and lower their risk of complications from high blood pressure. And if the new guidelines do manage to achieve this aim, they will be worth the controversy.
If you have high blood pressure or other health concerns and want more help tracking your condition, try HomeLab. It’s the health tracking system that will keep you up to date on your personal health.
Tags: personal health, health tracking, prevention, preventative measures
