How is your blood pressure?

Your blood transports various molecules and compounds around your body.  From the lungs it will pick up oxygen and get rid of carbon dioxide. From the digestive system blood picks up nutrients that we have digested and gets rid of waste products which we excrete.

Our heart pumps blood around our body and as the blood moves through the blood vessels, it pushes against the vessel walls – which is your blood pressure.  Blood pressure rises with each heartbeat and relaxes between beats.  Blood pressure is affected by age, gender, posture, exercise, sleep and stress.

When you have your blood pressure taken you have two measurements; systolic and diastolic.    When your heart beats, the highest level it reaches is called systolic.   When your heart relaxes between beats it gives the lowest level of blood pressure which is called diastolic.

For a 20 year old, your systolic should be less than 120 and your diastolic should be less than 80.

The higher your blood pressure – the higher you are at risk of health problems.  You may not have any symptoms to suggest high blood pressure, so it is important to have it measured regularly.

One in three adults has high blood pressure – hypertension.  It means your heart must pump harder and your arteries have to carry blood that is flowing under greater pressure.  This puts strain on your heart and arteries and increases your risk of a heart attack, a stroke (which are more common in women) or of suffering from kidney disease.

The main ways of keeping your blood pressure low are:

Maintaining a healthy weight
Exercise
Keeping your alcohol consumption low
Keeping your salt consumption low

It is important to check if you have a family history of high blood pressure. If you do, you should have it checked regularly.

When did you last have your blood pressure checked?  If it was not recently, please arrange to get this done soon.  Remember – there are often no symptoms of high blood pressure.

Read More:

Global women – Stroke: diagnosis and treatment

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