When it comes to high blood pressure control, it is a matter of finding the cause of it and starting from there. There are many ways to treat high blood pressure, but without the knowledge of what is causing it, your treatment could be useless to your situation.
How to Measure High Blood Pressure
You must begin with the basics. When talking about high blood pressure, people usually just throw a lot of numbers out and tell what is bad and what is good. Beyond that, you need to know why those numbers are bad so you can find out how to reduce them.
Blood pressure is measured in two terms: systolic and systolic over diastolic.
Systolic
The first number in your high blood pressure measurement is referred to as the systolic pressure. This number represents the amount of pressure exerted against the arterial walls.
Diastolic
This is the measurement of pressure between the beats of your heart. It determines the blood pressure after the contraction of the heart. During this time, the chambers of the heart are being refilled with blood.
Of course, it is good to know what numbers are good and what numbers are bad. There is a level of blood pressure that is normal, just above normal and two levels that are considered high blood pressure. Here is an example of the different levels of high blood pressure.
*Normal Blood Pressure: Less than 120 (systolic) over less than 80 (diastolic)
*Pre-hypertensive (higher than normal: 120 to 139 over 80 to 89
*High Blood Pressure (Stage 1): 150 to 159 over 80 to 89
*High Blood Pressure (Stage 2): More than 160 over more than 90
Having high blood pressure is dangerous and should be taken seriously. Knowing how to determine if you have high blood pressure is the first step in controlling and bettering your health. Knowing what the numbers mean will give you a better understanding in reducing your high blood pressure thus leading a healthier lifestyle.
K.J. King
http://www.FightingHighBloodPressure.com
© 2007
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