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| High blood pressure is a common medical condition. People from every walk of life are at risk because of this silent killer. You cannot feel high blood pressure or know how hard your heart is working. What is blood pressure? Each time the heart beats, it pushes blood carrying oxygen and nutrients through the body's miles of arteries and veins. Blood pressure is the amount of force exerted by the blood against the walls of the arteries. Everyone has to have some blood pressure so that blood can get to the body's organs and muscles. How is blood pressure measured? Blood pressure is expressed as a pair of values: 140/90 or "140 over 90." This is because the pressure that blood exerts on your arteries is not always the same. The highest pressure is reached when your heart is pumping. In between beats, when your heart is resting, the pressure falls to its lowest level. Both the highest and the lowest pressures in your arteries are important, so a blood pressure always has two components. Health care professionals call the larger number the "systolic (sis-TAHL-ic) pressure" and the smaller number, the "diastolic (DIA-stahl-ic) pressure." Your doctor will tell you what blood pressure is normal for you. What's so bad about high blood pressure? When blood pressure becomes too high and stays that way, over time it can damage the arteries and the body's delicate internal organs, such as the kidneys, heart, brain or parts of the eye. Hypertension = high blood pressure High blood pressure (the medical term is "hypertension") does some of its damage by causing roughness in the usually glass-smooth lining of the arteries. When this happens, it is easier for fats and cholesterol to enter the artery walls, ultimately blocking them. Does having high blood pressure mean you are sick? Having high blood pressure, or hypertension, does not mean that you are sick. But it does mean you have a condition that can make you sick if you do not take charge of it. Untreated high blood pressure means extra risk for a heart attack or stroke. |
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