Blood Pressure Chart: What Your Reading Means

Signs Of High Blood Pressure:

After that, the arm with the higher reading should be used. It helps your healthcare team decide what kind of treatment you may need, if any. High blood pressure is a serious but silent condition that can sneak up on you over the years. Seeing a healthcare provider for regular checkups can help you learn your numbers. If you don’t have access to care, learn about available community resources (such as wellness fairs) where blood pressure checks are available. Knowing your blood pressure levels is the first step toward making lifestyle changes that can help keep your arteries healthy.

This increase is due mainly to a rise in hypertension risk factors in those populations. The only way to know is to get your blood pressure checked. Researchers have been studying the use of heat to destroy specific nerves in the kidney that may play a role in resistant hypertension. But more-robust studies found that it doesn’t significantly lower blood pressure in people with resistant hypertension. More research is underway to determine what role, if any, this therapy may have in treating hypertension.

To diagnose high blood pressure, your health care provider examines you and asks questions about your medical history and any symptoms. Your provider listens to your heart using a device called a stethoscope. Hypertension symptoms are absent in the vast majority of people living with the condition. It is usually diagnosed in a healthcare provider’s office, with a simple blood pressure measurement using a blood pressure cuff. Usually, high blood pressure causes no signs or symptoms. That’s why healthcare providers call it a ‘silent killer.’ You could have high blood pressure for years and not know it.

These symptoms can also be a sign of hypertensive crisis, which can lead to life-threatening organ damage unless treated promptly. Many of these symptoms can be a sign of stroke or heart attack, too. If you develop any new, unusual, or severe symptoms navigate to these guys of hypertension, get immediate medical attention. Most people with hypertension do not develop symptoms unless the hypertension becomes severe or complications develop. This makes it all the more important to check your blood pressure regularly.

As this condition worsens, the risks increase for the mother and baby. Preeclampsia can lead to eclampsia, which causes seizures. High blood pressure problems in pregnancy remain an important cause of maternal death in the United States. Complications for the baby source include low birth weight, early birth, and stillbirth. If you’re a smoker and have been diagnosed with high blood pressure, your doctor will most likely advise you to quit. The chemicals in tobacco smoke can damage the body’s tissues and harden blood vessel walls.

It can happen because of unhealthy lifestyle choices, such as not getting enough regular physical activity. Certain health conditions, such as diabetes and having obesity, can also increase the risk for developing high blood pressure. Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the inside lining of the arteries. High blood pressure, or hypertension, occurs when that force increases and stays higher than normal for a period. This condition can damage the blood vessels, heart, brain, and other organs.

Slowly work your way up to eating more servings of heart-healthy plants. Aim to eat more than seven servings of fruits and vegetables each day. The goal is to have 10 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Your doctor will continue to work with you to refine your treatment. These tests can help your doctor identify any secondary issues causing your elevated blood pressure.

What’s considered low or high for you may be normal for someone else. Find out what increases your risk for high blood pressure. High blood pressure can cause the arteries that supply blood and oxygen to the brain to burst or be blocked, causing a stroke. Brain cells die during a stroke because they do not get enough oxygen. Stroke can cause serious disabilities in speech, movement, and other basic activities. Your blood pressure normally rises and falls throughout the day.

You have high blood pressure if you fall into the stage 1 hypertension or stage 2 hypertension categories. Your care provider will likely recommend more-frequent readings if have high blood pressure or other risk factors for heart disease. Your health care provider may ask you to regularly check your blood pressure at home. Home monitoring is a good way to keep track of your blood pressure.

If one or more of your close biological family members have high blood pressure, you have an increased risk of developing it, too. If you are looking for a list of symptoms and signs of high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, you won’t find them here. Children age 3 and older may have blood pressure measured as a part of their yearly checkups.

You can have high blood pressure for years without any symptoms. Talk with your health care team about regularly measuring your blood pressure at home, also called self-measured blood pressure (SMBP) monitoring. If you are diagnosed with high blood pressure, talk with your health care team about your reference blood pressure levels and how these levels affect your treatment plan. If you have been diagnosed with high blood pressure, track your blood pressure and medications. If possible during an emergency, having these logs with you can provide valuable information to the medical team providing treatment.