Fight Hypertension

What is blood pressure?

Think of your heart as a pump, continually working to pump blood around the body delivering oxygen and food to the millions of tiny cells that all fit together to make us into living, breathing human beings. Day in day out this remarkable pump keeps on going, the average heart beats about 100,000 times a day, and pumps an amazing 5 litres of blood per minute when we are resting, and up to 30 litres of blood per minute during exercise - that's a great deal of work for just one organ, and for most of the time, we are not even aware of all the work that it is doing. The heart beats by contracting and expanding, when it contracts or squeezes, the blood is forced around the body -.between each beat there is a rest when the heart is expanding or relaxing. This process is a heartbeat. Without the force of this pump, all your blood would end up sinking to you feet! - Not a very pleasant thought!

The blood flows along a network of large arteries and smaller blood vessels, the motorways (highways) and A roads (freeways) of the body, delivering oxygen and collecting waste, a bit like a well organised team of delivery vans. After your cells have used the oxygen for their vital work, your heart pumps the blood that is low in oxygen and high in waste products such as carbon dioxide back to the lungs. We breathe in oxygen from the air around us and the lungs pass this oxygen back into the blood, at the same time as breathing out the waste carbon dioxide. The heart then pumps the oxygen rich blood back to the body, and the process starts all over again.

You can easily check your own rate without the need for special equipment - but it is helpful to have a clock or watch with a second hand.

1. Turn your hand so that the palm is facing up.

2. Place your index and middle fingers of your opposite hand on your wrist, just below the base of your hand, you should now be able to feel a gently throb - this is your pulse

3. Count the number of beats for 10 seconds (this is when it is helpful to have a clock with a second hand), then multiply this number by 6.

This will give you your heat rate for a minute. Check your pulse rate before and after exercise, and compare the different results. You can keep a record of your pulse rate measurements in the log on page ? Doctors aren't quite sure of the link between pulse rate and blood pressure, but your resting heart rate is often a good indicator of how physically fit you are, and doctors know that exercising is one of the ways to lower raised blood pressure.

But what exactly is blood pressure?

Put simply it is the amount of pressure against the walls of arteries as the blood flows through them. Your blood pressure or you may hear if referred to as your BP varies quite a lot throughout the day and night, depending on your level of activity and is even affected by what you have eaten or drunk. To get an accurate idea of your blood pressure, your measurement may be taken more than once to get an average reading.

Getting tested

So how will you know what your blood pressure is and what the readings mean? Blood pressure testing is a routine part of most health checks, and can be carried out by your doctor, practice nurse, local hospital and by some specially trained staff at your local pharmacy. Your doctor may want to check your blood pressure as part of a routine check up - or health MOT, or he may want to check it as part of his diagnosis for some other condition. Either way having your blood pressure checked is something that everyone will experience once in a while (and don't worry it is totally painless, and there are no needles involved!).

You will be asked to sit down to have your blood pressure taken, as standing up can affect the reading. You may have been told to avoid caffeinated drinks, such as cola or coffee before the test, as these can also influence the results. If you know you are going to have a blood pressure test, wear something that is either sleeveless or has sleeves that are easily rolled up, your practitioner will want to place the monitor against your skin to get an accurate reading, so clothes with tight sleeves are best avoided.

Many doctors surgeries use a piece of equipment called a sphygmomanometer. This is a device with an inflatable cuff which goes around your upper arm, it is then inflated by the doctor using a rubber bulb to pump in air - this restricts the blood flow into the arm, the air pressure is then slowly released, so the blood is no longer restricted and a reading is taken by listening to your pulse with a stethoscope and taking a measurement from a mercury scale. Although this test is painless some people find it a little uncomfortable when the cuff is tightened, and they can feel the pressure of their blood flow, if this test makes you feel faint or nervous tell your doctor and they will do their best to make it as comfortable as possible for you.

Know your numbers

When you doctor is taking your blood pressure they will give you the result using two numbers. The first is the systolic pressure and is read from the mercury scale when the doctor first hears the blood pumping (this is why he uses a stethoscope); it measures the pressure of the blood as it is being forced around the body by the heart. The second measurement is called the diastolic pressure and is taken when the blood pumping can no longer be heard, which is when the heart is at rest between each beat.

You may hear your doctor or practitioner talk about one number over another number such as 120 over 80. This means you have a systolic pressure of 120 and a diastolic pressure of 80. 120/80 is the average blood pressure, but you may have quite a different set of numbers, and you may be told you have high or low blood pressure.

High blood pressure or hypertension

High blood pressure is generally considered to be having a sustained or constantly high reading of 140/90 or more. The word sustained is quite important here, as a one off high reading does not necessarily mean you have high blood pressure, your readings would need to be taken several times to get an accurate average result.

White coat syndrome Just the thought of going into a doctor's surgery, or knowing that you are going to have a medical procedure is enough to raise some people's blood pressure - you get nervous at the thought of seeing the doctor and the body releases a chemical called adrenaline which in turn raises your blood pressure, this is called White Coat Syndrome and it can make it quite difficult for your health practitioner to get an accurate reading. If your doctor suspects your blood pressure measurement may have been affected by nerves, they may suggest you sit quietly in the waiting room and try and relax for 10 minutes or so before re-testing, or they may suggest monitoring at home. If you have sustained readings of 140/90 or above you doctor may want to monitor you regularly, suggest diet and lifestyle changes, or may wish to prescribe medication to help lower your blood pressure. The decision of whether to treat or monitor will depend on many factors such

• Age
• Weight
• Underlying medical conditions
• Lifestyle factors such as smoking
• Ethnicity

Having high blood pressure can impact negatively on your health. High blood pressure is linked to and increased risk of heart disease, including angina (chest pains) and heart attacks. It also increases the risk to stroke, kidney problems and even damage to the eyes. The good news is that there are plenty of things you can do to help lower your blood pressure, such as reducing salt, increasing your intake of fresh fruit and vegetables and reducing alcohol. Always follow your dietician or nutritionist's advice, they will be able to show you lots of different menu ideas and recipe plans to help control your blood pressure.

Monitoring at home

You may have noticed that in recent years it has become easier to monitor you blood pressure at home? Small, easy to use, accurate digital blood pressure monitors have been introduced which make it easy to obtain an average reading without any of the stresses of a visit to the doctor. These monitors come in different forms, and vary widely in price. Some have the traditional cuff that goes around your upper arm, whilst others have a wrist cuff; it is important to get the correct sized cuff for your arm, otherwise you may not get an accurate reading. A good blood pressure monitor should include information about cuff size.

There has also been some concern about the accuracy of home monitors' so make sure whichever one you buy carries a validation mark from an accredited source. Blood pressure monitors range from about 15GBP ($30) for a basic device to well over 100GBP ($200) for a more complex machine which may come with software to help your monitor and manage your health

Treatment

There is a wide variety of medication your doctor may prescribe, but you can also help yourself by following their advice regarding diet and exercise. There are many vitamin and herbal supplements which are sold to help high blood pressure but these can interact with prescribed medication, so it is important to take appropriate professional advice before purchasing.

Autor: Rebecca Weller

Check out the American Heart website for more information regarding diet and lifestyle.

Rebecca Weller Dip Raw MBant
http://www.thenutritionconsultants.com/ and
http://thenutritionconsultants.blogspot.com/

Rebecca is a practising Nutritional Therapist in the south of England, and is a member of The British Association of Nutritional Therapists

Added: December 12, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/