High Blood Pressure ~ the Silent Killer Exposed in America! by Terry Clark - HTML preview

1. Alternative Methods of Treating High Blood Pressure

The "silent killer" is there inside your body, but you don‘t even know it‘s there! And before you know it, considerable amount of damage will have been done to your body. Some scientific studies show that OTC medications can come with significant side effects. Fortunately, there are a few alternative methods out there that could help you lower your blood pressure. A good method could be to bring some positive changes in your life and lifestyle. In some instances, healthy changes in your lifestyle can help you lower your blood pressure. If you just follow a few helpful tips, chances are high that you‘ll have a great opportunity to lower your blood pressure and avoid heart complications.

Don‘t rely solely on the blood pressure readings taken at the doctor's, as these might be less than accurate. Did you know that some people actually undergo a problem called the "white coat syndrome" where the readings might differ a lot because of high levels of stress? So it is better to have the blood pressure checked once more when you get back home. Use a home version of sphygmomanometer for this. There are many blood pressure cuff and gauge gadgets that you can rely on. Get the readings at a fixed time every day. Taking multiple readings at different times of the day can also help as the blood pressure can fluctuate throughout the day.

Losing extra pounds can always have a helpful effect on your blood pressure. Get used to eating healthy food items. Also work out on a regular basis. Aerobic workouts can help. Try walking, running and swimming. Any work out that raises your pulse will work. Try something that sustains the hyped rate for 20 minutes at least. This can help. Stay away from non-aerobic workouts (e.g. weight lifting and push-ups). They harm those with high blood pressure.

Stress reduction has always been the key if you wish to lower your high blood pressure. Just relax using meditation, yoga and biofeedback treatments. Nice and gentle massage can also help. In the same way, you could also take some rest if you want to lower your blood pressure. There are chronically stressed people whose adrenaline glands release abnormally high quantity of adrenaline. This could cause the tiny blood vessels to significantly constrict. This could also make it really hard for your heart to pump enough blood to them.

Stay away from alcohol, caffeine and tobacco. A balanced diet can also help in reducing hypertension. You should try to steer clear of animal fats. Rather, you should try and add as much fruits and fresh veggies as you can to your regular diet. Good proteins happen to come from fish, chicken, turkey and legumes. The bottom line is that you can try to keep a diet that is low-fat and rich in fiber.

There are some special food items that are helpful. Good examples are bananas (rich in potassium), celery (rich in photochemical 3-N-butylphthalide that can help reduce BP), leafy green veggies and milk (rich in calcium). Some clinical research has found that food items rich in different types of foliate (e.g. beans, cereals, Brussels sprouts, asparagus) can also help. Same goes for cayenne pepper and foods rich in vitamin C, which may prevent artery wall damage. Make sure to get essential fatty acids in your diet from fish like salmon and sardines. Enjoy season foods with plenty of garlic, which is effective in lowering blood pressure.

You should try and follow a strictly salt-free diet. You should also stay away from food items containing salt, soda, sodium. You need to try and avoid foods with malicious preservatives like MSG, sugar substitutes and meat tenderizers. Same goes for soy sauce as it comes with high amount of salt content.

You can also consult homeopathy, reflexology, acupuncture or herbal treatment experts to treat your high blood pressure. Try to use herbs to treat your problem. A good example could be Noni juice, which has been used as a substitute to high blood pressure medications. You should try to drink up Noni juice before your meals and during your relaxation time, as this can lower your blood pressure more effectively. Other good remedies are Coleus plants, the Asian mushroom Reishi, Vitamins like Coenzyme Q10 and Omega-3 fish oils. If you don‘t have gastric problems, you can take lots of Vitamin C.

2. Are There any Symptoms of High Blood Pressure

They don‘t call high blood pressure or hypertension "The Silent Killer" for nothing. The most critical thing about high blood pressure is that the symptoms are almost nonexistent till any major disaster like strokes or massive heart attack strikes. High blood pressure can be present for years and go unnoticed. Unless you get checkups on a regular basis, there is virtually no way in which you can know it‘s there. Actually, in accordance with the AHA, some 60 million people in the US live with the disease without even knowing it!

The only good news about high blood pressure is that it‘s controllable and reversible if you bring some simple changes in your lifestyle. True! Millions out there are adopting OTC hypertension medication. Still, a great majority of them can deal with the condition successfully in a natural way without any drugs. Fortunately, even the ones who are in the advanced stages of hypertension can benefit from bringing some positive changes in their way of life.

There are some common hypertension symptoms. They become obvious when the systolic and / or diastolic blood pressure level climbs 20 points over the normal level. The most common symptoms are blurry vision, headache, dizziness and throbbing in the nape area, especially if the pain isn‘t attributable to the muscular / skeletal conditions. Such symptoms might not turn out to be very grave. Still, they are signs of a terrible medical condition, which calls for immediate attention. Such kinds of high blood pressure symptoms won‘t impair your day to day activities. However, this does not mean that you should ignore them.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are other symptoms of high blood pressure which are pretty alarming and call for instant action. Such symptoms are present when you have 140+ mm Hg diastolic blood pressure reading. Nevertheless, things depend a lot on the existence of many other risk factors. Some important and severe hypertension symptoms are very painful headache inducing vomiting, deafness, and blurry vision. As said earlier, dizziness or lightheadedness can causes disorientation too.

Proper education on how to treat hypertension when such symptoms manifest themselves is critical for curing the condition. When the blood pressure reaches very alarming levels, certain remedies must be taken to stabilize the patient's readings. Medication, naturally, is the top option for agreat majority of people. However, if a medical expert is unfamiliar with the medical background of a patient, the resorting to medication could turn out to be as unsafe as letting the hypertension go untreated.

Physical signs of symptoms associated with extremely high blood pressure could oftentimes leave you confused. Even the attending physician could miss these symptoms. So it's crucial that if you experience any kind of illness, immediately have your blood pressure checked. There are some instances when the doctors discover high blood pressure when they are trying to diagnose an entirely different illness.

As high blood pressure can cause damage to virtually all the crucial parts and organs of your body, you would not want to end up missing the vivid signs. The biggest mistake could be to leave your blood pressure unchecked for too long. If the silent killer is approaching, you can find different kinds of cardiac problems like liver / kidney disease and possibly vision problems or even stroke. Still, the most common symptoms include headache, ataxia (problems with walking), convulsions, blurred vision, internal / external tremors and giddiness.

Some of the signs could easily be mistaken for something else. Besides, high blood pressure could turn out to be a symptom of yet another problem. Some of the most noticeable signs of high blood pressure are related to diabetes. Unfortunately, these symptoms are similar to the signs of somebody who gets drunk. When there are cardiac damages that occur because of high blood pressure, the patient might complain of exhaustion even in the case of minor exertion. Some people feel breathless and sweaty. In most cases, this happens when substantial damages of the heart have occurred. This calls for further investigation and treatment.

Now you know what the symptoms of high blood pressure are. Do not wait until they manifest themselves. Check your blood pressure regularly and call your doctor immediately if it goes over normal levels.

3. Coming to Terms with Hypertension

Only when you understand what high blood pressure is you will be able to deal with the condition. One of the easiest ways to make sure that the condition does not push you over the edge is to understand it. In this way, you will be able to take action for lowering your blood pressure.

Hypertension is the pressure that is exerted by the blood to the arteries as the blood is pumped by the heart to circulate in the body. The pressure on the arteries can be measured at two intervals - when the heart beats (systolic pressure) and when the heart relaxes which is the interval between beats (diastolic pressure). Both pressures are necessary to consider in terms of the management of the condition.

On a normal day when one is exposed to different environments, the blood pressure will usually differ, falling and rising as the surrounding conditions change. When the blood pressure remains high for a long period of time without any associated reason then there is high chance that one may be suffering from hypertension. High blood pressure usually leads the heart to working way too hard. This results in much more wearing. In some cases, high blood pressure can lead to damage of different organs such as the eyes, brain, kidneys and the heart.

It is considered that the symptoms of hypertension are extremely hard to notice especially when the sufferer is not into exercise. Symptoms are hard to notice in a large number of people who suffer from hypertension and pre-hypertension. The dangers of severe hypertension are extreme when it is uncontrolled. They can be life threatening. You can develop conditions such as heart failure, kidney problems, blindness and stroke. Still it is possible to control the condition. Just keep in mind that once it has been triggered it is usually a condition that one has to live with for the rest of their life.

There are a number of ways in which you can make sure that the effects of the condition are minimized. In most cases medical prescription drugs are used to treat high blood pressure. But treatment is only successful if one combines it with a couple of other management steps. Hypertension has been proven to affect adults of all ages irrespective of their culture as well as gender. Thus the best thing to do is to prevent its occurrence. Keep in mind that it may attack any individual at any time.

4. Blood Pressure Readings - Diastolic and Systolic  Readings Explained

Do you know what blood pressure readings are? The 2 numbers measuring blood pressure appear like a fraction. At least, that‘s what it feels like as one number is on top and the other one is at the bottom (e.g. 128/82). It‘s that number on the top we call the systolic pressure. And systolic blood pressure is the pressure in the blood vessels when the heart beats. The number at the base is the diastolic pressure. Diastolic blood pressure actually measures the level of pressure within your blood vessels in between two heartbeats. Both diastolic pressure and systolic pressure are measured when the patient is resting.

As the blood pressure changes too often throughout the day, it‘s better if you make use of multiple readings to figure out your average blood pressure. This is because your blood pressure will tend to fluctuate within a particular range. There are many things which can cause your blood pressure to change in a matter of few minutes or so. Good examples are posture, exercise, tension and the use of tobacco. But apart from that let‘s see what‘s considered too high.

If you want to find out the average reading of your blood pressure, you‘ll have to take readings twice a day or more often. In general, anything below 120/80 is regarded as normal blood pressure. Still, enormously low levels of blood pressure could cause a problem as well. Today, most of the healthcare professionals regard average readings of 120/80 to 139/89 as pre-hypertension. And when the average of the blood pressure readings are more than 140 over the 90 mark, this is a clear sign that you‘ve got alarmingly high blood pressure (hypertension).

Just a single reading of 140/90+, however, does not necessarily mean that you‘ve got high blood pressure. Then again, the doctor will want you to watch your blood pressure throughout a particular time period to understand whether it‘s stable or not. You‘ll also have alarmingly high blood pressure if only one of these numbers is too high. You may want to make a table with your blood pressure readings so that the doctor can diagnose your condition more easily.

Let‘s take a recap of what you‘ve learnt so far. There are two kinds of pressures measured to read blood pressure levels. Systolic blood pressure is the total amount of pressure or force that your blood exerts on your blood vessels‘ walls as it passes through them. In other words, systolic blood pressure measures the level of blood pressure as your heart beats. On the other hand, diastolic pressure is a measure of your blood pressure when your heart remains relaxed. Systolic blood pressure is measured by a special device called sphygmomanometer. A fabric cuff is wrapped around your arm and then inflated slightly. The blood pressure is measured on a gauge attached to the cuff. The healthcare provider reads the numbers that appear on the gauge as air is released from the cuff. Blood pressure can also be measured with an electronic blood pressure device.

The significance of Systolic Blood Pressure is great. When blood gets pumped out of your heart into the blood vessels, sufficient systolic blood pressure is produced to send the blood to virtually all parts of the body. Since in arteries the blood travels away from your heart, they slowly get tinier. The blood vessel system is comparable to the branches of a tree. A branch might go into the brain whilst another may actually go into the kidneys. That way, the systolic blood pressure will keep your blood easily flowing all the way through these branches to make sure that the cells in the body manage to get the oxygen and nutrients needed. Unnaturally low systolic pressure is known as hypotension. People also call it simply low blood pressure. Problems arise when the blood fails to bring oxygen as well as nutrients into the cells of the body.

In general, you should not focus much on where the readings come from, but on what they mean. If the device you are using at home shows readings of or higher than 120/80, you should make an appointment to see your doctor. If your blood pressure is 140/90 or higher then you should seek medical help immediately.

5. Different Causes of High Blood Pressure

As opposed to the much popular belief, there are multiple factors which can contribute to high blood pressure. One common factor is stress. It is clinically proven that high blood pressure that comes from stress is just temporary. This means that your blood pressure will fall when your stress is off.

Today, a great majority of high blood pressure problems are attributed to a few typical underlying factors. As the veins and arteries end up losing their normal elasticity (ability to expand in line with the pulse of your beating heart) they will cause much more resistance to the blood flow, when blood is pumped from the heart. There are some common factors which contribute a lot to the loss of elasticity. Stiffening of the arteries is sometimes caused by gradual buildup of plaque onto the walls of the artery. Many scientists have blamed high cholesterol levels, as this substance blocks the arteries. The stiffening of the arteries is mainly due to aging. Then again, it can also happen if there‘s a lack of essential nutrients in your diet.

Believe it or not, high blood pressure can occur in young women too and be utterly dangerous. So what would be some of the causes for this condition in females? The hazard could be Essential HBP type, if there isn‘t any identifiable cause. It could also be Secondary HBP type, where high blood pressure comes as a result of precise underlying causes (e.g. kidney complications).

Take the Essential HBP type, for instance. Although there isn‘t any identifiable cause, chances are high that there are some risk factors causing it. The most common factors are age, family history, and absence of exercise, too much salt in the diet or a diet too rich in fats. Any of these factors could trigger your pressure to rise. When it comes to Secondary HBP, the pressure has hiked because of an underlying cause like kidney infection or narrowed arteries or medicines like contraceptive pills. Illegal drugs can be harmful too.

A great majority of people with hypertension won't feel any symptoms at all. This is why you must a blood pressure check at the doctor's regularly. Everyone's pressure goes up or down for one reason or another during the day or night. You might get anxiety when you‘re stressed out and this could hike the blood pressure levels significantly. It is also important to cut down on salty foods and on salt. For instance, bacon, pickles or processed cheeses usually come with too much salt.

Hypertension can severely add to your heart‘s workload. The same can be said about the arteries. In other words, the heart has to work and pump harder. As your arteries are vested with the job of carrying blood under great pressure, your health is in deep trouble. When the heart and the arteries keep working under such high pressure for a long time, the heart and arteries might stop working effectively. This will affect the other organs in the body. Patients may end up with obesity, smoking, alcoholism, poor diet and drug addiction that can further increase the risk of stroke.

Rare kinds of diseases like coarctation of the aorta (an illness of large artery that carries blood off the heart in an unhealthy way) can cause high blood pressure. The aorta happens to be tightly constricted a couple of inches away from the heart. It‘ll then expand right into its normal diameter. And there is no doubt that blood pressure rises as the blood goes through the constriction to subsequently fall below afterwards, just in the way water does as you compress your garden‘s hose pipe. Then again, when such constriction is fixed surgically and when the usual continuity of your aorta gets restored, the level of blood pressure will generally take a couple of years to return to normal levels. The primary case of extremely high blood pressure happens to be the constriction. On the other hand, the long-lasting cause is perhaps the intricate changes pertaining to the circulating hormones that are responsible for maintaining the blood flow throughout the kidneys.

Now you know all about the causes of high blood pressure and how you can avoid some of them.

6. Foods and Diets for Hypertension

When it comes to diets that can help in dealing with high blood pressure, they are quite similar to those designed for weight loss. Weight and hypertension are correlated. The more obese one is the higher their chances of getting high blood pressure are. It is important that one maintains healthy weight to make sure that they minimize the effects of high blood pressure. The best way to manage weight is to watch what you eat. In doing so, you can watch on the amount of sodium that you ingest on a daily basis.

One of the most helpful foods in a diet is fruits. Fruits are great for feeding the body with sugar and for making sure that one will neither gain fat nor weight at the same time. Fruits have minerals and vitamins that are necessary for the growth of every human being. The choice of fruits over other energy sources such as carbohydrate rich foods is great. In this way, you are making sure that you don‘t accumulate unhealthy sugars in the body. You also make sure that there is very little waste to be eliminated from the body.

Vegetables are other important foods. They are quite important for managing hypertension. Just like fruits, vegetables are quite useful when it comes to supplying the body with nutrients that have few toxins. When it comes to calories, the vegetables are quite helpful in minimizing weight and fat gains. Vegetables are essential for the plan to reduce the number of the calories consumed. There are a number of vegetables available in different parts of the world. It is best to eat those vegetables that are grown inthe same area as they are very cheap and full of nutrients that nourish the body.

There area lot of advantages that can be derived from taking up diets that have vegetables and fruits, but the body still requires other foods that have nutrients which are not present in these two foods. Since the body requires carbohydrates and proteins then one has to be aware of their contents in each meal. It is advisable to go on a diet that is fat free, low in cholesterol or in saturated fat at least. Planning meals to have fish, poultry and whole grain products will help you in achieving low blood pressure. Most of all, avoid sugary foods and those rich in salt.

7. Foods that Can Reduce High Blood Pressure

You might find it difficult to believe that there are foods that can reduce hypertension. There are several foods that can do it. If you find that you have developed high blood pressure, you can immediately switch to the foods mentioned below in order to get your blood pressure under control.

1. Drink skim milk regularly to decrease hypertension. This milk contains low amounts of fat. At the same time, it is rich in calcium and vitamin D that are required to combat hypertension. Calcium is also present in nuts, green leafy veggies, salmons, sardines, and sunflower seeds.

2. Dark chocolate is good for relieving hypertension and for satisfying your cravings for sweets as well. Flavenoids present in dark chocolate bring about a remarkable change in diastolic and systolic blood pressure.

3. Spinach, beans and other magnesium rich foods like grapefruit, figs, yellow corn, apples, almonds and whole grains are great for lowering your blood pressure.

4. Foods rich in potassium such as watermelon, bananas, soya beans, zucchini, baked white potatoes and spinach are regarded as the most effective foods to control blood pressure. Potassium allows the body to eliminate excess fluids so there is no pressure on the heart to pump blood harder.

5. According to researchers, eating fibrous foods like veggies, fruits and oat bran can bring about a considerable change in hypertension levels. These foods help to normalize the blood pressure in people who suffer from hypertension when they are anxious or depressed.

6. Omega 3 fats found in flaxseeds and fatty fish can help for the lowering of your blood pressure. You can take supplements as well.

As you can see, there are several foods that reduce the blood pressure. As there are several food items on the list, you can make several meal combinations using poultry, fish and lean meat. See to it that your snacks consist of fruits that are high in calcium, potassium and/or magnesium. The dark chocolate can be the best snack to help you deal with hunger pangs between meals and manage your hypertension at the same time.

Studies have revealed that consuming these foods in adequate amounts and in the correct combinations can prove to be highly effective. It can have a similar effect to the one of prescribed medicines. However, make sure that your doctor decides if you need medicines. It is not advisable to adjust the dosages in line with your own ideas.

8. High Blood Pressure and Infants

If you are thinking that high blood pressure is a condition that affects only adults, then you are completely wrong. Teenagers, infants as well as newborns may suffer from this condition. It has been noticed that about five percent of children experience hypertension. The chance of having hypertension as adults is higher these days.

Hypertension in infants is often caused due to premature birth. In other cases, they might have problems with different organs of the body such as the heart, kidneys, lungs or the cardiovascular system in general and these problems may cause hypertension. These infants may face problems like coarctation of the aorta. This simply means that the blood vessel carrying blood to the heart is slender. The condition can also occur because of a blood clot in one of the blood vessels of the kidneys. Some other causes, apart from these, include medicine side effects, any kind of tumor, and exposure to drugs such as cocaine when in the womb, genetic issues or problems associated with the functioning of the thyroid gland. The blood pressure in infants is supposed to be about 64/ 41 and it increases with the growth of the baby.

Though the hypertension symptoms are often not seen in infants, there are some that reveal high blood pressure. These include pale or bluish skin, rapid breathing, frequent urination and zero weight gain. Apart from these, other symptoms include troublesome breathing, irritability, seizures, and vomiting. The only way to find out if an infant has hypertension is to take their blood pressure reading. In infants, this is done with the use of an automated device.

Hypertension treatment for infants is based on the cause of the problem. It may include dialysis, drug therapy and surgical intervention such as coarctation repairing or transplantation. Again, the rate of recovery depends on the cause of the problem in infants. As a parent, you have to know when to take medical advice. It can be when you see that your baby is not progressing in weight, suffering from urinary tract infection or having bluish skin or looking irritable most of the time.

You can certainly take some steps to decrease the risk of your kid developing this condition. For example, before you get pregnant, take your doctor‘s advice, if you have a family history of kidney disease, hypertension or congenital heart disease. It is always better to consult your doctor before you plan to become a mother.

9. High Blood Pressure Statistics

High blood pressure or hypertension actually killed over 56,560 people in the US in 2006. In the US, around 74 million people who are 20 years of age or older have alarmingly high levels of blood pressure. One among 3 US adults suffers from high blood pressure. Among those who suffer from high blood pressure, over 77% are well aware of the critical condition that they are in. Among all people suffering from high blood pressure, almost 68% are undergoing treatment. Over 44% have it well under control, whilst almost 56% do not have the situation under control.

The main reason for the 90% to 95% of these HBP cases isn't known. But, high blood pressure can easily be detected and is usually controllable. Between 1996 and 2006, the gross death rate due to high blood pressure raised by over 19 percent. Then again, the real number of deaths was actually 48%. In general, African Americans are more likely to develop high blood pressure symptoms compared to Caucasians and Hispanics. Within today‘s African-American community, the ones with the topmost rates of HBP are older, mid-aged, less educated, obese, and physically stationary and have diabetes.

In the year 2006 the surveyed death rate due to HBP in 100,000 people was over 15 for the Caucasian males and 51 for African American males. When it comes to females, it comes down to 14 and 37 respectively.

Needless to say, high blood pressure (hypertension) remains a highly serious health hazard and shouldn‘t be taken carelessly. On an average, 50,000 US people die every year due to high blood pressure. Over 60 million US people who are 20 or older suffer from high blood pressure. Over 90 % all HBP cases do not have any known cause. Still, the condition is easily detectable and treatable. The African American males remain at much higher risk of HBP, as mentioned before. High blood pressure could lead to kidney and/or heart failure.

High blood pressure or hypertension killed almost 50,000 A