What is High Blood Pressure?

What is blood pressure?

What causes high blood pressure?

The heart is one of the hardest-working organs in your body. Every heartbeat pumps blood through more than 96,000 km of blood vessels, delivering oxygen and essential nutrients to all your vital organs. That’s an amazing feat for a little muscle no bigger than your fist.

When you have high blood pressure (known medically as hypertension), your heart has to work even harder than normal to circulate blood through your system. All that extra effort puts a strain on your heart muscle and damages organs and arteries. High blood pressure can double, or even triple your risk of heart disease and stroke. It also increases your risk of kidney disease and eye damage. If you have high blood pressure, it’s important to take steps to control it as soon as possible.

What is blood pressure?

The term “blood pressure” refers to the amount of pressure that blood exerts on the inner walls of your arteries as it circulates through your body.

Each time your heat beats, blood is forced into the arteries, causing your blood pressure to rise. As your heart relaxes between beats, your blood pressure naturally falls.

Your blood pressure level is determined by two measurements:

1. Systolic pressure – this represents your blood pressure when your heart is contracting during a heart beat
 
2. Diastolic pressure – this represents your blood pressure when your heart is relaxing between beats

A blood pressure reading will report both of these measurements. For example, a normal, resting blood pressure is 120/80. The systolic pressure is the higher number (120) and is always written first. The diastolic pressure is the lower number (80) and is always written second. The higher your blood pressure levels, the harder your heart is working.

Your blood pressure can change often throughout the day. It is usually lower when you are at rest and higher when you are active. Even simple activities, such as lying down or standing up can change your blood pressure levels. Other factors, such as emotions, pregnancy, smoking, the general environment and medication can also affect your blood pressure.

Because your blood pressure changes so often, one above-normal test result does not mean that you have hypertension. Your doctor will take at least two more blood pressure readings before making a decision about your blood pressure levels.

What causes high blood pressure?

In the majority of cases, the cause of high blood pressure is unknown.
As you get older, your chances of developing hypertension increase, especially if other members of your family have it. Your lifestyle choices can also contribute to blood pressure problems. A list of the major risk factors for high blood pressure is provided in the sidebar on this page.

Not only is it difficult to pinpoint the cause of high blood pressure, there are also very few clues to the development of this dangerous medical condition. Hypertension is often called “the silent killer” because symptoms don’t become evident until the condition is so advanced that it’s causing organ damage.

The only way to find out if you have hypertension is to have your blood pressure measured. If you’re over the age of 20, it’s recommended that you have your blood pressure checked at least once every two years. If your blood pressure is higher than normal, your doctor may recommend more frequent testing.