When something is nicknamed a Silent Killer, it’s very much worth learning some of the basics, especially when that condition is so prevalent. High blood pressure, or hypertension, affects nearly half of all adults in the United States (almost 120 million), putting nearly half our adult population at a much higher risk for some serious health issues, including heart attack and stroke.
Though you may have heard these frightening facts before, or some variation of them, they don’t do a great job of explaining exactly why high blood pressure is so dangerous. To rectify that, the team here at Advanced Cardiovascular Specialists figured it would be a good idea to get back to basics when it comes to high blood pressure.
When we take your blood pressure reading, and most every doctor does before your appointment begins, we’re measuring two things:
The end results are two numbers — the systolic over the diastolic. We want these numbers to be below 130/80, so when we talk about nearly half of American adults having high blood pressure, their readings are over 130/80.
Now let’s get into why we are so concerned about the pressure on your arterial walls. Over time, this extra pressure can damage the insides of your blood vessels, causing them to fray and lose their smooth surfaces. When this occurs, it’s easier for fatty cholesterol deposits to gather, creating plaques that block your arteries, a condition called atherosclerosis.
As well, high blood pressure causes your arteries to stiffen, and when they aren’t as elastic, they’re more prone to developing the aforementioned atherosclerosis.
With narrowed and stiff arteries due to high blood pressure, your heart has to work harder to pump blood, which can lead to heart disease, such as heart failure.
We often mention heart attack and stroke as potential side effects of high blood pressure, and with good reason — they’re the leading causes of death in the US. Did you know that an American has a heart attack every 40 seconds?
If those two threats aren’t enough to grab your attention, hypertension is also linked to:
Addressing hypertension by controlling your blood pressure numbers is a great way to steer clear of these serious health issues. And getting your blood pressure down is fairly straightforward — in most cases, medications and lifestyle modifications do the trick.
If you’d like to learn more about hypertension and how you can keep your numbers within healthy ranges, we invite you to contact our office in Mountain View, California, to schedule a consultation with one of our heart health experts.
