5 things you didn't know about high blood pressure

Some facts about high blood pressure:

1. It's extremely common

Nearly one in three adults in this country has high blood pressure, but because there are no symptoms, nearly one-third of them don't know they have it. The only way to tell whether you have it is to have your blood pressure checked.

2. Why you should worry

A 2005 study found that 50-year-olds with normal blood pressure live longer -- about five years more -- compared with those with high blood pressure. Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to stroke, heart attack, heart failure or kidney failure.

3. Reading the numbers

Blood pressure is typically recorded as two numbers -- the systolic pressure (top number) over the diastolic pressure (bottom number). The top is the pressure of blood in the vessels when the heart contracts. The bottom is the pressure of the blood between heartbeats, when the heart is at rest and is refilling.

4. Is yours high?

Under the latest guidelines from the American Heart Association, a resting blood pressure reading below 120/80 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) is "normal." If your resting blood pressure is consistently 140/90 or higher, you have high blood pressure. A reading between those levels places you in the prehypertensive category.

5. How to combat it

There is no cure, but you may be able to lower your blood pressure by eating more fruits and vegetables and less fat and salt. Exercising at least 20 minutes a day on most days of the week also helps. Lose weight if you're overweight, stop smoking and drink only one to two alcoholic drinks a day. (Some studies say that drinking more than three to four ounces of 80-proof alcohol per day will raise blood pressure.)

Source: http://www.northjersey.com

Lowering blood pressure in a natural way - eating dark chocolate

Of course this is not a joke, a study was made in the US by specialists and published in the Journal of the American Heart Association about eating dark chocolate to lower the blood pressure. One bar of chocolate is enough to lower the blood pressure in a natural and so enjoyable way. It is also helping to improve the insulin resistance.

It was already known that food rich in flavinols are lowering the blood pressure. Flavinols are also called in a medical scientific language as natural antioxidants, and the aliments that are containing these antioxidants are like tea and red wine, but from now on we will put on this list the dark chocolate, too.
The study was pretty simple. It took place at University of L’Aguila in Italy particular for lowering the blood pressure, so it wasn't an accidental discover. At the study participate 20 persons, half men, half women, all suffering from high blood pressure. None of these persons took any medicaments or followed any treatment for lowering the blood pressure. But also they hadn't been suffering from another disease and the won't smoking. For the experiment to be perfect and for the results to be visible regarding lowering their blood pressure, the participants avoid chocolate for 2 weeks.

The experiments begin with dividing the group in two, one of them ate dark chocolate and the other white one. The amount was the same, a bar of 3.5oz daily for 15 days. Another week passed with no flavionoid foods and the groups swapped the type of chocolate. The white chocolate was the perfect control food for this lower blood pressure study as it containing all ingredients in the dark one but no flavinoids at all.

A very significant lowering of the blood pressure was found on the group that consumed the dark chocolate for 15 days, and not any blood pressure lowering in the group eating white chocolate. Another successful treatment, beside lowering blood pressure was the reduction in insulin resistance at the group eating dark chocolate. Also the bad cholesterol level decreased by 10 percent. At the group eating only white chocolate there was no changing regarding lowering blood pressure or cholesterol level; they were the same as the beginning of the experiment.

But the best natural ways to lower blood pressure still remains exercise and diet and a non-natural on medicaments prescriptions. All these can't be replaced with the eating of chocolate. Also it's very recommendable and occasional eating of small bar of dark chocolate rich in flavinoids to lower your blood pressure. It is also good for your taste buds and also it is helping your heart.



Source: 365articles.com

Three natural ways to lower blood pressure

You can dramatically lower your blood pressure without drugs, according to three new studies. It’s easy:

Go home earlier: Working more than 41 hours per week at the office raises your risk of hypertension by 15 percent, according to a University of California, Irvine, study of 24,205 California residents. More than 51 hours ups risk by 17 percent.

Take short walks: Forty minutes of exercise a day will ease blood pressure by 5 percent — but you can do it in bite-size pieces.

Pick your produce wisely: Choosing foods that are high in fiber can slash your blood pressure readings by 3 to 7 points, says a new study of 25 overweight women and men from the USDA’s Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, Md. Whole grain foods such as brown rice and wheat bread are good sources, but so are many fruits and veggies.

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Source: http://www.kansascity.com

Sleeping in might just keep the kids slim

SLEEPING in and starting school later would be popular with kids, and it could even keep their weight down. A new study in the journal Child Development has found that children aged three to 18 are at greater risk of being overweight if they don't get enough sleep.

Even just one extra hour of sleep made a big difference to body weight, reducing young children's chance of being overweight from 36 per cent to 30 per cent, and reducing older children's risk from 34 per cent to 30 per cent. The study was conducted in two stages, approximately five years apart, and involved 2,182 children. At the start of the study and again five years later, diaries were kept by either the children's carers or the children themselves, recording bedtime, time asleep and wake time during one weekday and one weekend day. Later bedtime was linked to being overweight in children aged 3 to 8, and earlier wake time had the greatest effect on weight in those aged 8 to 13. Child Dev
2007;78 (Snell E, et al)

HIGH blood pressure during pregnancy could be a sign of things to come, with new research in Hypertension finding that women who suffer from this condition while pregnant are more likely to develop heart disease later in life, compared to those who maintain normal blood pressure. The authors claim that pregnancy acts like a "stress test" for women, and developing high blood pressure is a sign that the blood vessels and heart are not in the best of health. They studied 491 healthy postmenopausal women, one third of whom had developed high blood pressure during pregnancy. The women were tested for any build-up of calcium in the heart's blood vessels – a sure sign of heart disease. Women with a history of high blood pressure during pregnancy had a 57 per cent greater chance of having calcium build-up compared to women whose blood pressure was normal during pregnancy.
Hypertension
2007;doi:10.1161/01.HYP.
0000258595.09320.eb (Sabour S, et al)

LONELY people are more than twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease, according to a study in the latest issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. Over a four-year period, researchers studied 823 adults who had an average age of 80 and were free of dementia at the start of the study. Loneliness was measured on a scale of one to five, with a higher score indicating a more intense feeling of loneliness. At the start of the study, the average loneliness score was 2.3, and this was tested again at yearly intervals. Over the next four years, 76 participants were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. For each point on the loneliness scale, the risk of Alzheimer's disease increased by 51 per cent. So a person with a high loneliness score (3.2) had 2.1 times the risk of developing the disease as a person with a low score (1.4). The authors stress that further studies are needed to discover how negative emotions may cause changes in the brain.
Arch Gen Psychiatry
2007;64:234-240 (Wilson RS, et al)

TEENAGE couch potatoes are more likely to have high blood pressure than their more active friends, regardless of whether they are overweight. In the Journal of Adolescent Health this week, researchers report a direct link between "sedentary" activities, like watching TV, and high blood pressure in adolescents. The study included 4508 participants aged 12 to 19. Surveys were used to assess their diet and activity levels, while blood pressure and body mass index were measured directly. Regardless of body mass index, higher blood pressure was strongly associated with higher levels of TV and video watching, particularly in the 12- to 15-year-old age group. The authors claim that reducing sedentary activity may improve teenagers' blood pressure and lower their later risk of heart disease and stroke.
J Adolesc Health
2007;40:166-172 (Sugiyama T, et al)

NALTREXONE – the drug used to ease withdrawal symptoms from drugs and alcohol – could soon be used to treat sufferers of a painful intestinal condition known as Crohn's disease. The study, published this week in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, involved 17 patients with active Crohn's disease. They were treated with a low dose of naltrexone (4.5mg per day in tablet form) for 12 weeks, and monitored for any improvement in their symptoms. While the study did not include a group of patients taking placebo tablets for comparison, 89 per cent of participants showed an improvement in their symptoms with naltrexone treatment, and 67 per cent reported that their symptoms disappeared. The only side effect of naltrexone was sleep disturbance in some patients. The authors note that a thorough placebo-controlled trial is now required to prove the drug's effectiveness.
Am J Gastroenterol
2007;102:1-9 (Smith JP, et al)

SEA squirts could hold the key to new and improved cancer-fighting drugs with fewer side effects than current chemotherapies. Research published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week shows that a synthetic form of sea squirt toxin called diazonamide can stop human cancer cells from multiplying, while leaving normal cells unharmed – at least in the laboratory. When small samples of human breast, prostate or colon tumours are implanted under the skin of mice, diazonamide can reduce the size of the tumours without the harmful side effects seen with other cancer drugs. The sea squirt, known as Diazona angulata, is around 10cm wide. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA
2007;doi:10.1073/pnas.0611340104 (Williams NS, et al)

Source: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au

Lower your blood pressure, save your life

High blood pressure, which usually has no symptoms, is hard on the heart and other organs.

To help keep this “silent killer” at bay, consider these facts and tips from Dr. Michael Prisant, director of the Hypertension and Clinical Pharmacology Unit at the Medical College of Georgia’s Cardiovascular Center.

High blood pressure can cause:

• the heart to get larger, which can lead to heart failure.

• small bulges (aneurysms) to form in blood vessels. Common locations are the main artery from the heart; arteries in the brain, legs, and intestines; and the artery leading to the spleen.

• blood vessels in the kidneys to narrow, which might cause kidney failure.

• arteries throughout the body to harden faster, especially those in the heart, brain, kidneys and legs. This can cause a heart attack, stroke or kidney failure, or lead to amputation of part of the leg.

• blood vessels in the eyes to burst or bleed, which can cause vision changes and can result in blindness.

SOURCE: National Institutes of Health, www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci

Get regular blood-pressure checks. One-third of Americans have high blood pressure and might not know it. Blood pressure below 120/80 is considered normal. A consistent reading of 140/90 or higher is considered high.

Your doctor should measure your blood pressure twice at every visit after a five-minute rest period. Most doctors will diagnose high blood pressure on the basis of two or more readings, taken on several occasions.

Control your risk factors. High blood pressure can’t be cured, but it can be prevented and controlled in most cases. Adopt healthy habits:

• Eat healthful foods

• Eat less salt

• Maintain a healthy weight

• Exercise

• Limit alcohol

• Don’t smoke

Use medicine if needed. If lifestyle changes aren’t enough to control your blood pressure, your doctor might prescribe medications. Be careful mixing these with over-the-counter drugs. Drugs such as ibuprofen or naproxen might interfere with blood pressure-lowering medications.

Source: http://www.thestate.com

High blood pressure and pregnancy

Women who have high blood pressure in pregnancy are more likely to develop coronary artery disease later in life.
"Usually it is assumed that the development of high blood pressure during pregnancy has no long-term consequences, since it subsides after pregnancy," said Dr. Michiel L. Bots, the senior author of the study, and an associate professor of epidemiology at the Julius Center for health Sciences and Primary Care in the Netherlands.

The study found pregnancy-driven high blood pressure caused a 57 percent greater risk of developing coronary calcification later in life, than women who had normal blood pressure during their pregnancy. The calcium deposition in the arteries of the heart causes what's called atherosclerosis, or the process by which fatty substances like cholesterol, build up in the inner lining of an artery.

Researchers looked at 491 healthy, post-menopausal women who were selected from among participants enrolled in a study called PROSPECT.

Bots says that women who develop high blood pressure during pregnancy may need to be referred to a program that includes cardiovascular risk factor management and close monitoring for increases in blood pressure, cholesterol and weight.

Source: http://www.9news.com

Blood pressure is ...

Blood pressure is the force in the arteries when the heart beats (systolic pressure) and when the heart is at rest (diastolic pressure). It's measured in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). High blood pressure (or hypertension) is defined in an adult as a blood pressure greater than or equal to 140 mm Hg systolic pressure or greater than or equal to 90 mm Hg diastolic pressure.

High blood pressure directly increases the risk of coronary heart disease (which leads to heart attack) and stroke, especially when it's present with other risk factors.

High blood pressure can occur in children or adults, but it's more common among people over age 35. It's particularly prevalent in African Americans, middle-aged and elderly people, obese people, heavy drinkers and women taking birth control pills. It may run in families, but many people with a strong family history of high blood pressure never have it. People with diabetes mellitus, gout or kidney disease are more likely to have high blood pressure, too.

American Heart Association recommended blood pressure levels

Blood Pressure Category	Systolic (mm Hg)		Diastolic (mm Hg)
Normal	less than 120	and	less than 80
Prehypertension	120–139	or	80–89
High
Stage 1	140–159	or	90–99
Stage 2

Source: http://www.americanheart.org

3 dont's for your high blood pressure

1. Don't take too much salt: Too much salt can elevate your blood pressure. Check for the quantity of salt or sodium present in the food before you purchase or consume it.
   
2. Don't get less sleep: Remember, if you don't take enough sleep, it may raise your blood pressure. The more you sleep the more normal is your blood pressure. Sleeplessness increases the level of stress hormones, which can ignite the sympathetic nervous system thereby causing many complications.
   
3. Maintain a healthy weight: Being overweight can add to your hypertension problems. If you are overweight, start working towards a healthy weight. You can do this by limiting the size of your meals and snacks, and by refraining from high calorie foods.

Source: http://www.blood-pressure-updates.com

Remember about your high blood pressure

If you living with high blood pressure, you must to remember 6 rules that you need to follow:

1. Keep a track of your blood pressure: Living with high blood pressure is not a kid’s stuff. You need to monitor your blood pressure levels on a daily basis. Today, there are lots of devices available in the market that facilitate you to monitor your blood pressure on own. Get one such monitor at your home and monitor your blood pressure regularly. Also make sure that you maintain accurate records for the same.
   
2. See your doctor regularly: Be in regular touch with your health care provider. If you are confused about your dosage, ask your doctor again. And if you notice any side effects, inform your doctor without delay.
3. Keep enough medicine: Make sure you refill your hypertension medicines before you run out of them. Take your medicines on time and as directed.
4. Cultivate a healthier lifestyle: Consult your doctor and ask him about what you should eat. You can also ask him about and then start the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. DASH is a clinically proven diet recommended for reducing high blood pressure
5. Eat a balanced diet: Hypertension requires the intake of a healthy diet. Take foods which are high in potassium and rich in fiber.
   
6. Exercise daily: Make it a point to exercise for at least 30 minutes daily. This will go a long way in helping you control your blood pressure.

Source: http://www.blood-pressure-updates.com