Obese Young Adults in Trouble

You may have noticed that America is getting larger and not in a good way. A study, titled Add Health and conducted by the University of North Carolina showed that young adults between the ages of 24 and 32 are at a higher risk than ever for high blood pressure among other health problems. High blood pressure is defined as that above 140/90. When I was that age, few of us worried about any health problems. But, the expanding waistlines and higher body mass index (BMI) of these young adults is taking its toll. The study, which was published in … Continue reading →

Nursing Students Ambush Men at Barbershops

Shave and a haircut… and a blood pressure check? Across the United States, nursing students are hitting the barbershops to encourage men’s health. One specific target: heart health among black men. High blood pressure is sometimes called the silent killer — it has few to no outward symptoms but can increase a person’s chance of developing heart disease or having a heart attack or stroke. For various reasons, black Americans have a higher chance of developing high blood pressure than white Americans. So nursing programs (in partnership with nonprofits and other organizations) are making an effort to get out there … Continue reading →

Low Blood Pressure

High blood pressure gets a lot of press — why it’s bad, what you can do about it, and more. But low blood pressure can be a serious problem, too! What can cause low blood pressure? Standing up quickly — this can cause a brief imbalance in your circulatory system that leaves you feeling light-headed for a moment. Eating a large meal. Standing for a long period of time. This can put you at risk for falling if you get light-headed. Certain medications can cause low blood pressure. Dehydration. Diabetes. If you are experiencing low blood pressure frequently, you should … Continue reading →

New Guidelines for Resistant High Blood Pressure

The American Heart Association has new guidelines for treating resistant high blood pressure. What is resistant high blood pressure (also known as resistant hypertension)? There are two different types. One type of resistant high blood pressure remains above the normal or target level despite using up to three medications. Another type of resistant high blood pressure requires four or more medications to reach a normal or target level. Studies suggest that as many as thirty percent of people with high blood pressure may have resistant hypertension. Resistant high blood pressure isn’t the same as uncontrolled high blood pressure, mind you. … Continue reading →

Marriage and Blood Pressure

Make all the jokes you want about how being married can raise your blood pressure… a new study from Brigham Young University has shown that a happy marriage can lead to lower blood pressure. In fact, a happy marriage seems to have some big health benefits. Study participants included more than two hundred married adults and 99 single adults. All participants wore a blood pressure monitor for a full day and night. Basically, the researchers wanted to see blood pressure levels during a normal day — periodic readings at a clinic don’t give an accurate representation of the changes in … Continue reading →

High Blood Pressure Linked to Dementia

Did you really need ANOTHER reason to take care of your high blood pressure? Here’s one for you — high blood pressure has been linked to dementia by research from Columbia University Medical Center in New York. Researchers tracked more than nine hundred elderly people in New York starting in 1992. The average age of the study participants was seventy-six. None of the participants had any form of cognitive impairment (dementia) when the study began. Participants were examined every eighteen months for more than four years. Approximately one third of study participants developed mild cognitive impairment during the course of … Continue reading →

Hey, Chocoholics!

The next set of evidence about the health benefits of chocolate has arrived. A study from the University of Cologne in Germany found that dark chocolate seems to have a lowering effect on your blood pressure! Before you go digging into that box of chocolates, keep reading. According to the study, it doesn’t take a lot of chocolate to produce the beneficial effects for your heart. The volunteers in the German study ate about six grams of dark chocolate every day — that’s about one and a half Hershey’s Kisses. If ever there was a study I wish I could … Continue reading →

Hot Dogs and Your Health

What goes better with summer’s favorite pastime than a juicy hotdog? According to the National Hotdog and Sausage Council baseball fans will eat almost 28 million hotdogs this year. Personally, I can’t stand hotdogs… and I’m not a huge fan of baseball either. (I wonder if one begets the other?) In fact, I cringe whenever I hear my young daughter tell me that she was fed a hotdog at a friend or relative’s home. Forgive me. It’s just that I have a long-standing dislike for the popular frankfurter mainly because I spent the better part of my childhood hearing about … Continue reading →

High Blood Pressure Fact and Fiction

There is a lot of misinformation out there about high blood pressure. Do you know the truth from the myth? Fiction: Symptoms of high blood pressure include nervousness, sweating, and trouble sleeping. Fact: High blood pressure has NO outward symptoms. It’s called the “silent killer” for a reason. The only way to know if you have high blood pressure is to get your blood pressure checked. One in four adults in the United States has high blood pressure, and a third of them don’t even know it. Fiction: High blood pressure readings at the doctor’s office just mean that you’re … Continue reading →

High Blood Pressure and Women

Approximately seventy-two million Americans have some form of high blood pressure — and nearly half of them are women. Women may be particularly at risk for developing high blood pressure. Risk factors include: Taking birth control pills. For some women, taking the Pill can affect your blood pressure. Things can get even more complicated if you have other risk factors like obesity, a family history of high blood pressure, or a smoking habit. Ask your doctor about your risk for high blood pressure before you start taking birth control pills, and get your blood pressure checked at least every six … Continue reading →