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 →

High blood pressure can hurt your body in different ways. Most importantly, is the strain it puts on your heart and arteries. If your heart works harder than normal for a long time, it can get bigger, and an enlarged heart can have a hard time keeping up with your body’s needs. Of all the people in the United States with high blood pressure: 11 percent aren’t doing anything about it — no special diet, no medication. 25 percent are on therapy for it, but aren’t doing enough. Only 34 percent of people with high blood pressure are doing enough … Continue reading →

Ready for a kind of scary fact? One in three adult Americans has high blood pressure. Of those people, approximately one third don’t know they have high blood pressure. Do you know what your last blood pressure reading was? Do you know what it meant? A normal, healthy adult blood pressure reading is 120/80 mm Hg or below. Readings between 120-139 systolic and 80-89 diastolic puts you into a category known as prehypertension, where you are at risk for developing high blood pressure. Anything consistently above 140/90 mm Hg is considered high blood pressure. There are some risk factors for … Continue reading →

I got my blood pressure checked when I was getting my tetanus booster shot after I got bit at the dog park a few weeks ago. The nurse rattled off some numbers, and I asked, “Is that good?” She said yes. Lucky me! We all have blood pressure — without it, our blood wouldn’t circulate, bringing oxygen and other resources to our organs. There are actually two forces in the blood pressure, which is why we get a reading like 110 over 80. The first number is the systolic pressure, the pressure when the heart beats to pumps blood into … Continue reading →