Blood pressure measures the force pushing against your artery walls when your heart beats and when it rests. The systolic pressure (top number) measures the pressure against your artery walls when your heart beats (contracts) and pushes blood throughout circulation. The diastolic pressure (bottom number) is the pressure against your artery walls when your heart relaxes (in between beats). High blood pressure is diagnosed when the pressure against artery walls is higher than normal. Another term for high blood pressure is hypertension.
4 Blood Pressure Categories
I’ve been receiving several questions related to this recently, so wanted to address it. Here’s an example of a question:
I am and always have been thin. I do not smoke, do not drink alcohol, eat a very healthy diet high in fruits/vegetables and low in processed foods, exercise daily, and get plenty of rest. I have been diagnosed with high blood pressure. What do I do?
In this situation the standard steps you need to take to lower high blood pressure do not necessarily apply. That doesn’t mean be lazy, don’t exercise, and eat a high fat diet. That means you need to work with your physician for a full evaluation/lab work to determine the cause of your high blood pressure, since you do not have the typical causes of high blood pressure (overweight, poor diet, etc.). Once this is known you’ll be able to outline a plan of action appropriate for your situation.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
7 Natural Ways to Lower High Blood Pressure
http://lowerbloodpressurewithlisa.com
The second Nurses Health Study has identified six dietary habits that reduce high blood pressure in women by almost 80%.
The Nurses Health Study includes 83,882 adult women between the ages of 27 to 44 years-old. Researchers analyzed data to determine if there was a connection between a healthy lifestyle and high blood pressure prevention.
Here are the six diet and lifestyle factors researchers identified to decrease high blood pressure risk in women.
High blood pressure is a serious condition that requires treatment. Here are answers to five frequently asked questions you need to know.
What is high blood pressure?
Blood pressure equals the force pushing against your artery walls when your heart beats and when it rests. The systolic pressure is the force against artery walls when your heart beats (contracts), while the diastolic pressure is the pressure against your artery walls when the heart relaxes (between beats).
Here’s another four questions with answers from my interview with Dr. Mark Houston in February 2010.
Continue readingI had the opportunity to interview hypertension expert Dr. Mark Houston last month (February 2010). Here are three of the questions he answered.
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