Defining High Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is the force that the blood exerts in the arteries when it is being pumped by the heart. In order to measure blood pressure, we take into account two readings called systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The pressure when the heart contracts and pumps blood is called systolic pressure. The pressure when the heart is at rest in between beats is called the diastolic pressure.

Symptoms, which lead to high blood pressure, are very difficult to comprehend and may be easily overlooked. It is for this reason that hypertension is called the silent killer. Headaches, dizziness, blurred vision, and nausea are some of the general symptoms of high blood pressure. Heart attack, heart failure, stroke, kidney failure, and aneurysms are some of the health problems that can result from prolonged high blood pressure.

The only way to diagnose high blood pressure is to visit your physician and have your blood pressure checked. In case you have high blood pressure then you should take the medicines prescribed by your physician. In order to control and manage blood pressure over a period, you need to make lifestyle changes.

If your blood pressure readings are 120/80 or lower, then you have a normal pressure. If your blood pressure is between 120/80 and 140/90, then you are in the stage of pre-hypertension. Usually, people believe that those who have Pre-hypertension are very likely to have high blood pressure. So, any reading above 140/90 is considered as high blood pressure.

The readings are applicable for adults and not applicable for children. Normal blood pressure readings differ for different age groups.

For children of the age group three to five 116/76 is considered as high blood pressure, for the age six to nine it is 122/78, for ten to twelve it is 126/82, and finally for the age group thirteen to fifteen the readings are 136/86.